Difference in dovetail jigs...

[Wade Lippman]

The Keller Jig has no adjustments and supposedly dovetails come out perfect with no set up. Can't beat that.

The Leigh R9 seems to do the same thing, but has all kinds of adjustments. My experience is that lots of adjustments means you will never get it right.

So, does the Leigh do something better than the Keller?

And finally I see that MLCS has a really cheap version. My experience is that their stuff is no bargain, even when it is inexpensive. Anyone tried that?

[Richard Coers]

The Keller Jig has no adjustments and supposedly dovetails come out perfect with no set up. Can't beat that.

The Leigh R9 seems to do the same thing, but has all kinds of adjustments. My experience is that lots of adjustments means you will never get it right.

So, does the Leigh do something better than the Keller?

And finally I see that MLCS has a really cheap version. My experience is that their stuff is no bargain, even when it is inexpensive. Anyone tried that?

The Keller does have adjustment, but you only do it once to match the diameter of the bit. After that, no matter what the stock thickness, or how many times you change the router, there is no further adjustment for the fit unless you drop the fixture. The other advantage to the Keller is the condition of the stock does not effect the fit. Put a piece of bowed stock in other styles of fixtures, and the fit is different. Put a piece of stock with snipe on the end in other styles of fixtures, and the fit is different. The Keller does not register off the stock to set the fit. No idea about the quality of the MLCS.

[Dave Richards]

Are you really only interested in those dovetail jigs that create the zipper-tooth dovetails?

[Mike Henderson]

Dave brings up a good point. I don't know if all of those jigs are fixed space but fixed space jigs have limitations. I'm pretty sure the MLCS jig is fixed space.

But a lot depends on what you're going to use the jig for. If it suits your need, then go for it. But if you're going to use it on things like drawers for a chest of drawers, then fixed space jigs will limit what you can do.

The other alternative is variable spaced jigs and those cost more but give you the ability to fit the dovetails to a drawer rather than the other way around.

And if you're just going to make a few dovetails, making them by hand gives you the most flexibility and is probably less expensive - depending on what tools you already have.

One final comment, I often see people who start with fixed space jigs wind up selling them a few years down the road. Those jigs generally don't keep their value and can be expensive to ship when (if) you do sell.

Mike

[Dave Richards]

Mike's points are excellent. Maybe cutting them by hand makes sense or maybe you should make your own jig or maybe you should consider something that can do more than dovetails. The latter is the way I chose to go. There's no template at all and no limitation on dovetail bits. I can use absolutely any dovetail bit and any spacing I wish. But it depends on what you want. I dislike the zipper tooth dovetails and those that are cut with obese tungsten carbide bits. Some folks like that look.

[Jamie Buxton]

The zipper-tooth sobriquet usually applies to half-blind dovetails cut with the standard router jig, because the tail width is very nearly the same as the pin width. The Keller jig does not cut half-blind dovetails. It only cuts through dovetails. With the usual size of Keller jig, the pins are 7/16" wide, and the tails are about twice as wide, so at least to me they don't look like zipper teeth.