Jig Opinion

[Warren Wilson]

I have made box joints with my shop-built jig for years now, and want to clean up the tear-out as well as up my game a bit in terms of fit. The boxes always go together and the joints fit OK, but fine tuning is difficult and I want clean and beautiful, a tad above functional.

So I looked at the Incra iBox jig, read reviews and was just about to order one when a thought occured to me: why not do two upgrades at once and buy a Leigh Superjig that will do some box joints, but also open the world of machine-cut dovetails.

Sure, the Leigh costs twice as much, but it appears to do twice as much. Can any of you experienced guys offer me any wisdom on this?

[Mike Cutler]

Warren

I am by no means an expert, but the Leigh is a fantastic "system". Expensive, but versatile. It's pretty slick. Another tool of this type that intrigues me more than the Leigh, read as I want one, is a WoodRat.

[Michelle Rich]

I have used an incra for over 20 yrs..on tablesaw & router..very versatile& will do many joints. the Leigh is hefty & well made.

[Alan Schaffter]

I have a dog in this fight, so am a bit prejudiced. You need to look at what your joinery needs will be and decide if you will use both box joints and dovetails. If you want both by all means get the Leigh, but if you think you will be making box joints more regularly (for jewelry and other small boxes), get the I-BOX.

A few things to consider.

If you want to make more than just 3/8" and 3/4" finger joints with the Leigh you will need to purchase the relatively expensive ($200+) f3 accessory template and guidebushing kit. You will also need a straight router bits- Except for the RTJ400 all leigh jigs only work with a hand-held router.

This may be just me because I don't make many machine cut dovetails, but when I do along with my Leigh jig I must break out the manual and relearn how to use it, all over again. :rolleyes: Including the time it takes to stack the dado, I can have the I-BOX cutting box joints in less than five minutes.

The I-BOX can be used on a router table and tablesaw (with dado blade). When used on a tablesaw it can make an infinite number of finger sizes. When used on a router table the number of joint sizes is only limited by the sizes of your router bits (not templates).

Others may agree or disagree, but from what I have read on a number of WW forums and from my own experience it is faster and easier to cut box joints on a tablesaw, and the fingers are cleaner with less chance of tearout.

Disclaimer: I own both an I-BOX and a Leigh D4R, and I am the inventor of the I-BOX.

[Roger Pozzi]

+ 1 on what Alan said. ;)
I've never had or used a Leigh jig simply because for a hobbyist it is too, too expensive. It took me a while deciding on the cost of the the I-Box but, I was wasting my time dialing in my home-made jig plus wasting wood doing so. So. I bought the I-Box and have been totally impressed with it everytime I use it.

[Warren Wilson]

Thank you for your thoughts. I now have more to ponder -- which might not make the decision easier, but it makes it more fun! :)

[Bill Adamsen]

I have just a three box jigs - one each for the different widths I cut (1/8", 1/4", 3/8"). Since it seems wood thickness varies each time I use the jig, always seeming to get thinner (shallower cut) I find that I have to glue in a piece of wood at the now exposed top to prevent tear out. Even a very small drop in the blade height from the backing creates tear out.

For dovetails I cut using a combination of hand-tools, bandsaw and chisel. I don't like the look of the thicker pin cut by a dovetail bit. I layout by hand. Guessing it is faster to do with a Leigh Jig, but of course with the above limitations.

The fellow who runs Woodgears has some great ideas on how to create flexible jigs for making a wide range of box joints. Too complicated for me.
http://woodgears.ca/box_joint/jig.html

The Woodrat and i-Box I'm sure are fine solutions, as is the Leigh. I have been tempted to buy the Leigh but usually just start cutting and soon the urge passes.

[Andy Booth]

I am constantly amazed at the ingenuity and thinking that goes into making jigs.
Sometimes I find myself spending more effort on the jig than the actual product.
The curse of the knack (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8vHhgh6oM0)

[Roy Harding]

I have the Leigh D4R Pro jig, complete with the dovetail finger comb, and the box joint finger comb.

I use it almost daily for dovetailing in cedar and pine (I make a LOT of chests and boxes). As someone pointed out above, unless you're going to use it fairly often, it can be a bear to set up for dovetails. It also makes very wide tails (which is what I want with softwood, cedar is not strong enough for very thin tails) - when doing dovetails in hardwood, I do them by hand saw/band saw/chisel - this lets me make the very fine tails that people appreciate.

I've found the box joint finger comb fairly intuitive to use - although I don't use it that much - and it makes nice tight joints.

I make my living at this (custom woodworking), so time is money to me. SO - the price of the jig was no object to me, once I understood that it would let me make dovetails very rapidly on chests up to 24" high (that's a LOT of dovetails to cut by hand). With the jig, I'm gluing up the cedar chest fifteen minutes after I started the first cut, and that makes it a good investment for me. I also recall a few hours getting comfortable with it when I first got it - and I continue to use it a lot, so I don't need to re-learn every time I go to cut a box or chest. That said - if I was a hobbyist, I'd hesitate because of the price.

As far as finger joints go, there may be cheaper solutions out there - I only purchased the box joint finger comb because I already had the jig. If I was ONLY making the occasional box joint, I'd probably stick with what I used to use (shop made jig on the table saw). As good as the Leigh jig is, I think it's a pricey solution for a hobbyist who makes the occasional box joint.

I don't have any experience with the other jigs folks have mentioned, so I can't give an opinion on them.

[John Lankers]

I have no experience with the Leigh but I do have the Incra Positioner, I like that I can use it on the router table and on the table saw, some material is prone to tearout and is easier to cut on the table saw, the same should apply to the I-box jig plus it allows for infinite adjustablity.

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[Charles Lent]

I have both the Leigh D4R Dovetail jig with their F2 box joint comb as well as the Incra I-Box jig and I haven't used the Leigh for box joints since buying the I-Box jig. It's just so much easier to set up and use. It even holds it's settings well, so I can store it, then get it back out and cut the same size box joints again without the need to make any adjustments. Mine is always used on my Unisaw. I have never used it on my router table, and most of the time I use the Freud SBOX8 box joint cutting blade set and make either 1/4 or 3/8" joints. If larger joints are desired, I use it with my dado blade set.

Charley

[Bill Adamsen]

Like Charles, I switched to that Freud box joint blade on the Unisaw ... it cuts beautifully with a noticeable improvement in the finished product. It did cause me to rebuild my jigs ... but they needed it. For the 1/8" joints, I use a flat ground ripping blade. Roy points out the great value pro to the Leigh Jig. Something I'll have to try. I do make larger pine boxes occasionally, and cutting more than about 8-10 inches on the saw can be problematic. Since you're indexing only on the prior cut, any warpage in the board, or play in the runners, can telegraph into a big difference when you get to the end. At least that is my experience.

[Jason Matisheck]

If you're more on the "make" side of "make vs. buy", check out woodgears.ca The joinery/jigs section has several cool router jigs/appliances and a neat box-joint maker.

[Phil Barrett]

I've been using my Incra LS positioner to make box joints and dovetails on the router table. I have no experience with the other jigs but I really like the LS. You can get super accurate, tight joints with it. Plus it's a very good fence with a high degree of accuracy and repeatability. And, it costs a lot less than the Leigh D4R Pro jig.