Which doweling jig do you prefer?

[Mike Dowell]

I'm making a custom dining table and it will have 1 leaf. I figured I would purchase a doweling jig with which to get the pins into the table and leaf properly. There are so many jigs - which do you prefer?

[John Lanciani]

My personal favorite if self-centering is not required is a vintage Stanley #59.

[Mike Wilkins]

I have 2 of them. My oldest one is likely 25-30 years old; the one with the pre-drilled holes, self-centering found in numerous tool catalogs.
The other one is from Rockler; machined metal with two 3/8" holes and a Lexan positioning plate. I believe it drill holes on 1 1/2" centers, but I can not remember right now. Rockler also sells these jigs in a 1/4" and 1/2" set-up, or you can get all 3 as a set. Quick set up also.

[Mike Ontko]

I've got a commercial Stanley jig that I'd purchased from the orange big box store sometime in the past ten years, but I've only used it once or twice. The last two or three times that I've needed to use dowel joinery, including my current project, I've just made a custom jig using available scrap hardwood and plywood. Your situation sounds similar, in that you may not want to shell out the $$ for something that's only going to get used once or twice.

[Herb Smith]

DowelMax. Built like a tank, dead solid accurate and easy to use. Not cheap, but a good value

[Edwin Santos]

Hi,

I can speak to the Jessem dowel jig as being a very well made and versatile jig. I use it all the time and would highly recommend it.

If cost is a consideration and your concern is primarily the project at hand, you might want to just make a simple doweling jig specific to the project. This is especially easy to do if you have a drill press. If you're fastidious, you can buy drill guide bushings from Lee Valley in 1/8", 1/4" and 3/8" diameter and by doing so, your jig hole(s) will not get enlarged or deformed with use. These parts should cost you less than $15 and you can drill your holes just as accurately as any commercial jig.

However if you're a tool junkie and see projects as convenient excuses to acquire more tools, then I do not think you'd be disappointed with the Jessem jig.

Dowels work very well for registration and alignment in addition to many joinery applications.
Edwin

[Jason Ost]

+1 Jessem dowel jig

[Al Launier]

+2 Jessem.

[mreza Salav]

+3 on Jessem. Made here in Canada. I have both types and have used with thousands of dowels (from 1/4", 3/8", and 1/2" too).

[George Bokros]

#4 on the Jessem. Built like a tank and the self registration for the second piece is awesome.

OOps only for people on their email list.

[richard poitras]

DowelMax. Built like a tank, dead solid accurate and easy to use. Not cheap, but a good value

I have a Dowelmax and I like it a lot and would buy again. I know the Dowelmax and Jessem are the top 2 on the market, Both are costly but both will last you a life time. You can't go wrong with either one.

[Cary Falk]

Jessem 8300 Parallign................

[Jacob Mac]

I had a dowelmax and it was a good tool. It did everything it said it would flawlessly. No experience with the jessem.

[George Bokros]

Incremental Tools (Incra( has the Jessem doweling jig and accessories on sale.

[Roger Marty]

I have this one that works well for me:

https://www.woodcraft.com/products/premium-doweling-jig

[Frankie Hunt]

+5 on the Jessem

https://www.jessemdirect.com/JessEm_Dowelling_Jig_Master_Kit_p/08350-master-kit.htm


If your budget is less then consider the USA made Dowel It 2500. Its less versatile but for edge treatment it is great.I suggest getting the original USA version. https://www.amazon.com/2500-Centering-2-Inch-capacity-tapped/dp/B00B5118K4

I have both and use both.

[Von Bickley]

#6 on the Jessem. I have the JessEm Model # 08350 Dowelling Jig and it works for me.

[Ben Rivel]

Jessem 8300 Parallign

[Frank Necaise]

Lie-Nielsen - works for my needs

https://www.lie-nielsen.com/product/dowel-plate-standard

[Peter Christensen]

Your application can be done on the drill press. Watched my father do it several times. A plywood bracket is clamped to the drill press table so there is a vertical plywood face to the floor. You clamp a board parallel to the floor and sit the leaf or top on it and slide it side to side to position it below the drill bit. Drill the hole and move to the next. Clamp the top and leaves together and put pencil mark across the faces of the leaf and top where you want the pins to go. Same method can be used to drill chair parts, picture frame mitres, table aprons for legs and whatever else you want to dowel together.

[Wade Lippman]

My personal favorite if self-centering is not required is a vintage Stanley #59.

+1. I got it at a garage sale for $1 and it is great. I can't see why an expensive one would be any better for your application.

[Mike Henderson]

If all you're going to do is drill the holes and pins for an expanding table, just get a simple dowel jig. Here's (https://www.amazon.com/Task-07300TK-Premium-Doweling-Jig/dp/B000K9PL14/ref=sr_1_11?s=power-hand-tools&ie=UTF8&qid=1522448128&sr=1-11&keywords=dowel+jig)one at Amazon that's similar to the one I used for that exact purpose. Unless you know that you're going to use dowels a lot, I wouldn't go with one of those expensive dowel jigs. After I used mine for the expanding table, I never used it again.

The critical thing on a table is that the holes and the pins line up. After you have your table finished (but before you apply finish), take a ruler and draw a line across the two pieces of the table, where you want the holes and pins to go. The dowel jig has an alignment line on it that shows where the hole will be drilled, and line that line up with your mark on each piece. Drill the holes. Then take a piece of dowel and round over the end. That end will stick out. Glue that into the holes on one side and leave maybe an inch (or even less) sticking out. You usually want to do this on your table leaves, also so be accurate in transferring your mark from the table pieces to the leaves. But otherwise it's the same thing.

Not really difficult but you need to be precise.

Mike

[You might even try to borrow a jig since you probably won't use it again.]

[Mike Dowell]

Thank you for all of these replies!!!! Well, I had the Jessum in my cart and was ready to pull the trigger on it, and at the last moment, I went for the Dowl-it 2500 at half the cost. I'm the type of person who will always wish I had bought the nicer tool, but I've got to conserve funds (especially seeing as how I just ordered my first jointer and planer!). For the number of times I'll use this tool, I think the less-expensive model will do the trick.

Thank you for all of this input!