Jessem Doweling jig

[Rick Potter]

I have been on the fence for a couple years about getting a high quality doweling jig. Tonight I opened an e-mail from Infinity Tools, offering a 15% discount on most items because I am a previous customer.

It was only good for two days and was a day and a half old when I opened it. Time to act. I just ordered a Jessem 8350(?) jig master kit, which includes all the accessories for 1/4, 3/8, and 1/2" dowels. Their regular price was $199, as opposed to Amazon's price of $229, and that was before the 15% discount.

I got the jig, 350 dowels in various sizes, and Milescraft's new safety push block which looks pretty decent. Total was $199 with free shipping included.

I didn't put this under deals and discounts, as the sale will be over before anyone reads it. Sorry about that.

Time to do my happy dance and go to bed.

[William A Johnston]

Rick,

That's a very nice jig. I purchased the master kit last year and use it mainly for drill the hole in a cheese slicer board for the slicer. I also used it once for a small slab glue up. It was spot on.

Enjoy,

Bill

[Al Launier]

Great buy! Can't go wrong with that jig. I really like my Jessem Jig. It's a quality tool, easy to use, and accurately positions the dowel holes.

[Edwin Santos]

You won't be disappointed. It's an excellent piece of kit. The adjustable fence that allows you to change offset without unclamping is very clever.
If you adopt dowel joinery as a go-to method of joining two pieces of wood, you will find yourself reaching for the Jessem all the time.
Even when I am doing a glue up and simply want to keep the pieces from sliding around, I will often just grab the jig and throw a couple of 1/4" dowels in to keep my pieces registered exactly.

If you check out Jessem's instruction video on YouTube, you will see their method of multiple rows of staggered dowels in a leg/apron joint. It is quick to do and I believe that joint to be very strong indeed.

Edwin

[Von Bickley]

Congratulations on your new dowel jig. I have that same kit and it works great for me. I have not used any 1/4" or 1/2" dowels yet but I have them on hand. I have used dowels on my last 6 projects and they work great.408372

[Nick Decker]

I have the Jessem and love it. The one thing I would change (and did) is the drill collars they provide. They use a set screw, which must be tightened against a flat part of the drill bit. Lee Valley sells a set of collars that tighten the whole collar around the bit, which is easier and, I think, more secure.

[Rick Potter]

Good tip, Nick. I will look into those.

[Jon Nuckles]

Congrats, Rick, on your purchase. I have the Jessem 3/8" setup and like it a lot. I used a DowelMax for a number of years and still can't decide which one I prefer.

Thank you, Nick, for the idea of using the Lee Valley collars. Having to find the flat spot of the bit while it is hidden under the collar is a small inconvenience that would be nice to eliminate. I bought a set of the Lee Valley collars some time ago. I need to see if that set includes a 3/8".

[Nick Decker]

Yup, Jon, 3/8" and 1/2" are included.

[Edwin Santos]

Changing out to the split collars was very good advice, thanks Nick. I had some from LV sitting in a drawer. Tried it out yesterday when using the jig for some 3/8" doweling.
Don't know why it never occurred to me to use them in lieu of the Jessem supplied collar but definitely a big improvement.

[Jon Nuckles]

Nick, I checked mine when I was at my shop the other day. Turns out I bought the metric set (probably to do shelf pin holes). I bet one will still work with my 3/8" bit. I'll try next time I use my Jessem jig.

[Nick Decker]

The best thing about the LV collars, for me, is that they're easier to adjust for depth. I recently finished a hall table with spindly legs. The dowel holes had to be deep enough to cover the dowels, of course, but no deeper than that or they'd interfere with dowels in the adjacent joint. The LV collars make it easier to be exact.

Anyway, glad to be of help. I've certainly taken my share of know-how from you people. :)

[William A Johnston]

Nick,

Thanks for the insight on the drill bit collars. I'm going to order a set of them. That's the first time I've seen those. For $ 10.00 bucks you can't wrong.

Bill

[Rick Potter]

The jig arrived at my door today. It is a thing of beauty, and I can hardly wait to try it. I wish I had known about the split collars for it when I ordered, Infinity has them also, and I could have gotten them at the same time.

I will wait until I get an order big enough for free shipping.

I had to take the package out in the back of the yard to open, as there was a California tag on the box that said it contained items with chromium, that could cause cancer and reproductive problems.

I promise I will not chew on the chrome plated parts while smoking my State approved Weed.:D

[Peter Kuhlman]

The DowelMax collars they supply for their bits have 2 set screws and have held well for me over years of use. Have a set of LV collars that I have never used. Will look at those to see how they are made.

Oh and I guess I need to stop licking chrome bumpers at the auto shows!

[Allan Speers]

I have the Joint Genie multi-pro kit.

It's great in terms of accuracy, and it seems extremely well made & durable. However, it's a little fiddly. Lots of little parts. At the same time, the little tabs make it EXTREMELY accurate, but there's lots of bits that could get lost, and setup is a tad cumbersome, if you switch tasks. (but I'm being rather picky.) Also, since I don't use it too often, I have to spend a lot of time re-reading the instructions / staring at the reference pictures.

As for the depth stops, they are also single set-screw, but they're pretty large, and I haven't had any problems with them coming loose. Still, I think I'll get those collars from LV, just to be safe.
--------------------

The Dowel Max looks a bit more convenient to my eye, and I like the Jessem's fence & the ruler markings, but I've never actually used either one.

Has anyone ever had the Joint Genie, and switched to one of the other systems? I'd love to know how they compare.