Help me buy a dovetail jig

[George Carion]

for both half-blind and through. I'm thinking of going with Rockler's or Porter Cable's.

Are they both about the same and are there other dove-tail jigs I should consider in that @$100 price range?

Thanks!

[Brian Clevenger]

I have the PC4212, and I like it a lot. I wasn't too impressed with the Rockler offering..... it looked too much like the Harbor Freight version.

[glenn bradley]

I have the Rockler. The half blind template is a bit flexible and a light touch is required. They offer an aluminum version that I would recommend if you do a lot of half-stuff. The through template is just fine. Both are set spacing of course. No complaints, easy to set up. I hear a lot of people complain about the headaches of setting up some of the more expensive units. I assume this is because those units are much more flexible and therefor involved. I'm not saying that as a bad thing ;-)

[Mark Conde]

I have the Leigh. I love it. It is more than the $100 you have.
I read a review in one of the wood rags that the PC was a very good jig.

I love my Leigh DT jig because I can use it one projects up to 24" wide, it has an infinite number of settings for the tails/pins, the manual is the best one I ever used. Now, set up to make DT the first several times is a bit time consuming, but now it is second nature.

I understand you have one hondo to spend, but I think it is worth considering saving more to get the Leigh.

Good luck

[Ted Fullerton]

I looked at both, and the decided on the PC over the Rocker for the built-in bit depth setting and the fact that the PC templates are aluminum rather than the Rockler's plastic.

I've got three templates: half-blind, through, and mini-through. You can do box-joints with these templates as well, though I've never tried that.

Overall, an easy to use jig (which was mentioned in the FWW review), which is built for years of use.

For what it's worth, I had my first one stolen and re-purchased the same model.

-Ted

[Jim Becker]

Of the two you are looking at, I'd choose the PC. But I own the Leigh D4 and it's about the ultimate in dovetail jigs with the most flexiblity. I really prefer to make dovetails proportional in size to the project and it's the jig that does that the best, IMHO. But it's certainly well above your stated budget by a major magnatude. What you might do is use the PC jig mostly for HB and learn to cut the through dovetails by hand.

[Jerry Olexa]

I'd go with the 4212 of those 2. The other is a HF clone and the PC 4212 was recently ranked #1 by FWW in its category. Hard to get through DTs at that price point..

[Tony Morrison]

I have this one. I never use it. Have anything you would like to trade? Send me a PM
How's that for a first post

http://www.northwestpowertools.com/routers/dovetail/d2796.htm

[Tony Ward]

Dovetail jigs - have a look at ~

http://www.gifkins.com.au/