Has anyone used the Festool dovetail jig?

[Bill Wyko]

I saw it in their catalouge and it looks like a quality piece but of all tools, dovetail jigs can be decieving.

[Rye Crane]

Hi Bill,

Seems like you are on having a Festool Frenzy. Or as a friend of mine says "let's have a Festool Aquisition Party" or FAP. I have all the templets, save their dowelling jig. It is fairly easy to use, however you will be limited in the thickness of stock you can process. Also there is no ability to change dovetail spacing, so no "custom" look. It is really more of a production tool. I tried using the 1400 router with the jig and it was cumbersome and difficult to use, so I went to their 1010 router and it works very well.

All things considered I would have been better off with a different jig that would accomodate thicker/thinner stock than the Festool and offer different spacing for the dovetails. I don't think you would have any trouble beating their pricing, using the Festool bits, routers, etc. is very pricey.

Good Luck and keep spending that money, our economy will benefit.

Rye Crane

[Bill Wyko]

I will say, I've been very happy with everything so far. My main reason is for the DC abilities and storage. My shop being as small as it is, combined with the amount of tools I've crammed into it, requires compact storage. Plus even the smallest amount of sawdust in the air is like a cloud at nose level. Combine this with my addiction for quality tools and you have Festool. I think I'll look at the new PC DT jig or leigh though. Without the ability to make custom DTs it wouldn't serve me well. Maby the router in the future. I already have 7 routers between my shop and home so it might be a while on a router. The boom for my DC is waiting for me to pick up at Woodworkers Source. I'll let you all know what I think of it when I get it set up.