Three Questions on Through Dovetail Jig Usage

[J. Z. Guest]

1) What's the best way to line it up so when I'm done cutting the pins & tails, the side edges of the board line up? MLCS recommends just centering them, which is quite time-consuming. I looked on Keller's site and they recommend tracing a tail socket onto the end grain of the pins board and lining up the jig that way. This would work too, but would still require some measuring, since the pins are not cut with a pattern bit on the MLCS jig that I have.

2) What do you do to prevent tearout on the non-jig side of the boards? Scribe the bit depth line?

3) I did the setup per instructions. The only thing that will change from 3/4" (which I set up) and 1/2" boards would be the bit depth, right?

Thanks!

[Phil B]

1. You should have or could modify your system to use a left/right board stop so registration is made via the edge of the board.

2. The jig can provide the "backer" board for tear-out, you can add a "fronter" board for the other side yourself.

3. For through type joints, bit depth is to allow for boards of different thicknesses, not joint fit as would be the case for typical half blind jigs.

PMB