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Thread: Any idea what these jigs were used for?

  1. #1
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    Any idea what these jigs were used for?

    I recently went to an estate sale geared mostly towards clearing out a woodworker's shop. After buying a few tools, some wood and what not, I saw a couple of jigs lying in what appeared to be a scrap heap and I asked if I could have them. They said yes, they had no idea what they were for. Here's a picture of the two of them, set up in the miter slots of my saw just to get a picture of the clamp parts. Ignore the piece of oak, it's there just to stablize the pair. Any idea what they may have been used for? This side is bare wood, the other side has some finish on the ply.

    2020-12-07 16.54.43a.jpg

    - Leo

  2. #2
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    I have no idea what they were used for, but they are nicely made from baltic birch plywood.

    Let this be a reminder to label your jigs so that when you or someone else finds it in the future they have an idea what it was used for. I've started doing that after locating a jig I made that I have no idea what it was for. It was important enough that I hung it on the pegboard in my shop only to cover it up with some other things.
    Lee Schierer
    USNA '71
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  3. #3
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    Looks like a router sled for dadoes.

  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ralph Boumenot View Post
    Looks like a router sled for dadoes.
    That's an interesting thought. I just went down and clamped one of the jigs to the edge of my assembly table and I think that if the two of them were clamped across from one another, I could see it being used as part of a slab flattening jig. Those bolts are really long, which implies the jigs could have spacers put underneath to raise them to the right height, then the router sled could slide across between them.

    If that's how it was used, I'll say I'm not impressed by the performance of the clamping mechanism. It would work better if the bolts went through the table than just clamping on the edge, but perhaps it worked good enough. Or he had a specific table to used these with that had holes in the right spots. Just guessing of course but that's what we're left to do. Kinda fun, actually.

    - Leo

  5. #5
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    I believe it is for making crown mounding, but it should be mounted at an angle and you run the stock across the blade diagonally to make the cove cut.

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by Malcolm Schweizer View Post
    I believe it is for making crown mounding, but it should be mounted at an angle and you run the stock across the blade diagonally to make the cove cut.
    I just popped down to the garage and tried to lay out the jig on the table saw top at the appropriate angle, but since the distance between the plywood spacers is 25" it won't even fit across my contractor's saw table straight, let alone at an angle. The bolts aren't 27" apart so they wouldn't clear the table top, either.

    Until I went down and checked I was convinced this was it.

    I think I'm going to remove the bolts and I'll use these on my assembly table to raise up work when applying finish. In that position the side that has some finish on it will be up so maybe that's what he used them for, although I'm not sure what the odd clamps would have been used for in that use case.

    - Leo

  7. #7
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    The picture shows them upside down. When oriented correctly they grab the edges of a bench that has large top overhang. Then a board or panel to be cut is laid on top. Then the board, most likely a large piece of plywood can be cut straight or a jigsaw used for curves without the blade hitting anything below it.

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bruce King View Post
    The picture shows them upside down. When oriented correctly they grab the edges of a bench that has large top overhang. Then a board or panel to be cut is laid on top. Then the board, most likely a large piece of plywood can be cut straight or a jigsaw used for curves without the blade hitting anything below it.
    After looking more closely, this seems to be the best answer.

  9. #9
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    I'm with Bruce. It's upside down. It also could have been used to hold boards above the table for gluing up flat panels.
    Rick Potter

    DIY journeyman,
    FWW wannabe.
    AKA Village Idiot.

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