I am thinking about getting a doweling jig. I would greatly appreciate recommendations.
Thanks!
Mike
I am thinking about getting a doweling jig. I would greatly appreciate recommendations.
Thanks!
Mike
dowelmax gets good reviews. search for it on this forum.
I had a dowel max for a couple years. 100 percent satisfied. I believe the Jessem gets better reviews and is cheaper. If you buy either, take heart that if ou are not satisfied you will likely be able to sell it for close to your purchase price.
I've used and abused this model for about 30 years now, never needed anything more.
TASK
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- Beachside Hank
I have the Jessem and love it.
Mortise Pal does dowels and floating tenons. A little pricey, but you get a tool that is versatile and lines up your work in an almost fool proof way (coming from an occasional fool, this is something I can attest to). http://www.mortisepal.com/
bill wrote a great review on the jessem version:
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...-dowel-jig-WOW!!!!
I vote for the Jessem. I believe I ordered mine direct from them.
Here is my write up on the Jessem, I was a DowelMax user and the DowelMax is a very good tool.
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...ghlight=Jessem
Now that I have had the Jessem about 2 years I am still very happy with it and would not go back to the DowelMax, again the DowelMax is a good jig but I like the Jessem better.
Here are some pictures of my Jessem case and a few other things that I have done with it.
http://www.pbase.com/wlhuber/jessem_doweling_jig
I have a Dowl-it. Made in Michigan.
http://www.dowl-it.com/
You can fine tune the centering by loosening a screw, and turning the threads in the back. Handy feature.
Never, under any circumstances, consume a laxative and sleeping pill, on the same night
I had the same one. Worked very well, IMO. But, then I stopped to think and said to myself "Why?". Sold it here, when I stumbled across it in the way-back, after it had collected 10 years of dust.
I actually have a question.....when and why would one use dowels? They did not improve the quality or alignment of joinery over M+T. In fact, my M+T was better. Maybe it was nothing more than an improving skill level on my part, which most certainly had a lot of headroom on the learning curve...and still does.
I am not saying one should not use dowels, nor am I dissing any of these products. If it works for you, then it is absolutely the right approach.
I'm just asking the question......??
Thanks
Kent
I feel a whole lot more like I do now, than I did a little while ago.
For me the dowel are much faster and much easier and after the joint is done no one will know what is in there anyway. It could be dowels or it could be a M&T.
As to the alignment with the DowelMax and the Jessem setting dowel for a joint will be spot on, that is the really nice thing about those tools.
I agree there is more glue surface with a M&T but at this point the things I am building really don't need more strength then a good dowel joint provides.
I agree with Kent (above). For strength, I'd much prefer mortise and tenon. You'd have to put in a lot of dowels to get the equivalent long-grain-to-long-grain surface area as you get with a mortise. You may not even have room in the joint area for that many dowels.
For alignment during panel glue-up, I'd use cauls. The only thing I've ever used dowels for (in furniture) is the alignment pins for the leaves of an expanding dining table.
Mike
Go into the world and do well. But more importantly, go into the world and do good.
what do you suspect the furniture manufacturers use? they could probably get away with dowels since all the corners are usually braced anyways.