Craftsman - Stickley Projects #8: Drawer Dovetails

That jig appears to have made short work of that process. Nice job.

-- You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. (Plato)

Looks like the PC isn’t a bad unit, unlike Oscorner’s experience with the Rockler version.

I don’t have a dovetail jig yet, so I’m following everyone’s progress closely. Nice work.

-- Robert from Raymond, MS. "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence is therefore not a practice, but a habit." - Aristotle

Wow…great testimony to the jig. Nice work.

-- Bob, Carver Massachusetts, Sawdust Maker http://www.capecodbaychallenge.org

Paul,
Have you ever used a jig to cut dovetails before? I just bought the 4212 and read Oscar’s account of the Rockler jig which has me worried?

-- Dan in Central Oklahoma, Able to turn good wood into saw dust in the blink of an eye!

Dano, the 4212 is idiot proof. I used it for 10 minutes and made perfect joints. I havn’t used it since as I either use my Akeda Jig or cut them by hand, but the 4212 is a worthy beast and I’ll keep it around for that chest of drawers where I have to do 20 of them.

-- You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. (Plato)

I should have gotten the idiot proof jig! :^( LOL. Twenty minutes! I spent over an hour to get the half blind to look as good as it did, then switched to the through dovetail thinking it would be easier. Those turned out perfect, Paul.

-- Jesus is Lord!

This was my first extensive use of the jig. The first time I’ve used a jig. I’ve cut dovetails by hand with good results but as you know, it’s time consuming. I like the hand cut versatility and look but . . .

When I accepted the job to build these two chests (12 drawers), I started researching jigs. Actually, the Rockler salesperson recommended the PC jig over the Rockler jig. They also had examples of dovetails cut with the jigs on display with the jigs and I liked the looks of the joints made with the PC. I liked the fact that it’s aluminum and not just plastic, too. Of course there’s the old standard large PC jig and the Leigh jig, but those were a little out of my price range. But then, Rockler sent me a coupon for a percentage off any purchase at the store. So, I waited until the jig was on sale, took my coupon and ended up getting like 40 percent off – a good deal less than $100 for the 4212. Some weeks later, when I broke it out of the box, I played with it for a while with decent results.

It comes with a clear and easy to understand instruction manual – so when I got it back out today, I was just as careful as I could be with set-up, practiced on some scraps and made adjustments as indicated by the instruction manual (see mot’s post on osconer’s thread about the Rockler jig). I worked carefully and deliberately and still cruised through 12 drawers in about an hour.

I have not tried the through dovetail template, yet.

Yes mot, I agree – a worthy beast. Dano, I think you’ll be pleased with your purchase.

-- Paul, Texas