| Project by MJMeers | posted 1495 days ago | 15242 views | 14 times favorited | 13 comments |  |
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After retiring from the police department, my father-in-law finally had the time to work on his main retirement project… an Appalachian style log home, designed by both my mother and father in-law.
Like any log home, the main part is of course…the logs. The design called for 6×6 white pine timbers jointed with half dovetail compound joints.
Over the Christmas holiday my father-in-law and I built the jigs for cutting the dovetail joints.
Essentially the jig encases the end of the log that is being dovetailed and a chainsaw (with metal guides attached to the bar) slide down the jig and cut the dovetails. Because of the compound nature of the joints we needed to build a Left and Right version of the jig.
The jigs are made primarily out of birch plywood. Held together by glue, biscuits, and brad nails. To secure the log from moving within the jigs we used 3/8” threaded rod epoxied to circular knobs. Turning the knob pushes the threaded rod securely against the log, holding it in place. We reinforced the weaker parts of the jigs with 1/4” flat aluminum. To ensure that the chainsaw guide would slide smoothly on the jig we attached counter laminate at the guide contact points.
-- Matt, RI
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13 comments so far
flcopper169
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179 posts in 1537 days
#1 posted 1495 days ago
That is some jig…. It does a great job… That must have been quite a project…. Any finished pics?
Regards..
Rob
-- Happy and safe woodworking, Flcopper169@aol.com
MJMeers
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29 posts in 1609 days
#2 posted 1495 days ago
I’ll be sure to have my father-in-law send me any finished pics he takes. I’m actually really looking forward to seeing them myself.
-- Matt, RI
a1Jim
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89151 posts in 1775 days
#3 posted 1495 days ago
The largest joinery jigs I’ve seen. these are great
-- W James Brokenbourgh Custom furniture maker http://artisticwoodstudio.com/
John Ormsby
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1238 posts in 1935 days
#4 posted 1495 days ago
I like those jigs. They are perfect for their intended use. I also would like to see the finished project.
-- Oldworld, Fair Oaks, Ca
Bruce
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#5 posted 1494 days ago
So cool!
-- I think of Jack Nicholson as the Joker in Batman when he says "Where does he get those wonderful toys" and ask WHERE DO U GUYS GET ALL THAT WONDERFUL WOOD?
rooster
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110 posts in 2135 days
#6 posted 1493 days ago
Great Idea! Favorited!
stefang
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#7 posted 1493 days ago
The jigs do a really great job. Well done. Is this a type of construction that is widely used? I’ve never seen it before. It always amazes me at the many uses dovetails are put to.
-- Mike, American in Norway
sherman
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2 posts in 1420 days
#8 posted 1420 days ago
do you think there is a way to get plans for the dovetail jigs?
-- H. Sherman Vogel, Natchitoches, LA
Mark Shymanski
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3958 posts in 1910 days
#9 posted 1397 days ago
It would be great to see a video of these in action.
-- "Checking for square? what madness is this! The cabinet is square because I will it to be so!" Jeremy Greiner LJ Topic#20953 2011 Feb 2
sherman
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2 posts in 1420 days
#10 posted 1397 days ago
perhaps someone could make a template of each part of the dovetail and include instructions. I would certainly pay for them, and I’m sure others will also.
-- H. Sherman Vogel, Natchitoches, LA
kevintroutt
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3 posts in 1312 days
#11 posted 1312 days ago
Hi Matt,
I would love to get a set of plans for this jig. How could I? Thanks so much for posting this project!
Kevin
-- Kevin
MJMeers
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29 posts in 1609 days
#12 posted 1266 days ago
I honestly can’t take credit for the design…my father-in-law sketched out what he wanted and I helped him build them…
However, he did create a Lumberjocks profile and I’m sure he’d be more than happy to talk about the jigs.
http://lumberjocks.com/dog434
-- Matt, RI
MJMeers
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29 posts in 1609 days
#13 posted 1084 days ago
Bob has started his log cabin…the link below will take you to his blog.
http://lumberjocks.com/dog434/blog/16511
-- Matt, RI
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