| Project by MJMeers | posted 189 days ago | 1927 views | 9 times favorited | 11 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
11 comments so far
flcopper169
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172 posts in 232 days
posted 189 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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22 posts in 304 days
posted 189 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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16598 posts in 470 days
posted 189 days ago
The largest joinery jigs I’ve seen. these are great
-- Jim from Heirloom Woodshop Southern Oregon
John Ormsby
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503 posts in 629 days
posted 189 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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91 posts in 667 days
posted 189 days ago
So cool!
rooster
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54 posts in 830 days
posted 188 days ago
Great Idea! Favorited!
stefang
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1644 posts in 227 days
posted 188 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 114 days
posted 114 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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1555 posts in 605 days
posted 92 days ago
It would be great to see a video of these in action.
-- ...it's rennovation time!!!
sherman
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2 posts in 114 days
posted 91 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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1 post in 6 days
posted 6 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