All Replies on Tenon Jig Opinions

what are the differences in quality that you see between your old one, and the newer ones?

-- ㊍ When in doubt - There is no doubt - Go the safer route.

I mostly see mortisers around ,What I use is a multi-router works slick, but spendy.

-- W James Brokenbourgh Custom furniture maker http://artisticwoodstudio.com/

My older one was a beefier and heavier jig. I went to Lowes to look at the jig they had in stock but it was in a box and they wouldn’t open it, so I drove to a woodworking store about 30 miles from my house and they had a new delta assembled and on display. When I placed it on a display table saw I noticed that it had a slight wobble in it. I brought this to the attention of the store and we adjusted the miter bar. There was no slop in the bar but the base of the jig still had a slight wobble and did not have a good solid fit in the table saw top. No adjustments to correct this. We brought it over to a differrent table saw, a Powermatic, and it was the same. Then we tried it on a third saw, a SawStop cabinet saw, with the same results. Store owner and I agreed this was not good.

-- Every step of any project should be considered your masterpiece if you want the finished product to reflect the quality of your work. http://www.FineArtBoxes.com

Try a Grizzley.
Bill

-- bill@magraphics.us

Hello Bill,
What is is about the grizzly that impresses you? Do you own one and how accurate is it?

-- Every step of any project should be considered your masterpiece if you want the finished product to reflect the quality of your work. http://www.FineArtBoxes.com

I’ve read good reviews on the Grizzly tenoning jig. Granted there’s not much to a tenoning jig to begin with so it’s pretty hard to get it wrong. This one at Rockler (http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=10185&TabSelect=Reviews) has great reviews and it’s almost identical to the Delta I use in my shop. This one’s on sale (http://www.woodcraft.com/product.aspx?ProductID=144755&FamilyID=4847) and uses the same castings again as the one from Rockler and my Delta. I say bite the bullet and buy one, if you’re not satisfied send it back.

-- "At its best, life is completely unpredictable." - Christopher Walken

Gregg,

I was too cheap to buy a tenoning jig, so I made my own. It’s safe, efficient and versatile. I also use it as a panel raising jig. It was made from scraps I had laying around the shop. You can check it out here at LJ’s at the following link.

http://lumberjocks.com/projects/13487

What you won’t see in the pics is the vertical sacrificial strip I use when cutting tenons or raised panels. I just screw it on from the backside of the jig above the blade height.

I’m sure you can do even better!

-- I love the smell of sawdust in the morning....

Greg,
The one Grizzly sales is the same one Woodcraft sales as their store model if I’m not mistaken, just has different handles. I have one and it works great once you adjust it to your saw. It may not be as “Beefy” as your older delta, but for under $70 it is a darn good jig.

I have the woodcraft version and my friend has the Grizzly, other than the handles, you can not tell the difference, they are both even the same green.

-- Don S.E. OK

I just decided on and ordered the woodcraft jig. It was on sale for $65 and had only $5 shipping. Hope it does the job as the likelyhood of me finding another identical old Delta model is sllim at best.
Thanks for all the input.

-- Every step of any project should be considered your masterpiece if you want the finished product to reflect the quality of your work. http://www.FineArtBoxes.com

Well one thing about it Greg, when you get it…you put it together…every piece of it (at least mine was like that) So there was no trying to figure what what was wrong stuff. I put it together and matched it to my saw when I did…. has been a super little jig since then.

-- Don S.E. OK

What is there to fit to the saw? Flat base with 3/4 rib is all there is to the fitting, isn’t it??

-- "some old things are lovely, warm still with life ... of the forgotten men who made them." - D.H. Lawrence Wake Up America!! Please read; http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/01/26-0

True Topamax, but it will not be exactly square. Kind of like squaring your blade to your miter slots, it has a few adjustments to square it to the blade/miter slot.

-- Don S.E. OK

Ok, I thought there might be more to eliminate that rocking on the table business. That must be a very poor machining job :-((

-- "some old things are lovely, warm still with life ... of the forgotten men who made them." - D.H. Lawrence Wake Up America!! Please read; http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/01/26-0

Bob,
It could have been a poor machining job, or it could have been put together very poorly in the store. Every look at the tools put together at the local home improvement store ??? “Scary”...and then they charge for assemble, lol.

-- Don S.E. OK

My Grizzly jig was mostly assembled when I received it….... oh, wait…. I forgot, I had to take the damn thing apart and clean that nasty-ass grease off every piece of it. But, it worked well after it was cleaned up.

I’ve never looked at them very close on display. Most of the power tools I use and use up are drill motors, saws and batteries.

-- "some old things are lovely, warm still with life ... of the forgotten men who made them." - D.H. Lawrence Wake Up America!! Please read; http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/01/26-0

juniorjock,
They HAVE to be made by the same people, mine looked like it was dipped in a grease barrel.

-- Don S.E. OK

They have to grease everything now to keep the salt air off of it in transit :-((

-- "some old things are lovely, warm still with life ... of the forgotten men who made them." - D.H. Lawrence Wake Up America!! Please read; http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/01/26-0

I have the woodcraft version and agree with Don. Once I set it up for my saw it works great.

-- Martin, Kansas