Leigh Super 12, big enough for most people?

Mark, I am a big Leigh fan.. the 12 should be fine for you. You can always index and continue wider if you ever need to. It is more convenient to have a wider one, but 12 should work.

-- making sawdust....

Do you really need a jig for what you plan on building? For sliding dovetails I would use a router table, you can make one, here is mine.

Drawers and boxes, the way to go is with hand cut dovetails. I know, I know, you have to learn to do it, but once you learn the possibilities are endless.

I have a Leigh Super Jig 12, I have used it 2 times I think in 4 years and hate the thing. Things are not good in the kingdom when you get an user manual as thick as War & Peace.

On the other hand, if you are set on getting a jig, I would go with the Akeda jig instead of the Leigh. Check it out.

http://www.akeda.com/

They are better and easier to use. The 24” model is cheaper than the 24” Leigh super jig and $200 less than the DR4. Plus another thing, Leigh might have good customer service if you are in the US or Canada, if you are outside you are SOL. I messed up the guide and asked them to send me one, they wanted to ship to me an $11 piece via UPS and charge me $90 for the shipping. I told them they were crazy, that it was ridiculous. They said this was the only way they would do it to make sure I got the piece. There was no way I could convince them to put it in a box and send it via postal service, you be the judge.

-- Just because you’ve always done it that way doesn’t mean it’s not incredibly stupid.

Depends, do you plan on making boxes or drawers that are larger than 12”?

In my opinion 18” is not big enough for a chest, and an 18” deep drawer is something of an odd thing.

NathanAllen – that’s pretty much my thinking as I don’t plan on making any chests but have a lot of drawers to make.
Thanks for the info about the Akeda jig JGM, I will check out some reviews of that system.