# Please help



## Hazardpay (Jan 6, 2014)

A little help would be greatly appreciated. My wife's uncle is an engineer as was his father. Both of them hold several patents in design and engineering. His father was also a furniture maker, and he used to build his own solid aluminum jigs. He was a full time machinist and made an entire box full of incredible jigs. My wifes uncle found the box and gifted it to me over the weekend. In the box was a bunch if miscellaneous doweling jigs, for panels and mitered corners etc. Really incredible stuff and precise. However there was something in there i cannot figure out. It would be great if i could get some answers. This is probably the best forum for this. 
Thanks in advance
Michael


----------



## Gene01 (Jan 5, 2009)

Definitely a router jig. Might be a small hinge jig. The holes look to be different sizes. The corners have me stumped, also.


----------



## 489tad (Feb 26, 2010)

I agree a router jig. Adjustable fence. Use could be hinges. The corners are drilled first so the flats could be machined to size. The router bushing is bigger than the corner so there would be worries of running into the offset drilled holes. Do some test cuts with bushings and bits to see what you might use the jigs for.


----------



## 489tad (Feb 26, 2010)

Another idea, if the furniture built with the jigs is available to you, match them up so see if they were used for hinges, or mortises. Good luck and keep us posted.


----------



## Hazardpay (Jan 6, 2014)

Unfortunately the furniture i have from him does not match up with either of these holes. My first thought was a mortice jig but the sizes are strange. The other doweling jigs i received are so perfectly done and precise i can assure you i will never buy any sort of jig like that. Which makes me wonder why the corners on this jig are not as perfect or maybe that was intentional? Keep the ideas coming.


----------



## Dal300 (Aug 4, 2011)

Looks like a humbucking pickup router jig for a guitar.


----------



## Hazardpay (Jan 6, 2014)

Ok i called my wifes uncle and he said that he remodeled their kitchen in the 70's and that the jig in question may have been for the hinges. Good work gentlemen, i think ya'll nailed it.


----------



## MalcolmLaurel (Dec 15, 2013)

I can't help with what the jig was for, but the the funky corners in the rectangular hole are almost certainly undercuts so that a rectangular object with sharp corners will fit in the hole (you can't mill inside square corners so they're commonly undercut to avoid the need for tedious hand filing). As such, the undercuts don't have to be precise or any specific size, they just have to leave room for the corners of the mating piece.

As for what it is, it's quite common for a machinist toolmaker to make a jig or fixture for one specific job; then it gets tossed into the junk bin for possible later modification into something else, or simply scrapped. My scrap metal bin contains many such things… I often grab things not deemed worth saving by the toolmakers at work and bring them home, where they save me from having to buy material for my own small projects. As such, it's likely not related to woodworking at all.


----------



## Hazardpay (Jan 6, 2014)

Thanks for the insight. The jig is definately for wood working. The box he made for all the jigs i received was labeled so. All of the other jigs were tediously made for a specific function.(i guess all jig are though).I will post a couple pics of some of the other stuff if everyone would like to take a stab at what they are for.








Obviously a mitre doweling jig



























Some sort of panel doweling jig


----------

