# Harbor Freight Dovetail jig



## wseand

Fun tickets, never heard them called that. Well done review, I have been thinking about getting one of them. I might just throw some fun tickets HF way and get one.


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## russ960

Thank you for the review and information as I was thinking about purchasing this unit.


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## Pete_Jud

I bought one a couple of years ago, got it home and found out that it won't do through dovetails. Took it back and bought 2 Porter Cable 4212's.


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## Dcase

Based on the problems or issues you said you had when first using the jig it sounds like the same problems I had when I first used my Leigh dovetail jig. I watched demo videos, and read just about every page of the instructions and I still had to play with it for hours before I got my dovetails to fit right. Once I spent the time and a ton of practice later I finally got it figured out. I think with these jigs it all boils down to just getting the hang of it. After that they all do pretty much the same thing.


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## a1Jim

Who would have guessed a HF dovetail jig worth having. I buy a number of their products but not very many.


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## Routerisstillmyname

Yes indeed, I couldn't pass it up for $22 either.it's much better than some jigs selling for 3-4 times more.and works with thicker wood cause he fingers are long.


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## cwdance1

Thanks for the review as I too have been wanting to do some dovetails but could not affort one of the expensive sets at this time. I will be heading to HF tomorrow for one of these.

Thanks
Terry


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## docholladay

Thanks for the suggestion on the link to the instructions. I have had one of these jigs for a few years now. After several attempts to figure things out from the ridiculous instructions that came with it, I gave up and put it on the shelf and it hasn't been used since. Maybe with these instructions, I can give it a try again with better success this time.


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## Tim29

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I was apprehensive about putting this review on here because before I tried this jig the words "Harbor Freight" and "Dovetail Jig" should not have meant anything good. I was proven wrong so I figured you guys should know about it. 
I did forget to mention I am using a 1/2" 14 degree dovetail bit.


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## AaronK

thanks for the serious review. this jig, and other cheap ones of similar design, are often given terrible reviews. I'm sure the instructions are crappy, but that doesn't mean the problem is with the hardware. there is the nice instructions that you linked, as well as a pretty comprehensive one put out by POrter Cable.

if I recall correctly, a couple big problems that people did have with hardware involved:
1) wood slipping in the clamps because the cams aren't strong enough and the plastic will break if you force it.
2) the plastic template that you route around deflects because it is thin and weak.

could you address these issues?


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## davidmicraig

Thanks for the review Tim. I am glad you posted this. Please don't hesitate to post any findings on an off brand tool. An expensive tool with a an extensive warranty is one that I assume will work well and I can always take it back if it don't. Professional reviews on those types of items are pretty easy to find. However, there are cheap tools out there that I get curious if anyone tried with good or great success and reviews on those items are harder to come by.

Just a few comments to add to your very detailed review. The link to the instructions you provided is excellent and I have a printout of the same set of instructions. This jig is exactly the same as the one offered by Grizzly and Rockler (for a few more pennies). There is math and setup involved when using the jig. There is a formula based on the size of your router plate. You did the math, you worked on the setup, you used flat boards, and you got nice results. All are crucial or the jig will not work well. Dovetail jigs are not designed as "no brainers" where you just slap the boards in, make your cuts, and everything is perfect.

Also, I have noticed an error in assembly on some of these models at the factory. On the model I purchased (and have seen on a few in other people's shops) the handle assembly was put on backwards. This caused the handle to tighten on the boards by pulling it towards the router template instead of away from it. When the handle goes toward the template, you do not have the proper clearance to cut the dovetails. The fix is pretty simple, there are knobs that hold the assembly together. Unscrew them, turn the assembly and screw the knobs back on. If anyone has this problem, shoot me a line and I will put together a little tutorial on fixing the issue.

Thanks again Tim, great review!

David


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## Tim29

Aaronk:
On issue 1: When you look at the round black metal pieces where the handles attach, you will see 4 gray round pieces (both top and bottom handles). These are made of plastic and I can see where people could have a problem after lots of use with the clamps too tight. I have not had any of these issues yet but I have only had the jig 3 days as of 7/27. No slipping yet but time will tell.
On issue 2: The template is made of metal so no flexing or brittleness. I have however read a review where a person bought the same jig from a different store and the template was bent slightly. Bent slightly on dovetails=off horribly. If this happened I am pretty sure a person could just take the jig back and get another if so inclined.
I hope this helps and thank you for reading.


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## AaronK

thanks. that doesn't seem that bad to me. might have to give this one a shot.


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## Crushgroovin

So hey how did you get it for $23 bucks? I buy quite a few products from HF but don't see any coupons or ads for the dovetail jig. @ $34 it has been on my radar but hey I would gladly save 11 bucks!


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## Routerisstillmyname

It's was on sale at the store last week maybe it's still on sale this week.


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## mathom7

I picked this one up tonight based on this review. I wasn't going to buy one, but, I saw it in Harbor Freight this afternoon on sale for $22.99. I always carry a 20% coupon in my wallet, so I walked out paying $18.39 plus tax. Woodstock International makes some different sized templates for use with this, so I'm hoping to find a local distributor to pick up a few different sizes.

I haven't been turned down using this coupon that has no restrictions on printing. Here is a link for one that is good until August 20th.

http://www.retailmenot.com/view/harborfreight.com


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## Broglea

Tim - Thanks for the review. I've been looking at this jig for some time now. next time I'm across town I will be buy this jig.


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## Tim29

Thats great mathom7. Thanks for the coupon link. I hope you have as good of luck as I have had with mine. I figured at such a cheap price I would not be out much if it did not work. An even cheaper price makes it that much better.


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## b2rtch

I cannot find this jig on sale where I live


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## b2rtch

David, " 
There is a formula based on the size of your router plate. You did the math, you worked on the setup, you used flat boards, and you got nice results. All are crucial or the jig will not work well. Dovetail jigs are not designed as "no brainers" where you just slap the boards in, make your cuts, and everything is perfect.

Can you please explain this,I never had or used one of this jig, what are you talking about?
Thank you.
Bert


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## davidmicraig

Bert,

If you click on the first pic you will notice two clamps. One clamp holds a board horizontally, one holds the board vertically. These dovetail jigs allow you to create half blinds on two mating pieces. The horizontal clamp also works as a type of stop for your router plate, so there is a formula that is in the instructions that detail how far away to move the horizontal clamp so that you have a proper cut. The formula is based on the size of your router plate. I have heard some complaints about this style dovetail jig but I think part of the problem is that the formula was not followed and test cuts were not performed to make sure the project came out proper.

Some jigs are more user friendly than others, but all require a little work to make sure the settings are correct.

I hope this clarifies a little.

David


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## b2rtch

Thank you for explanation David.


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## CyBorge

Wow, David, I had no idea that the clamping assembly could be reversed! Never occurred to me to try. I've only had a chance to use mine once, but I found myself unscrewing and removing the lever repeatedly to get it out of the way of the router. It was rather annoying. I successfully reversed my clamp assembly tonight. It's going to save me some grief if I ever get around to using the thing again!


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## Tim29

I assembled mine wrong out of the box and put the top handle on the wrong side. I only noticed the error when I put my router up to the jig for the first time.


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## lanwater

Thanks for the review.

I appreciate the manual link. I have the same one and the manual is totally useless.


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## dfletcher

I have this jig and I love it. I didn't think to change to a 7/16" bushing, though. Might try that next set-up. Also, thanks for the link to the instructions/.


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## mcoyfrog

Great review, i just recently got a sears jig at a yard sale and haven't had a chance to use it yet this will help with my trials and errors LOL


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## Jim Jakosh

Hi Tim. . I don't know if you get the 20% off coupons for HF but I get them all the time n the AARP magazine and Popular Science. They are good for 20% off the advertized discount price too.

I also have this jig and had to do a bunch of tweaking to it to get it to work right and now I can make all kinds of dovetails with it. I bought another old 1Hp Sears router on E bay just like the one I already have and it came with a set of bushing and I had one set from a garage sale so I set up one router with 5/16" straight bit and use that for roughing out the dove tails to remove the bulk of the material. Then I take the 1/2" dovetail bit on the other router and cut all the dovetail shapes.

I wrote up a set of instructions that I use when setting it up each time because I use it so infrequently that I forgot what worked and might have to do the learning process each time. I do alway use FLAT wood- no cupping- and start with scrap pieces of exactly the same thickness to get the fit right before cutting good wood


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## tyvekboy

Tim -

If you look on Page 18 of the manual you referenced, there is a good hint on how to adjust the fit of your dovetails. Look for the section that says FIT TOO TIGHT OR TOO LOOSE. Assuming everything else is setup correctly, how much the bit projects from the base affects the fit of the tails and pins. Just a little tweaking will do.


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## dbhost

I had that one, wanted through Dovetail jig when I bought it, sold it, and bought a through jig. I liked the half blinds mine did, am SERIOUSLY considering buying another one…

Thanks for the tip on the manual.


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## TheWoodsmith

Thanks for the great review I had just purchased one about a week before i saw your review. I talked the store manager into selling me the display model, walked outta there with it for 18 bucks. no manual however. so i looked at hf's manual online and you called it… it was crap but the manual you referenced had alot better info and I too found that this little jig is sweet for the money!


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## TheDane

Tim-Thanks for the review! I picked one of these up at the HF store in Green Bay a couple of weeks ago and finally had time to play with it. By heeding your advice (and throwing away the manual that came with it), I have been able to cut perfect half blind dovetails.

I like it well enough that I have ordered the other templates (7/16" and 9/16" dovetails as well as 5/8" box joint) from Grizzly.com, and plan to build a station for it similar to the one the guys on the WoodSmith Shop TV show had on their website last year.

One thing I would add … to reduce the potential for tear-out, I take a real light left-to-right 'skim cut' across the fingers of the template before I route between the fingers. Gives me cleaner cuts.


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## b2rtch

When I read reviews for just about any product, for example on Amazon, I am always amazed that for the very same product some people give 5 stars and some people hate the product.
Same thing with this jig, some people say that it is very easy to learn and to use and some give up trying to use it.

I am somewhere in the middle. 
I spent the day yesterday trying to cut a good dovetail so far with no success but I did not yet gave up.
I have used two different manuals and a wood magazine instruction to try to figure this thing out but there is something wrong in the instruction ( even the better manual) or , most likely, there I just don't get it.
I know that in the better manual, the chart with the distance between the fence and the end of the guide is wrong as if I set my jig by the given instruction my dovetail are always way to deep.

Interestingly enough I found out that the first dovetail bit that I was using is undersized by quite a bit. 
I went to buy another one.


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## TheDane

I, too, was frustrated by the 'Fence Adjustment Table' ... it just about drove me to drink. I don't how they came up with those numbers, but they don't work with anything I have.

I went through about a dozen test cuts using salvaged 5/8" pine.

My router is a PC690, which, AFAIK, is about the most standard standard router you are going to find. I have Porter-Cable bushings, and was using the 7/16" OD guide bushing with a Freud 1/2" 14-degree dovetail bit. My PC690 base is 5 3/4" in diameter. With the bushing installed, the distance from the collar on the bushing to the edge of the base is 2 21/32".

According to the table in the Woodstock Intl version of the manual, with 5/8" stock, the distance from the front edge of the template to the fence should be 3 23/32".

With the bit set to the recommended depth (9/16" from the router base to the bottom edge of the but), this setup produced dovetails that were a) way too shallow, and b) way too tight.

Through trial-and-error, here are the settings I came up with to cut perfect dovetails in my 5/8' stock:
Fence position: 3 7/8" from front of template to the fence
Bit Depth: 21/32"

-Gerry


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## rogerw

I bought one of these a couple years ago and was quite disappointed with it but you get what you pay for I guess. Like you said the instructions are about useless. Thanks for the link to the instructions. I will print them out and give it another go.

Hope I have better luck. 

roger


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## woodman1962

well thanks for all the info.I am new to the site and think the reviews are a great way to here about a product.I have been wanting to purchase one but did not think i could afford it.


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## b2rtch

Patience is the name of the game.
I spent 2 days or more tweaking this thing and doing the recommended modifications, finally it works. 
I now cut very nice dovetails every time.


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## TheDane

Bert-I knew you would nail it! Congrats …

-Gerry


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## lc48

has anyone tried the saws-all from HF? Yea or nay? Thanks for your feedback.


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## b2rtch

I have one HF saw-alls for years, I abused it many times and it still works.
I used to the remodel all my upstairs. I cut everything with it and now I use almost daily to cut pallets to put in my wood stove.
I am very satisfied with it.


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## b2rtch

Thank you Gerry. 
Especially thank you for your help and for your encouragments.


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## Techo

Can you resend the link to the "better" instructions? It is dead.


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## b2rtch

http://pics.woodstockint.com/manuals/d2796_m.pdf


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## SouthFloridaSun

This may help as well. I have not bought the Harbor Freight dovetail jog yet but I am planning on doing so today for the current price of $33.00. After reading the reviews I found this You Tube video that although the product appears under a different name I am 99.9% sure this is the same dovetail jig.


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## TheDane

I have the HF jig … the one BusyBee has is nearly identical (only difference I see is the side stops … this one has plastic stops that are held in place with screws, while my jg has metal stops held in place with hex bolts).

The guy in the video does a pretty nice job explaining it. He didn't address what I think is the biggest shortcoming of this jig, and that is the fact that the overhead mechanism (that holds the front/back in place) moves, making repeatability a real challenge. I modified mine to deal with this …


Full disclosure: I still have this jig, but don't use it any more, having rep0laced it with a Porter-Cable 4112 that I bought on CraigsList for $40.


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## SouthFloridaSun

I almost bought the HF one last night but I didnt do it. Mainly because I am not doing a project right now where I need one. I did however look at it and I think with following the direction from BusyBee and other similar dovetail jigs I think I could get it to work fine. I really would like to make boxes and other things using dovetails but it seems to be a complicated joint. Probably why the Kreg pocket hole jig, which I own, sells like it does. Its very easy and with the right forethought you can hide all the pocket holes


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## WvuBeerman

I tried to find that instruction manual you mentioned above and the link did not work, could you help me find it, new to using a jig and instructions might help.


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## b2rtch

go to this page :
https://www.woodstockint.com/manuals

item : D2796


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## jimmyjj

old post, but this jig is still available. more reviews of it? can it do all types of dovetails (thorugh, half, 5/14, etc)?


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## TheDane

jimmyhopps-No through dovetails. It comes with a 1/2" template. Other templates (box joint, etc.) from Woodstock (I think) would fit. It is a bear to setup.


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## jimmyjj

Thanks Gerry. I see that in the HF website reviews. Although best I can determine, most of the difficulty is due to a very poor instructions manual. Do you agree? I've seen several posts that say one can easily use the Woodstock manual or others and setup is a lot easier. Also curious as to if the setup is that much harder than the other jigs on the market (assuming comparable manual). Seems like those take some tweaking also.


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## TheDane

The HF jig uses an adjustable fence that controls how far into the front/back boards the bit can travel. That setting is critical and due to the slop in the mechanism is very hard to get right.

By contrast, on the PC 4112 I use now the bit travels all of the way to the back of the template.

The side guides on the HF are also tricky to get right … there are two on each side that are independently adjustable (tricky to get all four set correctly), while the PC 4112 uses one guide on each side that is far easier to set up. Mine came with different guide sets for different sizes of dovetails.

I got good results with the HF jig (I used the Woodstock manual), but it took a lot of fiddling to get it right. I bought the additional aluminum templates, but have never used any of them.


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## Hinker

Just purchased this machine and found the instructions lacking. YOUTUBE has a great video for the same jig (different name) at 



. Very helpful for set-up and trouble shooting.


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## g33kym0m

Not sure (scanned the comments but could have missed it!) if anyone posted the updated link to the manual referenced in the original post. But just in case:

Dovetail Jig D2796 Manual Updated Link


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## aktreker

The link to the manual has changed. I found it at: https://d27ewrs9ow50op.cloudfront.net/manuals/d2796_m.pdf

I've been a wood hobbyist for a few decades and have never had the inclination to try dovetails. Picked up the HF jig when it was on sale a year, or so, ago. Figured I'd try to use it so working on a hidden compartment jewelry box and want to try dovetails similar to Wood magazine #271, contrasting corners box.


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