Hi Lenny,

I use a bench top jig. I am sorry I can't tell you the brand right off hand 
there are a few very similar, I think I have the manual up stairs so next 
time I stump up there I'll have a look for it.

This is not the sort which allows through dove tails or adjustable ones, I 
am not sure the blind can use those satisfactorily, when I hear Norm use his 
on the New Yankee Workshop he speaks of registering his with a scale and you 
need both a dove tail bit and a straight bit to use them. You will know them 
because instructions are that you flip the comb over to cut the pins. Be 
sure I don't know that we can't use those jigs but I haven't had one in my 
hands to assess it. At over a hundred and fifty bucks I have been reluctant 
to buy one on spec.

What I have then is a free-hand used jig. You mount it at the edge of a work 
bench so that the wall of a drawer say can be fitted against the front edge 
and hang below the edge of the bench. There is a cam lock clamp arrangement 
with a spring return which you have to adjust to the thickness of the wall 
to clamp it vertically into place. You place the wall good side in against 
the face of the jig than slide it to one or other edge of this clamp 
depending on which wall you are cutting. There is a vertical stop to align 
the edge of the wall at each edge of the jig to help aline and get it 
vertical.

There is a similar arrangement at the top of the jig. You slide the front or 
rear of the drawer horizontally under the top clamp and against a stop on 
one or other side of the top surface until the end comes against the wall 
already installed in the front clamp. Again it is front face down. You make 
your adjustments as necessary so that the top of the front edge is flush 
with the inside face of the front member of the drawer. If both are snug 
against the stops and the stops are accurately set the edges will be offset 
half an inch.

There is a comb with slots at half inch intervals which lies over the 
junction of the side wall and front face boards.

You instal a collar into the base plate of your router and your dove tail 
cutter then just gently follow the teeth of the comb with the collar in the 
router. The cutter cuts out the space between the tails on the side wall and 
the space between the pins on the back side of the front panel at the same 
time.

You reverse the top, that is the front member and slide it against the 
opposite side stop and you place the other side member into the front clamp 
against the opposite side stop to make the dove tails for the other side of 
the drawer and of course a similar thing for the rear.

I use short bits of duct tape to mark sides near one end so I don't get them 
mixed up.

This sort of jig is only good for about 14 inches I think and I did recently 
have a project which wanted more so I changed to using a miter with 
biscuits. I would have preferred the dove tail just for showing off.

There are a couple of other adjustments, you need to cut to a fixed distance 
and there is a fence for that and cutting a few test pieces, the depth of 
the cutter will determine how tight the joint will be, you don't want it too 
tight.

You might like a load of scrap to reduce any risk of tear-out along the 
edges although this is the inside face of the side so mostly hidden.

I haven't used my big Triton router for this and don't think I would like to 
but my little Porter Cable does work well. I would really like to get my 
hands on the fancier jig, you can set different spacing which can be 
attractive or even practical where your joint isn't a multiple of half 
inches.

Hope this is helpful, I will find out the make I just don't recall and I am 
still very much limiting my trips up stairs for now.

Dale Leavens, Cochrane Ontario Canada
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Skype DaleLeavens
Come and meet Aurora, Nakita and Nanook at our polar bear habitat.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Lenny McHugh" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Handyman-Blind" <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, March 23, 2007 10:20 AM
Subject: [BlindHandyMan] cutting dove tails


> Dale,
> A while back you mentioned that you were cutting dove tails. I would like 
> to know what equipment that you are using?
> Also does the jig require a free hand router or do you invert it on a 
> router table?
> I have been toying with the idea for a while but so far hadn't really had 
> the need.
> Lenny http://www.geocities.com/lenny_mchugh/
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
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>
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>
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Visit The Blind Handy Man Files Page To Review Contributions From Various List 
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