Dovetails, Leigh Jig questions

Re: Dovetails, Leigh Jig questions

Darrin

>Barry,

You would have to do the fronts and backs differently. The heighths are different, so the edge pins on the bottom of the drawer back are wider. As for thicker fronts and backs vs. sides, it should not be that big a deal. The manual recommends holding the opposing piece up to the bottom side of the jig against the piece you are about to route, and scrbing with a sharp pencil the thickness of the piece that will join at the corner. Clear as mud?

Darrin

Re: Dovetails, Leigh Jig questions

Darrin

>Barry,

I forgot to add, depending on who the drawers are for, does it matter that the pins are gone? You could always just shoot a brad into the corner. I could be wrong, but will it matter structurally?

Darrin

Re: Dovetails, Leigh Jig questions

Barry Irby

>Thanks for the answers. I was beginning to think I had babbled the questions so badly no one would understand.

I wanted a Leigh Jig for years and a friend sold me his that he had bought and basically never used. He made the practice box they start you out on and quit. He "gave" it to me at an embarrassingly cheap price. I think it sat on a shelf in his shop and taunted him and he was glad to see it go. A day or two later he gave me a complete set of bits in both 1/4" and 8mm. I was shocked, but he insisted that they went with the jig. Then I bought two Bosch routers that were "seconds" because they had a slightly mottled finish on them, two for the price of one. I leave them set up to do dovetails. You would think I do a lot of dovetails, but I don't. (Tool gloat here)

You are right about the drawers. I had forgotten the backs and fronts had to be different. I tried to make this quick and simple. What I did was leave the back the same width as the front, thinking that having them all the same width meant I could cut all four corners with the same setup. Then I dadoed all the pieces for the drawer bottoms, saving the backs for last. Raised the blade and just ripped the backs. Thought that was pretty clever until I realized I had ripped off half a pin and that leaves a void at the bottom of the rear corner.

I don't think it will affect the function of the drawers at all. They are not as perfect as they should be, but it should have no affect other than my "perfectionist gene" is wounded.

Since I use the jig rarely, maybe it would be a good idea to leave myself a note not to do this again. I suffer slightly from dyslexia or dysgraphia and the jig is a real mind bender for me. I have to label all the pieces and I still end up talking to myself while I am doing it. (Yes, I have a SIDE clamped, and it is facing OUT, and I have the router with the DOVETAIL bit. Over and over) I am considering color coding the top and bottom of the template and the routers.