For what it is worth, we were taught to create a new jig for each project, and we make them purposely wider than the ends of the pieces they will be attached to, so that the holes tend to line up more obviously properly if you use the correct face for registration.

He didn’t go into his vise/clamping workflow in any detail, but I imagined he would put the workpiece in the vise, then use a separate clamp to hold the jig to it while he screws it in place.

When I did it with nails, I used a flat surface to lay the endgrain piece and the jig on, letting that take care of alignment while I nailed them together. It was slightly fiddly, but I did have success getting a top and bottom attached by three vertical pieces. I remember kind of holding my breath to see if they would all go together, and they did with no problem.

For other reasons, I ended up plugging a set of holes and redrilling them. It was annoying at the time but was far from the most time consuming fix I had to make along the way, so I guess it wouldn’t be the first thing I would try to optimize. If the holes that needed filling were visible, I am sure I would feel differently about it though.

I like your thoughtful approach to this, and in other places in your blog. Having only done this once myself for a practice project and then for a real project, I haven’t gotten to the point where I have ideas about parts of the process I would like to change.

My thoughts:

Not many small-shop woodworkers have a horizontal boring machine.

For working with a hand drill: I imagine that to clamp the workpiece in a vise and clamp the dowel jig to it, the jig would have to be the same thickness as the workpiece. That is, both are clamped from the side by the vise jaws.

I suppose this could work but it adds another precision requirement when making the jig. It also does not allow the jig to be used on different thickness workpieces (at least without shims), which is often necessary in making cabinets such as where the cabinet body pieces drilled on the endgrain are different thicknesses than fixed shelves.

Another option with which I have experimented is to use a much wider side piece that extends a couple of inches down the side of the workpiece. This can be used to clamp the jig to the workpiece from the side. It’s a decent option for thin workpieces but you still need to screw on the jig into the endgrain, and the stock must be very true.

Oh well, there’s more than one way to get these things done. As I’ve said so many times in this blog, the main thing is for each woodworker to find his or her own way that works.

Rob

He commented that he typically puts the workpiece in a vise, clamps the jig to it, then screws it on.

Rob

I can add that based on yesterday’s experience: if using nails, it is important to make sure the jig is longer than the longest piece it will be attached to. Otherwise getting it off with damaging either the jig or the piece will be quite difficult. Another reason screws are attractive.

Yes, indeed, correct! I should have pointed out that the reference end does need to be nice and square to the working faces.

Another thing: Note that I’ve marked the end cleat and the side piece with a little triangle to show the correct orientation for reattaching the pieces so the screw holes line up.

Also, note that the end cleat is a tiny bit narrower than the jig block. This allows a square to meet up to the reference face when using the jig on the side grain workpiece. Photo in next post will make this clear.

Thanks.

Rob