Thread: Gifkin Dovetail Jig

Try the whole schmeer (sp?) upside down mat.

I have a home made jobbie similar to the Gifkins, and have used it before clamped to the workpiece, then the workpiece clamped in the Superjaws so the jig is upside down and uppermost, at about waist height. Then use the router handheld.

Rout with the jig between you and the router, great visibility and control, and the chips fly away from you.


Cheers.................Sean

thanks Sean

I don't have the gifkins and am in the process of weighing up the gifkin vs leigh. It seems that the gifkins is probably better for boxes and fixed thickness timber. The Leigh seems better for larger timber eg draws etc and allows for a more varied thickness without buying extra guides.

I'm not sure what you mean by fixed thickness timber and boxes.

The Gifkins works beautifully on small jewellery boxes which are made from 8mm thick timber or equally well on large drawers and blanket chests. It's just matter of having the correct templates (there are 3 sizes with 2 variations for each). Most would only use the A or B series which take 1/4 and 1/2 inch cutters respectively.

The Gifkins only does 'through' dovetails which is it's only real drawback. It's no where near the price of a Leigh jig either. You have to have a router table to use it properly although Scooter has a good solution for long boards.

The Leigh D1600 at $499 is only $50 dearer than the gifkins with 2 templates. You would need at least 2 templates to get anywhere near the flexibility in terms of timber thickness that you can use on the Leigh.

Gumby

When I said boxes I meant small boxes. I should have said template rather than guide in my last post. When I said fixed thickness I was referring to a situation where you would need only 1 gifkin template and not more.

Have you actually used the gifkins for drawers or blanket box and if so did you use the upside down method as per scooters suggestion?

The clamping for larger timber certainly seems to be more secure on the Leigh.

Routed dovetails with the Gifkins using 1200 x 290 x 19 boards using the B10 template on a series 2000 Triton router table.

Not a problem. Because you are only moving the jig an 25 - 30 mm or so, there was no problem with ballance!

Why stuff around with taking the router out of the table etc when ya don't have too!

Originally Posted by gazaly

Routed dovetails with the Gifkins using 1200 x 290 x 19 boards using the B10 template on a series 2000 Triton router table.

Not a problem. Because you are only moving the jig an 25 - 30 mm or so, there was no problem with ballance!

Why stuff around with taking the router out of the table etc when ya don't have too!

Thanks for that gaz, I've never gone that big myself but it's helpful to know it's that easy.

Mat,
Obviously I'm a Gifkins fan and I always thought Leigh jigs were more expensive than that. Anyway, it's a line ball decision you'll have to make.

The Gifkins doesn't have a minimum thickness, any template will work on any thickness up to it's maximum. That is 10mm for the H, 13mm for the A and 22mm for the B series. The maximum width of any piece is 300 for the H and A series, 310 for the B series. They are the only limiting factors.

I've made drawers for my workbench which are about 300 x 600. That's about the biggest project. Also a very small jewellery box (see pic). I haven't tried Scooter's method - haven't had the need. I have only 2 templates, the A and B series. I do like the set of 4 box cutting bits Gifkins sells as an extra. The booklets are also excellent.

Obviously when making drawers, you need to put on a false front if you want to hide the dovetails at the front.
cheers

Leigh Jig starting at $450 - no bids yet

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/LEIGH-D4-DOVE...QQcmdZViewItem

Originally Posted by Gumby

Thanks for that gaz, I've never gone that big myself but it's helpful to know it's that easy.......

No problems our Bendy friend, my pleasure!

Originally Posted by Gumby

......Also a very small jewellery box (see pic)..........

Beautiful box Gumby. Loggerheads timber?

Hi Gumby!

Sorry for the hijack, so I'll be brief: Your signature line has the following in it "If it wasn't for gravity, the sky would be full of dead birds" - so, why aren't the pavements & roads, or paddocks and fields full of them?

Cheers!

Originally Posted by gazaly

Beautiful box Gumby. Loggerheads timber?

Yes, of course. Unfortunately I've heard Graham is ill and not continuing the business. I did make another one though, from standard size timbers which i milled to size, just to prove to myself that I could do it without the pre-cut Loggerhaeds timber. Worked a treat too.

Originally Posted by Auld Bassoon

Hi Gumby!

Sorry for the hijack, so I'll be brief: Your signature line has the following in it "If it wasn't for gravity, the sky would be full of dead birds" - so, why aren't the pavements & roads, or paddocks and fields full of them?

Cheers!

They burn up in the atmosphere on the way down. Don't you watch TV ?

the only problem ive had with the gifkins is not with the jig (it works as advertised) but in the way I set the cutter. Once i didn't raise the cutter high enough above the table so that the cutter bearing was slightly below the jig and ended up shaving a bit of one of the tail profiles of the jig. And its very important to use a thin sacrificial bit of timber on the outside of the timber your cutting to avoid tearout esp. with plywood.

The leigh jig is a little trickier to set up but the leigh instruction manual should be used as a template for all instruction manuals . they must have spent just as much designing it as developing the jig, its so good.

Both jigs cut nice accurate dovetails

"[QUOTE=econ] And its very important to use a thin sacrificial bit of timber on the outside of the timber your cutting to avoid tearout esp. with plywood."

I did sit through a demonstration by Roger Gifkins at the BrisWWShow and he recommends the first cut you just shave 5mm out of each cut - ie you do not cut through in the first pass then return to complete the cut with the second pass taking 5 seconds for each cut - nice and slow. I found it worked well on hardwoods with no tearout.

PS Can someone please tell me how to use the proper quote thingy - I can't get it. :confused:

Cheers

Originally Posted by econ

And its very important to use a thin sacrificial bit of timber on the outside of the timber your cutting to avoid tearout esp. with plywood.

No it isn't. If you cut it properly as Teejay says and you have a good sharp bit, you won't have a problem with tearout. I've never heard or seen Roger recommend this method of a sacrificial piece.

Originally Posted by TEEJAY

PS Can someone please tell me how to use the proper quote thingy - I can't get it. :confused:
Cheers

Just make sure that when you edit the quoted bit, you leave in the square brackets at the start and end of the quote. The one you posted had the end bit missing, i.e. [/QUOTE]

Go back to your post, edit it and put that in after the quoted bit at the top and save the changes, it should work then.

Originally Posted by Gumby

........the qouted bit..........