Thread: Woodrat

If I remember correctly the cost of these were fairly high in comparison to the other jigs around.
Whilst one has to make a choice early in the piece if he is going to opt for a jig in the workshop and there are a few good ones out there,this one hasn't been readily available here in Oz in recent times.
It is capable of a number of options but
I'm glad I have my Leigh and all its attributes which even the Woodrat would find a hard act to follow!
Cheers

Could I trouble you for a bit of info about the Leigh Johnno? My brother (in Boston) has an Incra Ultra Linear that he swears by but it's a very expensive bit of gear, even if I buy it in the US. What do you generally do with the Leigh and, roughly, what does it cost?

Hi Rick,At the risk of having the ire of the BB come down on me I'll post a couple of URLS for you to scan at your leisure.
The first one is the home site for Leigh Industies in Canada; http://www.leighjigs.com

and the second is for the Oz importer Mik International in Adelaide which shows the current price; http://www.mik.com.au

The jig in its raw form allows me to to do through,halfblind,angled,and sliding dovetails in material up to 24inches in width.
I have used it for shelving,box making,drawers and some dovetails at times in cabinets.

It also has optional templates which are costly being machined from aluminium but are solid and worth the money if you have the work to justify them.

I have the MMT(multiple morse and tenon)template which is self explanatory in that it allows you to cut mortises and tenons in varying thickness's across the width to 24 inches.
Then there is the finger joint template which I have also which can produce a variable number of finger joints in widths and thickness's.

The company has gone on to produce a few more fancy templates which are primarily aimed at the decorative side of woodwork but still in a jointing vein.These are called Isoloc templates.

I guess that whilst I have been an advocate for this jig and all it offers mainly because I have what I consider I need with this jig,it's major disadvantage is cost of setting yourself up with it.
Depending on ones intentions the requirements in varying router bits to achieve close to or near it's full potential is not without some considerable thought.

You do need a series of router bits in dovetail 8%,14% degrees and a series of straight cutters some do come with the jig.

If considering venturing further there are sets of router bits produced by CMT and I think also Carbi-Tool which would have been a cheaper option for me had they done this some time way back before now.

This jig under GST is still very affordable compared to the days before GST but one certainly has to thoroughly compare the jigs around before investing.

I have been on other BB's Where there are fans for most jigs but those that have gone on and bought the Leigh have had nothing but praise for it.

One final note in that the manual that comes with the jig is very comprehensive and needs time and patience to work through it.
Because you are working with angled cuts and sometimes extremely fine cuts...there are no short cuts.
Hope this helps and good luck in your choice.
Cheers


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Johnno

[This message has been edited by John Saxton (edited 27 June 2001).]

For the digitally disabled I moved this from the routing forum...
I had a look through the site and it struck me as being an overengineered underachieving piece of equipment, after spending $1079.00 plus freight and import duty on the beast you have to go home and build some more to get it to work. Something horribly wrong their and I would not like to part with that may dollars and have to finish the job.
It appears from the narrative that over 80 degrees F the operator has troubles , no good to you Shane except in mid winter at midnight .
For that money I could have a Leigh and an Incra or either of the above and a damned good router and seletion of CMT bits.
Thanks but no thanks.
Interesting to hear others views.........

Iain, you weren't starting to feel left out over in the routing forum eh?

I thought the routing forum seemed arena apropos for this discussion, but, shot in the foot again . I even brought my own drinks along but no one wanted to share.

G'day Australia,I am a novice Router boss owner in the UK. Recently attended a one day course at the home of the Wood Rat,and was disappointed with the general build qualityn of the Rat, but very impressed with what it could do with some practice.I discovered at that time that the Router Boss was on the market too. Looking on the net I could see that the RB was a fantastic improvement of the Rat and decided to see one in action at Richard Fairbrothers workshop. With out doubt the RB is far superior to the Rat.I bought one that day ,with all the Bells and Whistles too.I am installing it at home now.I hope to be able to post some good results soon. P.S. How are our good old boys doing in the Ashes series at the moment? Dipper in the UK

Each to his own, I did the course in Wells with Martin about 9 months ago and whatever you think of him or his invention I couldn't fault the quality of the Rat. On the UK forums they get really suspicous of first time posters pushing products or dealers.

Originally Posted by Gyroman

On the UK forums they get really suspicous of first time posters pushing products or dealers.

As do we of 1st time posters reviving a 10 year old thread