Thread: Fixtures and Jigs for Hand-Cut Joinery

Derek,

They are fantastic, I can see there’s been some thought put into them.

I wish I could follow in your foot steps, my approach to jig making has always been hit an miss, more miss acutely.
There made on the fly, with an inpatient attitude.

Cheers Matt.

In 1966 (start of decimal currency) as a first year apprentice carpenter and joiner I cut 000's of tenons by hand. The joinery shop was forever making timber window frames and flyscreeens. The trick was to look straight down the back of the saw, being a panel saw.

These are great Derek.
My most used fixture/jig is my home made shooting board.
The base is made from an old laminated (laminex) school desk lid, and the rest is from some wormy jacaranda and scraps.
Tom

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Originally Posted by rod1949

In 1966 (start of decimal currency) as a first year apprentice carpenter and joiner I cut 000's of tenons by hand. The joinery shop was forever making timber window frames and flyscreeens. The trick was to look straight down the back of the saw, being a panel saw.

Rod, sawing ... tenon cheeks, tenon shoulders, dovetails .. anything .. is really a matter of following two adjacent lines. You really cannot go wrong if you do this.



My curiosity was whether one can build a fixture for this task. However, there are many who will benefit from the fixtures. They do work as intended.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Derek,

Thank you for showing these very nifty jigs!

What sort of brass bolts tightened by an Allen key are you using for the sliding fence of the mortice jig?

I will shamelessly attempt to replicate these in my attempt to cut mortices & tenons which do actually fit snugly !!!

Cheers,
Yvan

I suspect there will be a diversity of opinions on this issue.

Sawing to a line or chopping a clean, perfectly perpendicular mortise are skills probably most hand-tool enthusiasts aspire to & if you stick at it long enough, they can be mastered by most people. But for someone taking up woodworking later in life when the muscles & nerve pathways aren't as adaptable as they are in your youth, it can be a much slower & more frustrating process, especially when battling away on your own in short time slots squeezed between all the other 'dumb things we gotta do'! Jigs & fixtures can offer a way to get better results sooner, & while some may eventually drop the training wheels, others prefer to stick with the more certain outcomes the aids provide. As long as you're getting the results you want and having fun, there's no shame in that.

There was a time early on in my 'serious' woodworking career when I lost confidence in my ability to saw straight, or chop a straight mortise. I was beginning to think I was just a clumsy dolt & should take up knitting sweaters or some other harmless pursuit, but being cursed with a stubborn nature, I persisted. I found some of my difficulties were due to using inappropriate tools for the task (bevel-edge chisels are not the best choice for mortising!), but most was just a matter of practice. The sawing part was greatly improved by having my saws sharpened & set by people who knew what they were doing (it does make a difference!). Losing access to a good saw-sharpener was the impetus that finally forced me to learn how to sharpen saws for myself & the world of saws took on a whole new dimension..

But now for the confession.
About 30-something years ago, I bought a small hollow-chisel mortiser. At the time I was doing a lot of M&T joinery, and needed to get some speed into it or it was going to take forever. The first machine was barely adequate, but I come from a farming background and a long tradition of persuading inadequate machinery to do its job, and managed to get the thing working tolerably well (the main thing is to sharpen those bits very thoroughly). I got so used to the convenience that I subsequently bought a better machine, so all in all, I have cut few mortises entirely by hand in the last 30 years. I can still do it if I have to, but I'm certainly not very efficient at it.

Cutting dovetails hasn't caused me as much grief as M&T joints, thanks to my old cabinetmaker mentor taking me to task many years ago & insisting I pay attention & cut to the lines (he had a sweet little saw that made it so much easier). I look on a bit of dovetailing as pleasant therapy most of the time, but I will admit there have been a few occasions when I had to cut dozens & dozens of D/Ts and started thinking of ways to speed it up more! So far, I've managed to finish the job before I could dream up any better way....

For the pro, getting the job done to a high standard quickly & efficiently is paramount & acquiring high levels of hand-skill come with the turf, but for the amateur, enjoying the process(es) is equally important, so we manage with what skill levels we can muster. Some folks seem to get even more fun out of making jigs than the eventual product itself, but anything that adds pleasure to your hobby is good, I say..

Cheers,

Thanks Tom. Wormy Jacaranda sounds interesting. Never seen it before, only Jacaranda, when a large bough of a tree on our property dropped one stormy night (..It Was A Dark And Stormy Night ..), and it was resawn for boxes.

Good shooting board. I have a couple to post later on.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Perhaps not what you are after Derek, but here is my minimalist jig for crosscutting shoulders. A squared block of wood and a clamp. What makes it a jig I guess is that I made sure all the opposing faces are parallel to within 0.05 mm. That way I can use a try square on any side of the block and know the other side is also square.
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So how many will end up on the Lee Valley Website eh Derek. I'm surprised the first one hasn't already.

Originally Posted by The Spin Doctor

So how many will end up on the Lee Valley Website eh Derek. I'm surprised the first one hasn't already.

Looks like an the inspiration for the katz moses dovetail jig!

Sent from my SM-S901E using Tapatalk

Originally Posted by derekcohen

My curiosity was whether one can build a fixture for this task. However, there are many who will benefit from the fixtures. They do work as intended.

Yep it's called a tenoning machine.

I like the way he cut the shoulders in this video with a special saw, he starts the M&T at about 8:30 if my copy and paste does not go straight to it. By coincidence this was only posted tonight.

Originally Posted by The Spin Doctor

So how many will end up on the Lee Valley Website eh Derek. I'm surprised the first one hasn't already.

Actually, I did design it for Lee Valley. I thought that it could partner the dovetail guide.

At the time, LV has sent me a simple sawing guide. One could clamp it done to saw vertically. My mind took over, and it developed into this tenon guide. The prototype lived with LV for about 6 months. They went back-and-forth on it, and eventually decided not to use it.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Originally Posted by Chris Parks

I like the way he cut the shoulders in this video with a special saw, he starts the M&T at about 8:30 if my copy and paste does not go straight to it. By coincidence this was only posted tonight.

Yes that little saw and the vice worked well together.
Pretty impressive workshop all round from the looks - a lot of top shelf gear, nicely used
Tom