Thread: Your opinions Gifkins v Incra

I have both - exactly the same Incra setup you have just bought, also an older model Gifkins jig with a couple of templates and accessories.

I'd say if you are only interested in fairly standard dovetail joints, the Gifkins wins hands down for convenience/ease of use. For a wider range of fancy joints, the Incra is obviously the place to be.

Since I only do basic dovetails I reach for the Gifkins every time - less thought required, and it just works. My Incra setup is wasted on my router table just being used as a standard fence, and in fact I'll be putting mine up for sale on here as soon as I get around to it.

The guy you bought yours from beat me to the punch, but at least I now know what is a reasonable asking price for the Incra. I'm sure you'd have no trouble selling your Gifkins, but my advice would be to keep it until you're completely happy with using the Incra.

Yep, Brushy. I agree with you whole-heartedly about the ease of use with Gifkins. The main reason I bought it was that you put the piece to be cut in the jig and move the whole thing where-as with other types you have to make an adjustment to continue the repetition or hang on to a thumping great router and move it through the piece. But of course the trade-off is less variety in the type of cuts you can do with Roger's fine invention. If anyone asks my opinion the Gifkins Jig is the one I always recommend and still will. I'm just ready to advance a bit and the 2nd hand Incra was a too good an opportunity to pass up. 100 bucks was a good price I reckon. I paid about 600 for the gifkin s with two sets of cutters, 2 templates and half a dozen spacers for varying joint spaces. I bought a 2nd end stop (which seems standard for the later models) so I could modify the clamping (with Roger's permission) to make it less likely the box components would move during cutting. It's served me well and hopefully the same can be said of the Incra after a bit of use.

I have an incra and have not used the gifkins. I would certainly recomend you keep the gifkins until you've got comfortable with the incra and then decide. You need to ask yourself:

How much do I need the money from the gifkins ?

Do I need it now ?

If I can wait will I be able to make an informed decision later on whether the gifkins is still paying it's way ?

Only you can answer the first two but if you can wait the 3rd question is a probable yes. There are some people who hate the incra system. I think they are a minority, but if you turn out to be one then that's that.

One piece of advice. If you've got the books and video follow the steps precisely at first. Once you've sussed it you can cut corners but initially you have to get everything right and get your head around the process. There are manuals and so forth to download at the incra website, also some good videos there. For your joints to be tight your bit needs to be good, everything square and tight. The fence won't compensate for a sloppy setup/equipment.

2c.