25 Jigs in 45 Pages

Supplied by WOOD Magazine, Compiled by Traumajunkie Just for /r/Woodworking, Enjoy Guys.

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Auxiliary planer bed

It raises your workpiece to plane thin stock, and bevels too. Thickness planers are wonderful tools; but like most machines, they have their limitations. Many of them will not thickness stock thinner than 1/4", and none of them will plane a bevel. However, outfitted with an auxiliary bed, any planer can perform both of these tasks. We designed our bed to fit a Delta portable planer, but you can change the dimensions, and the shape of the bottomside cleats, to fit any planer. (The cleats prevent the jig from sliding on the table.) The 3/4" thickness of the auxiliary bed raises the height of the workpiece so that you can plane stock less than 1/4" thick. There's no danger of damaging the knives because at the worst they will only cut slightly into the plywood surface. By adding a spacer block under one side of the auxiliary bed, as we did in the photo, above, and the End View drawing, below, you can raise that side so the planer cuts a bevel. You'll find this handy for making such things as siding and thresholds. Note in the photo that we clamped down both sides of the jig. Additionally, we added a fence spacer on the low side of the jig to prevent the planer knives from cutting into the bed before it cuts the full depth of the bevel. Smooth hardwood plywoods, such as birch or maple, work well for the auxiliary bed. If you use a lesser grade, sand it as smooth as possible and apply paraffin wax to lubricate its surface.

Bandsaw Resawing Guide

This resawing guide lets you correct for blade drift, and you can build it from parts you probably have lying around your shop. After struggling with his bandsaw fence, blocks, clamps, and a resaw guide, WOOD magazine reader John Hodges of Kaufman, Texas, decided to design his own bandsaw resawing guide. You can build one just like it by gathering up some scrap stock and following the illustrations below. To use this guide, first mark a line along the top edge of the piece to be resawn. Adjust the center portion of the jig (A) until the bandsaw blade aligns with the marked line on the wood. Tighten the wing nuts that hold A securely to B. Tighten the wing nut in part C to secure it in the mitergauge slot. Because few bandsaw blades track perfectly straight (making a fence almost useless for resawing), the curved end of part A allows you to steer the board into the bandsaw blade and make adjustments to follow your marked line. We recommend using a 1/2"- to 3/4"-wide skiptooth or hook-tooth blade for cleaner cuts. And, always use a pushstick for safety when resawing on a bandsaw.

Bore Vertical holes with scrap stock jig

Here's a quick-fix jig that will come in handy the next time you need to bore a vertical hole in the end of a long workpiece. To make the clamp block, laminate two 2x4s, one 9" long and the other 17" long, as shown in the drawing below. Then, joint the sides that face the workpiece and the drill-press table to achieve a perfect 90 angle. Next, joint the edges and faces of the 1-1/2x2x10" fence to perfect 90 angles. Use a framing square to align the two pieces at 90. Then, fasten the fence to the clamp block with glue and four #8x2-1/2" flathead wood screws, and adhere a piece of 150-grit sandpaper to the clamp block as shown. Now, clamp the jig to the drill-press table, clamp the workpiece to the jig, and you're ready to bore your hole.

E. C. Peters, Brighton, Ont.

One way to make a perfect circle

Disc-sand the workpiece with this quick-and-easy jig the drawing below, from a couple of pieces of particleboard or plywood. Then follow the three steps shown in the photos, below.

Position the jig on your disc sander's table with the cleat contacting the table's right-hand corner, but about 2" away from its left-hand corner. With a single clamp, secure the jig's base to the table. As shown in photo 1.

Fasten the oversize bandsawn top to the jig's base with a #811/4" flathead wood screw. The top overhangs the edge of the jig's base that faces the sanding disc by about 1/4". As shown in photo 2.

Switch on the sander. Pivot the jig until the cleat contacts the sander's table along its full length. Rotate the top against the disc. Keep the jig's base and cleat tight against the sander's table. As shown in photo 3.

Dowel Chamfering Jig

Create precise chamfers on dowel stock with this nifty disc-sander accessory jig.

Create precise chamfers with this nifty disc-sander accessory jig. Chamfered dowels insert easier for alignment purposes, and chamfered ends also create glue space for stronger dowel joints. To quickly create your own consistently chamfered dowels, build the jig shown. We used 1/4" plywood for the base and 3/4" plywood for the two 45 guides. The key is that the right-hand guide is moveable to widen or narrow the gap between the guides, allowing you to increase or decrease the size of the sanded chamfer. We screwed the lefthand guide in place, and secured the right-hand guide with double-faced tape. To use the jig, simply clamp it to your disc-sander table so the inside edge of the jig is next to but not touching the sanding disc. Start the sander, slide the dowel along the left-hand guide, and rotate the end of the dowel clockwise against the disc. The right-hand guide acts as a stop to prevent you from sanding too large a chamfer. If the chamfered end isn't sanding enough, simply move the righthand guide away from the other guide.

Dowel jig has perfect cuts pegged

I needed a number of same-length dowels for a recent project. To keep my hands away from the tablesaw blade while cutting these, I made a dowel-cutting sled that allows me to make multiple cuts of identical lengths safely and accurately. First, I cut a 1/4" slot 1/4" deep across the sled that safely holds dowels from 1/4" to 7/18" in diameter. Next, I attached a 1x2 clamping fence to the sled as shown, and clamped it to my miter gauge so that the distance between the right-hand edge of the sled and the saw blade equaled the length of the dowel I wanted. To make multiple dowels, I slide the dowel stock so that it?s flush with the edge of the jig, make the cut, and then back the sled out of the blade. Sliding the dowel stock to the end of the sled again safely ejects the cut-off dowel and readies the next cut. You can cut additional kerfs in the sled, if you like, for different lengths of dowels as needed. David Ramsey, Cleveland, Tenn.

Dowel Gauge
Doweling can turn dicey when the dowels don't quite measure up to their stated diameter -- or the hole you drill is too shallow or too deep. The solution? Build our 4-in-1 dowel gauge. With it you can double-check these measurements before you assemble a project.

Here are the four features this handy helper provides: 1. The dowel-sizing gauge on the face of the block offers three holes with standard dowel diameters plus holes that measure 1/64" larger and smaller than the standard diameters. Check the fit of your dowels in these holes, then you can select the appropriate drill bit if your dowel is just a hair too big or too little. 2. When you want to drill a hole to a precise depth, use the hole-depth gauge. Just insert your drill bit in the appropriate hole, and mark the depth on the shank of the bit with a piece of tape. 3. The dowel-hole depth gauge gives you two holes that measure one-half the length of two standard dowel lengths -- 1-1/2" and 2" -- plus 1/16". Use these holes to mark the depth on your drill bit. By drilling your dowel holes 1/16" deeper, you give excess glue a place to escape and your dowel won't protrude too far from its hole. 4. At the rear of the block, the V-slot helps keep your drill bit plumb. Just place the bit on the workpiece, push the slot up to the bit, and tilt the bit until it fits snugly in the corner of the slot. To build the gauge, use a piece of kiln-dried hardwood. This will help minimize any humidityrelated swelling and shrinking of the wood.

Drawer Pull Jig

Mount every type of pull precisely with this quick-to-make drilling guide.

Sizing Installing a drawer pull or two is no problem: A couple of measurements take care of it. But for a project with lots of drawers an out-ofline pull would stick out like a Hummer in a lot full of hybrids. Positioning the pull mounting holes with a jig custom-made for the project guarantees uniform placement every time.

A jig guarantees perfect pilot-hole placement on every drawer front. The tape flag sets the holes' depth.

Sizing your jig The jig consists of only three parts -- and for some applications, just two [drawing]. Make the cleat from solid wood to match the thickness of the drawer fronts. For the drill guide and optional backer board, 1/4" plywood or hardboard works well. Cover the back face of the drill guide with painter's tape to prevent marring the finish on the drawer. The size of the drawer front determines the sizes of the drill guide and backer board. For the Media Cabinet, we matched the drill guide to the width of the drawers. That made it easy to align by matching the edges of the jig to the ends of the drawer fronts, right. For wider drawers size the jig just an inch or so wider than the screw holes in the pull. To ready the jig for use, draw a centerline on the drill guide and lay out the pull's screw locations from this centerline. Place a piece of painter's tape on the drawer front and mark on it the centerline of the pull. Slip the cleat onto the top of the drawer front and align the centerlines. There are three types of drawer fronts; each requires a slightly different set of holes in the jig. Let's look at each of these variations of the jig.

For screwed-on pulls For pulls that require pilot holes for wood screws, see photo right, build the jig without the backer board. Lay out the locations of the pilot holes. Then, to prevent drilling through the drawer face, wrap a tape flag around your drill bit to act as a depth stop. For through holes Pulls secured from the back by a machine screw require a jig with all three parts. The backer board prevents chip-out as the bit exits the hole. After laying out the shank-hole locations on the jig, clamp or hold the jig securely to the drawer front photo and drill the shank holes.

For false fronts with counterbores When using pulls secured from the rear of a false drawer front, the head of the machine screw must rest in a counterbore so the false front can be screwed flush to the front of the drawer box. In this situation, you'll need a jig with a counterbore-size hole in the backer board and a screw-shanksize hole in the drill guide. Lay out the location of the shank holes on the drill guide. But before drilling them, place a scrap between the drill guide and backer board and bore completely through the jig with a 1/16" bit. Then switch to the shank-holediameter bit and enlarge the hole in the drill guide only. Next, change to a Forstner or brad-point bit the diameter of the counterbores. Place the spur of the bit on the 1/16" hole in the backer board, drill through the backer only, then toss the scrap away. To use the jig, place it over the drawer front and drill the holes as shown in photos.

Exact-Width Dado Jig

Cut dadoes to the desired width with the help of this handy shop aid.

Here's a jig for routing bookcase or cabinet-side dadoes that exactly match the thickness of your shelf stock. Better yet, no special bits are needed. Just use an ordinary straight bit and a guide bushing. (We used a 1" guide bushing and a 1/2" straight bit.) To start, cut a 3/8" rabbet 3/8" deep along the inside edge of both guide rails (A). Then complete the jig as shown in the drawing below. To customize the rails for a different bushing and bit, install them in your router, and trim the protruding lip of the rabbet in the guide rails, as shown in the Dadoing Detail. The remaining lip will now match your bushing/bit combo.

To adjust the jig for the exact width of your shelf stock, slip the jig over the shelf stock as shown in the Adjusting the Jig drawing. Pull the guide rails (A) tightly against the stock, and tighten the wing nuts. Slip the jig off the stock, and clamp the jig onto the piece being dadoed, centering the opening between the rails (A) over the marked dado on the side panel. Adjust the depth of cut with your router sitting on top of the rails. Start the router and make one pass with the guide bushing riding against one of the rabbeted rails. Make a second pass riding the bushing against the opposite rabbeted rail.

Easy-Lock Feather Board

Guarantee perfect rip cuts with this quick-to-set tablesaw helper.

Creating the feather board When ripping stock on your tablesaw, keep it firmly and safely against the fence with this handy adjustable locking feather board. Not only does it prevent wavy cuts, it guards against dangerous kickback. To build one, use the drawing at right and patterns on the next web page to cut handle (A) and feather board (B) to size and shape, noting the location of the angled notch and counterbored hole in the handle. Use a bandsaw to cut the 2 1/2"-long kerfs in the feather board and the curved portion of the handle, where located on the pattern. Cut the 30 angled notch in the handle's bottom edge using a dado blade in your tablesaw along with an auxiliary wood fence on your miter gauge for support. To finalize the feather board, countersink and slide a 5/16" washer onto the head of the machine screw, slide the threaded end through the handle, and fit a washer and 4-arm knob onto the end. Fit part B into the angled notch, and slide the bottom edge of the handle and the washer into the mitergauge slot on your tablesaw where shown bottom right. If the washer is too wide for your miter-gauge slot, you may need to grind down the outside edges for a good fit.

Using the feather board With the saw off, slide the workpiece between the feather board and fence. Position the trailing edge of the feather board about 1" in front of the leading edge of the saw blade, where shown in the photos on the previous page. Put too close to the blade, the feather board can pinch the kerf and cause the workpiece to bind on the blade.

Position the shorter leading finger against the piece to be ripped. The piece should slide smoothly, yet be held firmly against the rip fence. If pushing the workpiece between the feather board and rip fence offers too much resistance, back part B off slightly. Once properly positioned, tighten the 4-arm knob to secure the assembly in place. Project design: Vernon Lee; Scott Spierling

Fairing Stick
When he needed to lay out smooth arcs on the Adirondack chair on page 74 of issue 149, WOOD magazine Master Craftsman Chuck Hedlund turned to his shop-made fairing stick. Chuck's version, shown above at left, features an adjustable cord with a sliding "toggle" that locks in the desired arc for hassle-free use. To make your own, start with a 3/4"-wide piece of 1/8" tempered hardboard. The length is up to you; but at 24", this one handles most layout chores. Also cut a piece to size for the toggle. Now drill the four 1/8" holes, as dimensioned, through the ends of both pieces. Next, thread a length of #18 nylon mason's cord (ours measured 38"), following the arrows in the drawing below. The cord gets tied to one end of the fairing stick, then goes through the holes in the toggle, loops through the other end of the fairing stick, and ties back to the toggle. To use the fairing stick, start by figuring out the endpoints and midpoint of the arc you want to create. Here's where you'll appreciate Chuck's toggle device. Instead of using clamps or nails to hold the ends of the stick in place, just slide the toggle to flex the stick until it matches your desired arc. Friction locks the toggle in place, retaining the correct shape. Now align the stick on your workpiece and trace. If you have multiple pieces to mark, you can pick up the stick and move it without losing your setting. When you're not using the fairing stick, slide the toggle to release tension on the stick. That minimizes any "memory" setting in. If this happens, just adjust the cord and flex the stick in the opposite direction. Also, if you need a fairing stick greater than 3' long, increase the stick's width to about 1-1/2" to keep it from twisting sideways under tension. For a really long stick, switch to 1/4"-thick hardboard.

Half-lap joint jig

Cutting on-the-money rabbets for half-lap joints with a portable circular saw and handheld router is a breeze with this two-in-one jig.

Build the jig You can make a simple half-lap joint on your tablesaw with a dado blade, miter-gauge extension, and a workpiece stop. But when working with very long parts, cutting them on a tablesaw proves awkward at best, and maybe unsafe. And what if you don't own a tablesaw? Here's how to form the rabbets that make up a half-lap joint with portable tools. With this jig, you'll save time by cutting several parts with one setup. First, build the jig To make the jig base, measure from the motor edge of your circular-saw base to the blade, and add 1/8". Then chuck a 1/2" straight bit into your router, measure from the edge of the router subbase to the bit, and add 1/8". To these two dimensions, add 1 1/2" for the guide, and cut an 18"-long piece of 1/2" medium-density fiberboard to this width. Cut the guide to the size shown right. Glue and clamp it to the base. Then, with the glue dry, clamp the base to your workbench with the saw side overhanging. With the saw base against the guide, trim the saw side to width. Now with the router side overhanging the workbench, use your router with the 1/2" bit to trim the router side to width. Measure the trimmed width of the base, and cut two cleats to this length. Then glue and clamp the cleats to the bottom of the base, flush at the ends and edges. Put the jig to work Mark the pieces to be cut Clamp together, edge to edge, the parts to be rabbeted. Secure them to your workbench with the ends and faces flush. Mark a line across the parts at the rabbet shoulders. Then, to prevent chipout when the router bit exits the last part, adjust the cut depth of your circular-saw blade to onehalf the thickness of the parts. Now cut a saw kerf at the rabbet shoulders, as shown top photo. Chuck a 1/2" straight bit into your router, and adjust the cut depth to one-half the thickness of the parts. Then rotate the jig and clamp it to the parts, pushing the infeed end cleat against the first part to keep the jig square. Now clean out the rabbets, as shown second photo. Move the jig in from the part ends until the cut meets the saw kerf

Align the saw edge of the jig with the rabbet layout line, clamp the jig in place, and cut a saw kerf to define the rabbet shoulders.

To clean out the rabbets, start with the router edge of the jig 3/8" from the stile ends, and make repeat router cuts to the saw kerf.

Hinge Location Jig

Transfer hinge locations from door to carcase with marksmanlike accuracy. Mounting hinges on an inset cabinet door is a straightforward process. You lay the door on your workbench, locate the hinges where you want them, and screw them in place. If they need to be mortised, you mark the outline of the hinge leaf with a knife or chisel. But how do you accurately transfer the hinge locations to the carcase or to another door? Project building Chuck Hedlund faced this situation not once, but four times when making the built-in bookcases featured in the April 2001 issue of WOOD magazine. To solve the problem, he devised a singleuse jig. Here's how to make your own.

Cut a 2-1/4"-wide, 1/4" plywood rail 3" longer than the door you are hanging, and two 3/4x21/4x2-1/4" plywood stopblocks. then cut four 1/4x3x3" plywood index blocks for each hinge. Glue and clamp the stopblocks to the rail at one end, as shown above. Now, temporarily remove the rail. Stick small pieces of double-faced tape to the door next to the hinges. Adhere index blocks to the door, snug against the hinges, as shown below.

Stick a large piece of double-faced tape to each installed index block. Now, hook one of the rail's stopblocks on the door's top edge, and press the rail onto the index blocks, as shown below. Keep the rail's back edge and the index blocks' back edges flush.

To make the jig usable on both right- and left-handed doors, align a second set of index blocks with the first, sandwiching the rail between them, as below. Carefully remove the rail and attached blocks from the door. Drive 1/2" wire brads from both sides to lock the squares in place. Hooking one stopblock on each door's top edge, use the jig to locate the hinges on the rest of the doors. Drill the hinge screw pilot holes.

Once again, hook the jig's stopblock on a door's top edge. Mark and trim the rail to extend 1/16" beyond the door's bottom, as shown here. This extra 1/16" is the gap between the door and the carcase. Mark the jig's top end. Remove the stopblocks by cutting the rail just above the top index blocks, as shown.

Now the jig is ready to position the hinges in the carcase. Simply place the jig against the inside of the cabinet with the rail's marked end up, as shown at right. Clamp or use double-faced tape to hold the jig in place. The index blocks bracket the hinges, just as they did on the doors. Position the hinges between the index blocks, and drill the screw pilot holes.

A jig for rounding turning squares

Before turning narrow pieces, such as chess pieces or dowels, between centers, it's easier on the workpiece (and the woodworker) to knock off the four corners, making the square spindle into an octagon. This simple guide clamps to your bandsaw table to do the job. Franklin Zia and Arthur Mendel, Richmond, Calif.

Long-part Stopblock
Make your miter-gauge extension work longer and harder by increasing its reach. Miter-gauge extension

Stopblock on your miter-gauge extension provides a simple, foolproof way to crosscut multiple parts to equal length without measuring each one. But what if you're cutting extra-long parts, such as table legs? In that case, clamp on a long-part stopblock like this one. Start by attaching an MDF or plywood miter-gauge extension to your miter gauge. Make it at least 1" wider than the thickness of your workpieces and long enough to reach from just past the blade on one end to 6" or so past the end of the miter gauge on the other end. Mount it to your saw's stock miter gauge, and cut a kerf that marks the blade position.

Building and using the stopblock Subtract the length of the extension from the final length of the workpiece, and cut a strip of 3/4"-thick MDF or plywood about 10" longer than that distance. Next crosscut a 1 1/2"-long piece off the strip and screw it to one end of the strip, where shown at right. To use the stopblock, measure the length of the parts you'll cut and clamp it that distance from the kerf. Butt the workpiece end against the stopblock (without bending the extension) and crosscut the part. If the stopblock slips or wobbles, add a second clamp or adhere 100-grit sandpaper to the back side of the miter-gauge extension where it overlaps the long-part stopblock. To cut parts with mitered ends, replace the stopblock with one that's mitered the same angle as your part. Completely capturing the mitered workpiece end adds dead-on repeatability to those cuts. Always check to make sure there's no sawdust between your workpiece and the stopblock.

Pivoting outfeed table

Having a roller stand in the shop is almost like having another person around to help you work with long and cumbersome material, but roller stands also have a frustrating flaw: If the material is warped or droopy, you'll probably knock over the stand before you get help from it. The tilting plywood platform, shown at right, virtually eliminates this problem.

To use it with your tablesaw, set the level platform height to match your tablesaw top, and then tilt the platform toward the saw. When you feed the board through, it catches the platform and levels it out, and the roller stand will remain standing. - J. D. Stanley, Cleveland Heights, Ohio

Versatile Panel-Cutting Sled

Split a hair and make it square with our wide-body tablesaw accessory. When you use our panel-cutting sled, you'll never wonder if the corner you just cut is square. For hair-splitting accuracy, the beefy fence is fixed at 90 to the blade and shows exactly where your saw blade will cut. Additionally, the fence-leading design holds wider workpieces more solidly and keeps your work closer than fencetrailing jigs. Build the jig according to the drawing, below. We made ours from birchveneer plywood with a solid poplar fence, but you could use any 1/2" plywood or medium-density fiberboard and a straight scrap of 2x4. Cut both pieces 1/8" longer than shown; you'll trim them to their exact length after you build the jig. Note: A well-tuned tablesaw is essential to complete the job. The saw blade must be perfectly parallel to the miter slot. Before attaching the miter-slot bar, ensure the corner formed by the fence and the right edge of the sled is square. Make a mark 3" from the corner along one edge, and 4" along the perpendicular edge. Measure diagonally between the two marks. If the diagonal measures exactly 5", your corner is square. If it's more than 5", the angle is greater than 90 ; less than 5", and it's less than 90. Next, measure the distance between your tablesaw's blade and miter slot and add 1/8". Using that measurement and a combination square, scribe a line on the bottom of the sled, measuring from the saw blade edge. Attach the miter-slot bar along the scribed line. With the sled's guide bar in your tablesaw's miter-gauge slot, crank the saw blade up to full height. Run the sled through the blade, slicing off the extra 1/8" from both the base and the fence. You now can cut with confidence by aligning the cut line on your workpiece with the edge of the fence. For repetitive cuts less than 27", clamp a stopblock to the fence. When cutting pieces up to 48", lock in the sled's built-in stopblock

Planer Jigs
The jigs shown below are from the article "Get the Most from Your Planer" from issue 173, November 2006, of WOOD magazine.

Planer through edge jig Build the jig shown right, from 3/4" plywood or hardwood. (We used poplar on a Baltic birch base.) This jig will fit most planers, but you can measure your planer and adjust the dimensions as necessary. Cut out the two long vertical supports by first taping them together with double-face tape, then cutting and sanding the curves. Attach the supports to each other and to the base with #8 x 1-1/4" brass flat-head wood screws.

Planer infeed edge jig Build the two parts to the jig shown belowwhich are mirror images of each otherfrom 3/4" Baltic birch plywood or hardwood. Fix the two curved vertical support parts together with double-faced tape, then cut the curve on the bandsaw and sand smooth. Attach the supports to each other and to the base with #8x1-1/4" brass wood screws. Just be sure when assembling them to make them mirror images.

Raised-Panel Pushing Jig

I really liked your technique for making simple raised-panel doors for the pine hutch in issue #147 (page 67). I've been using a similar technique for some time, and my panel-pushing jig, shown below, makes it safe and easy to cut the beveled edge on the panels. The jig raises the pressure point on the panel, holding it tightly against the fence, and protects my fingers from the blade. I used biscuits to join the runners to the jig, but you also could dado the jig and glue the runners into place. (Note that the runners should be taller than the blade height.) Dan Batliner, Lincoln, Calif.

Radius Sanding Jig

Use it with your sander to get the perfect results you want in seconds. Sanding an even radius on workpieces can be tricky, especially if you're doing it freehand. But you can take the guesswork out of this process in a hurry with this quick-fix jig. To use the jig, you'll need an oscillating spindle sander or a drum sander attached to a drill press. On the edge of a piece of 3/4" plywood, cut out a half circle that will accommodate your largest sanding drum, as shown, above left. From the edge of this half circle, measure to a point 1/8" short of the radius to be sanded, and bore a 3/4" hole where shown. Now, glue a 3/4" dowel in the hole. The accuracy of the jig depends on the dowel standing 90-degrees to the plywood, so leave the dowel long enough to check it with a square. After the glue dries, you can cut the dowel to a shorter length. Next, mark the radius on the workpiece, and cut the curve just outside the line. Bore a 3/4" hole at the center point of the radius and slip the workpiece over the dowel. Adjust the plywood so the sanding drum just touches the long edge of the workpiece. When the jig is positioned correctly, clamp it to the sanding table, turn the sander on, and rotate the workpiece into the drum to sand a perfect radius. If you don't want to bore a hole completely through your workpiece, you can bore the hole halfway through the stock, and cut the dowel just short of this depth. For smaller workpieces, you'll want to use a dowel with a smaller diameter. Or, for a workpiece where you don't want any holes visible, delete the hole in both the workpiece and the jig top, and rotate the workpiece on a nail head protruding from the jig table.

Tablesaw Miter Jig

Are you ready for on-the-money miters? Here's the solution. Setting up perfect miter cuts can be time-consuming. With a miter sled, you do it only once, when building the sled. Cut the pieces for the miter sled to the dimensions shown in Drawing 1. After attaching the miter-slot guides (adjust width for your saw table), put the jig on the tablesaw and cut a kerf 7 1/2" into the base. Then follow the steps in Drawing 2, and use double-faced tape to temporarily attach the fences. Test your setup by miter-cutting four pieces to identical length and dry-fitting them together as a frame. Check for a tight joint at all four corners. If needed, adjust the fences. Then screw them down in their final positions. -- WOOD magazine shop

Spline-cutting Fence for your Router Table

Cutting a spline slot is simple with this setup. Start at the right hand stopblock, lower the workpiece onto the support guide, and slide it to the left stopblock. Here's a handy method for beefing up long, mitered joints in jewelry boxes and the like. You can make slots for hidden splines with a straight bit, two stopblocks, and a simple support block. Set your 1/8" straight bit to project 1/4" above the router table. Clamp an auxiliary fence to your router table fence, so that your workpiece won't slide into the bit-clearance notch. Set this fence the same distance from the bit's center as the thickness of your stock, or slightly farther. In the drawing below, we're cutting spline slots in 1/2"-thick pieces. Miter-cut your box sides to length. Take the two ends of the box, or the front and the back, place them face-to-face, align the edges, and join them with cloth-backed, double-faced tape. Bevel-rip a scrap piece at 45 to make a support board. Hold the taped-together assembly in the corner formed by the router table and fence, and use it to place the support board parallel to the fence. Clamp both ends of the support board to the router table. Now, mark the ends of the planned slot on the workpiece. Use those marks, matched with the cutting edges of the bit, to set stopblocks on the fence to the left and right of the bit. Turn on the router, hold the workpiece firmly against the fence, and lower it onto the spinning bit, as shown in the photo above. Keep the right side of the workpiece against the right-hand stopblock. Carefully slide the workpiece across the table to the left-hand stopblock, and raise it straight up the fence. After cutting eight slots for a rectangular box, cut matching splines. Hardboard and plywood work great for this, or you can cut splines from the same wood used for the box. In that case, the grain of the splines should run in the same direction as the sides, to avoid problems with the wood splitting along grain lines.

Jig makes it safe to rout small pieces

My table-mounted router seemed ideal for shaping 3/4" stock into knobs for a box I was building, but the small blanks--only 1 1/2" square--would make the job hazardous to my hands. So I built the jig, shown at right, to hold onto the blanks. I cut scraps of Baltic birch plywood to the dimensions shown for the jig's base and sliding L-shape guide. To make the jig adjustable, I cut two slots in the guide and attached it to the base with knobs screwed into threaded inserts in the base. A toggle clamp holds the work piece firmly against the base and the guide. I routed the front edge of the base, as shown, to clear the bit; I then set up the appropriate bit and a zero-clearance fence on the router table to machine the knobs. Bob Lasley, Broken Arrow, Ok