This jig enables woodworkers of all skill levels to cut the tail board for a set of dovetails quickly and accurately at the bandsaw. It’s a piece of MDF, cut to your preferred dovetail slope, with a stop block centered along one edge. Finger holes make the jig easier to slide back and forth with the workpiece.

Centering the stop block lets you flip the jig and workpiece to make cuts on both sides of a pin socket, without moving the bandsaw fence. After setting the fence to line up one cut, leave it there to cut four symmetrical pin sockets—two at each end of a workpiece. Then move the fence to the next pin position and repeat the process, until you have a symmetrical array of tails at any spacing you like. To vary the pin spacing, try using the jig in just one direction and moving the fence as needed.

I like a 1:8 slope for my dovetails, so that’s how I angled the long edge of the jig. And I like my pins 3⁄16 in. wide at their narrow end, so the length of my stop block is 13⁄16 in. For thinner or thicker pins, change the length of the block.

To use the jig, start by scribing the baseline of your dovetails. Then move the bandsaw fence to line up the blade with the first cut. Be sure to make all corresponding cuts on both ends of every tail board before moving the bandsaw fence.

To complete the tails, I remove the waste between them with a fretsaw and pare to the baseline with a chisel. I then transfer the layout to the pins board, and cut those with hand tools.

How to Create Precise Dovetails on the Bandsaw

Michael Fortune uses four simple jigs to create perfect-fitting dovetail joints quickly and efficiently.

More Than One Way to Cut a Dovetail

Bob van Dyke demonstrates a variety of approaches for every situation.

How to Cut Dovetails on the Table Saw

Learn how to cut better, faster through-dovetails using your tablesaw and a standard rip blade

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