Replies

1. 
   DonaldCBrown | Mar 26, 2005 02:39pm | #1

   The Leigh, at least. is not open ended. There are bolts at each end that prevent a workpiece from being moved beyond the nominal width capacity. It is physically impossible to fit a 24"-wide board in a 16" jig.

   
   

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   Edited 3/26/2005 7:40 am ET by Donald C. Brown

1. 
   sailalex | Mar 27, 2005 02:23pm | #4

   Thanks for your response. Does this mean that if I buy a Leigh that I am limited to 24" boards? It seems to me that once you move beyond drawers, you might do a piece that is even larger than 24". Have I missed something here?

    With an open end jig , can you just reposition it and do as many inches as you have board width? 

1. 
   DonaldCBrown | Mar 27, 2005 03:11pm | #5

   I have experience only with the Leigh jig, but the other well-known brands seem to be closed-ended because of the way the workpiece is clamped in the jig. With the Leigh 24" jig, you definitely will be limited to stock no wider than 24".I see no reason why a dovetail jig couldn't be designed to accommodate very wide pieces. Look at the one depicted here, for example,http://www.gifkins.com.au/The Gifkins jig is clamped to the workpiece with a conventional woodworking clamp. While the illustration shows a stop, which would limit the maximum width, it looks like you could remove the stop, slide the board to one side, and register the piece on already-cut sockets.If you were really careful, I suppose you could achieve unlimited width with the Leigh or other jig by dovetailing individual boards and then gluing them together after the joints were cut.

2. 
   nikkiwood | Mar 27, 2005 01:56am | #2

   I think the great majority of jig users are just making drawers -- and a capacity of 16" will generally cover your bases in that regard.

   The longer jigs would be useful for stuff like hope/blanket chests.

1. 
   ohiobob | Mar 27, 2005 02:46am | #3

   is the akeda or the keller easier to use. i realiaze the keller does not do half blinds.

1. 
   Napie | Mar 30, 2005 04:02pm | #8

   The Keller is the best on the market.  You "can" cut half blinds witha little additional hand work.

1. 
   MarkRoderick | Mar 30, 2005 07:30pm | #9

   Can you please describe what you mean by that? I might be interested in the Keller.

3. 
   theoldman | Mar 27, 2005 06:09pm | #6

   I have a Keller and a Leigh and find the the keller alot easier to use. The Keller has simple instructions and no limit on the length of the dovetails. True You can't do halfblind dovetails but I glue a faceplate on my drawers.

    

4. 
   BarryO | Mar 30, 2005 06:54am | #7

   MY Rockler is limited to ~12" boards.  But it looks like if I take off some on the indexing and clamping hardware, and use external clamps, I can shift the board over in the jig for doing wider boards.

   'won't be fast and not something I'd want to do every day, but I have an upcoming project for 20" wide boards and I'll give it a try.

   Someday maybe I'll get the 24" Leigh, but not anytime soon.