Replies

1. 
   sschefer | May 01, 2002 09:58pm | #1

   LOL, yep I have the same problem. Or worse, I make a jig and then need a piece of wood for something and tear apart the jig rather than going to the lumber yard. Don't quote me but I've heard that the best time to make jigs is when your in the planning stages of a project. Make what you need for the project and then use them. Otherwise, you'll spend all your time making jigs and never do any projects.

   Steve - in Northern California

1. 
   bill_1010 | May 01, 2002 10:33pm | #2

   i guess im a black sheep. I enjoy making jigs. 

1. 
   HeidiDad | May 01, 2002 10:43pm | #3

   I'm with you Bill.  While I may not like to take the time away from the job, I do enjoy building "mouse traps".  I have more fun doing that than the project itself.  I think it's the mind set and challange. 

2. 
   forestgirl | May 01, 2002 11:39pm | #4

   Would not motivation increase if the item to be made (and requiring the jig) was to be made many, many times over?  I have a hard time justifying making a jig, even it makes the job a bit easier, if I'm only making one of a particular project. 

   forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl   ;-)

1. 
   Sancho | May 02, 2002 05:54am | #5

   It all depends, Ive been fooling with a adapter to my RT fence to get it easier to use. I finally succeeded. Butttt If I needed the jig for a project and the project had a specific time line and building the jig would put me behind ill buy the darned thing and be done with it. But if its a fun thing just trying to figure out how to make a cut easier ect then Id probably spend the time to R&D it. Darkworksite4: When the job is to small for everyone else, Its just about right for me"

1. 
   SgianDubh | May 02, 2002 07:50am | #6

   No question about it. Jigs make jobs go a lot faster, more consistently, and more accurately, and cheaper for the client. I can't imagine making a set of chairs without making jigs to reproduce sets of legs and the like all the same. For a one off, no, but if there are two or more, it would be a mistake to think that jig making is too tiresome or a waste of time. Slainte, RJ.http://www.RichardJonesFurniture.com

3. 
   TomS | May 03, 2002 05:37am | #7

   I have not made jigs in the past and feel lucky to still have all my fingers.  When I think of some of the tasks that I have done without a jig or devise I wonder if I have any sense at all.  I am especially thankful that all those raised panels I cut on the table saw with only a fence as a guide didn't cost me anything more than some scary moments.

   Tom

4. 
   gpwest | May 03, 2002 06:24am | #8

   My suggestion:  when you get through using a jig, before you store it, scribble on it what it was used for.  I've got a bunch of jigs hanging in my rafters and can't remember what I used many of them for.   GP

5. 
   DaveinPa | May 03, 2002 06:25am | #9

   I saw a jig for cutting tenons on the T/S in another wood working magazine at the end of last summer and its still not made. when it comes time for making a jig my whole body goes into the "I'm not doing that" mode. Tomorrow I pick up some wood for a storage rack with a boatload of dados in it  and I NEED a to make a dado jig. Fun time tomorrow A.M.

6. 
   jeffn7 | May 03, 2002 06:30am | #10

   I enjoy taking a 'quick-and-dirty' jig that I have used on a project, and know I'll use again, and rebuilding it with the features that I thought of when I first used it. Of course, the tough thing is finding the downtime to do stuff like this... there's always so many other things to do.