General Tools Woodworking Dovetail Jig - 12" Template Kit for Furniture & Wood Cabinet Making,Gold

This is a handy tool and great for first time users. The instructions are very helpful, tool comes with a dovetail bit as well, so no need to purchase any other items suggested when purchasing the tool. The alignment tools provided with this tool take some patience to set up, but you need to take your time with this detailed joint if you want a tight joint. I did experiment on the joint on scrap pieces of wood as suggested to make sure I got the desired tightness and to learn to work with each of the alignment components.I was building shelves (12-inch wide boards), so I wish I had purchased a tool that could handle the full board width. The slot centering tool provided with this tool is very handy and works well, but the limited width required I reset the tool multiple times for each joint.Overall, I am very pleased with this purchase - it is good for joint widths less than 4-inches. If I was to make more shelves, I would invest in the wider unit.

After 2-3 practices on cut off stock, It works well. Like any other tool, the more you use it, the better you get. When using harder stock than Walnut, like Purple Heart, when cutting pins be sure to listen to the router. That way you can hear when the bearing touches the plastic stop, as it's harder to "feel" when using very hard wood.I used a router table, which I'm sure produces better results. Very hard wood, like Wenge, and Purpleheart, is already prone to router and planer tear out. These woods are much harder than domestic hardwoods. The second photo shows Purpleheart and Wenge. I had some minor tear out on one of the Purpleheart tails. That was not the fault of the jig, but the nature of the type wood. A backer board would help. Domestic hardwoods work no problem. Through joints work ok, but don't come out perfect. Ensure the Pins board is cut using the EXACT thickness of the Tails board, like I didn't do.I finally got around to trying Edge-to Edge dovetails. They works well too.. The example is two edge-to-edge dovetails per box side (eight total), mitered, or beveled. It is the Quilted Maple with Leopard wood corners.I did find an issue with the provided bit. On harder wood, harder than Walnut like Purpleheart, or Bloodwood, the bit dulls even more rapidly. But more seriously, on harder wood, it can come loose in the collet. Initially, I thought it was my OEM collet. I bought a Whiteside collet, same thing. Later, I noticed the exposed shank, below the bearings, was shorter than my other ¼" shank bits. Anyway, I burned up the provided bit on the wine rack. Bottom line, the included bit sucks.I now use an Amana 14 degree ½" X ½" dovetail bit, and it works fine. But I guess that helps keep the package price down. I still love the jig, for the price.Edit: A backer board is a must for me now. I like to run a marking gauge lightly the height of tails of the tails on both sides prior to cut. That's just me.

After some playing and watching videos plus several test pieces I got it looking nice and nearly flush. I am sure after glue up it will be fine. I like my fits to slightly hold if I turn upside down, friction fit that is. There is about 1/32 -1/64 gap in fitment. The wood will swell, but just not how I like it. I used it in my router table.The instructions are confusing, could be made much simpler. It is not difficult to use once understand the measurement settings.Set router to set the depth of the pins. In other words it sets the depth of the half blind or how proud throughs will go. The depth on the other side is always the thickness of the board.Like others said the plastic portion is it’s weak link. Does not sit flat and the slide gives some. The aluminum is also soft. Don’t over tighten the clamps it will bend. For production style drawers this unit will work fine. If you have a bunch to do it is worth it. If you want to make dove tails for show pieces I would probably look elsewhere. These just aren’t that tight, no way to make it tighter. Also stand a fair chance of being slightly out here and there. I would hate to screw up some nice curly, white oak, walnut or exotic sho

After creating a large pile of practice pieces, I finally figured out how to use it. The QR code General provided didn't work. Other online videos left out critical steps. So far I've only done four "box joints " . They are good but more practice and I'll succeed. I'm totally an amateur at wood working.

As you can see from the attached pictures, the dovetails turn out accurate, but in some cases they’re too tight. You really have to hunt down the correct height of the router bit for them to fit nicely. The misalignment issue you can see in the first two pictures was my fault and was my first attempt.I’m not sure I’ll be able to use this unless the dovetails are hidden as the tear out issue is too great. When making the tails you would need to clamp wood on both sides of your piece to prevent tear out and then you risk the cut piece not being square. I even tried inserting the bit behind the piece to back cut on each tail before going in from the front and still had issues. This was an issue in both hardwood and softwood, but perhaps it’s not as bad on plywood.If you can overcome the shortcomings of this jig, then it’s a great deal as far as setup, form factor and accuracy for the price. I’ll try plywood and update my comment if it’s any better.

Works as advertised and all metal