Quote History Quoted:I have a proper jig and router bits. I only used it once.
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I used to spend lots of my money on woodworking tools and jigs
I spent a considerable amount of money on the very nice but complex Leigh mortise and dovetail jig
It requires a good bit of adjustments to get everything fitting right
And then one day I was cutting half blind DT for a drawer. And while cutting around the pins I watched my supposedly nice and expensive CMT router but designed especially to work with the Leigh jig just separate at he neck, and the cutting head/carbide part just wobble off and fall to the floor. More surprised it didn’t get propelled across the room.
So I got out my chisels and LN dovetail saw, marking gauge too, and cut them by hand. And have stayed with cutting them by hand since. I do a fair job of them most of the time. Poor lighting in my shop and only having evenings most of the time to do any woodworking has been the biggest cause of poor fitting dovetails for me. But I haven’t been able to do much woodworking for a while.
Maybe someday will use the Leigh jig again. It’s probably best suited for something like a “large scale” job, where you have many identical drawers to make.
The LN dovetail saw is very nice, pretty Curly maple handle, but it’s too small for my hand. It was the first new and good upscale Saw I bought, aside from a couple nice old ones like disstons. I will just have to break out some rasps and open it up some, and then refinish it. Need to find out what kind of clear coat they used to finish it, rather than sanding the whole thing down to bare wood
Since then all of my new hand saws come from Mark Harrell at Bad Axe. He makes great saws. And you can get a handle sized for small-medium - or large hands. Plus pick the saw hardware and handle wood as you like. Also pick the saw TPI to better match the hard or soft woods you primarily will use with it