Sandal Woods - Fine Woodworking & Cabinetry

Available in six joint patterns, Isoloc joints and templates are unique to Leigh. The styles are: The Wave, The Ellipse, the Key, The Mirror Key, Clover, and Bears Ears. Their large glue surface area and the mechanical interlock of dovetails combine to make a unique joint, available nowhere else.The three easy steps to make these unique joints are:

1. Install variable guide bush and router bit
2. Route the pins
3. Route the tails

The Isoloc templates are not available for the Super 12 jig. However, they are for all the other Leigh dovetail jigs! Using the templates and two different router bit sizes, even inlaid Isoloc joints are possible - how cool is that?

A must-have for me, as I love to make boxes; this must be one of the coolest templates I have ever seen. I must get the finger joint template for my D4 jig, as it will really enhance the variety of the boxes I make - from small to large, square half-blind joints, and round-to-square finger joints! The three simple steps are:

1. Install the guide bushing and straight router bit
2. Route the pins
3. Route the sockets

This episode shows in detail the feature of the super-cool finger joint templates available for the Leigh dovetail jigs. These make the jigs THE most versatile accessory to make finger joints.

This episode shows the Leigh optional accessories for the dovetail jigs “…that make your woodworking projects even more satisfying…” These include the Universal Guide System (UGS), and the Vacuum & Router Support (VRS). I did not produce this video - I obtained permission from Leigh to publish it on my blog.The guide bushings are an essential part of the Leigh dovetail jigs, and just about all jigs that work on a similar principle to guide the router around guide fingers - I buy the Leigh guide bushes, as I have found them to be the most consistent in their roundness, and dimensional tolerances. And the VRS makes my dovetailing life simpler, by eliminating just about all the dust and chips from the jig when I cut dovetails.

I must share an anecdote with you: The very first time I cut dovetails on my D4 I was so excited, I ignored everything around me; I was concentrating very hard in following procedures (from the User Guide), and being careful to avoid tear-out. When I finished making the drawers I almost tripped on my own feet, as I had my legs buried in dust and chips to my knees! I shut down, came into the house, and placed an order for the older dust/chip collection system Leigh sold at the time.

Forward a few years:

I bought the VRS shortly after its release. And now that I have it, the greatest amount of chips I sweep is a fraction of a cup, even after cutting dovetails on a number of drawers, or a cabinet - anything, really. What a pleasure it is to use the new VRS!

Now I can share: Would I consider these “optional”? No. In my mind, they are something I need in my shop. They make my life simpler, and my woodworking more pleasurable.

Sliding dovetails are a great option when dealing with end grain joints, or with fixed shelves or dividers on a chest of drawers. I made a large sliding dovetail on the partition of the changing table I made some time ago (I used my old D4 jig, the predecessor to the D4R).

The D4R jig makes it simple and easy to create sliding dovetails:

1. Select the router bit and a suitable guide bushing
2. Route the dovetail slot - the board is clamped horizontally
3. Route the tail at the same bit depth, and with the same router bit - the board is clamped vertically

To fine-tune the fit, adjust the tail size by moving the finger assembly either forward or backward in small increments. It is possible to make adjustments as small as 0.001″ (one thousand of an inch!).

Disclaimer: This is a Leigh-produced video, not my own production. My thanks to Leigh Industries for allowing me to post the jig video series on my blog.

This episode shows the detailed instructions to cut half-blind dovetails on the Leigh D4R jig.On half-blind dovetail joints, only one side shows. The D4R has specific scales to create these in three steps:

1. Space the fingers to suit your taste - creating the joint design
2. Route the tails using a suitable router bit, and with the board arranged vertically
3. Route the pins with with the same router bit as was used to route the tails, and with the pin board clamped horizontally

Fine-tune the tail / pin fit by adjusting the bit height in the router, typically moving up just a few thousands of an inch. This will make the pins a little narrower, loosening the fit ever so slightly.

When I first started using my D4, this was the one adjustment that took me about an hour to master. The adjustment of the router bit is very small, to obtain the best fit!It IS truly this simple with the D4R!

I have used my old D4 for several years; by recording all the settings when I make a new box, I can return to the same setting(s) in just two minutes or less; in addition, I keep the old setup pieces I used when making the original adjustments for each router bit and wood thickness. I recommend you follow the same practice, and you will be quite happy with the results, no matter how much time passes between projects requiring half-blind dovetails.

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This episode shows in detail the procedures to make through dovetails on the Leigh D4R jig. The steps are very simple:

1. Arrange the guide pin spacing
2. Route the tails
3. Route the pins

The variable pin spacing makes the D4R a very versatile dovetail jig, allowing an almost infinite arrangement of dovetail spacing. In addition, this capability also allows setting half pins near the edge of the boards, which I find a neat feature.

As many of you know already, I love to make boxes - and the predecessor, the D4, is my go-to dovetail jig, exclusively.

The two episodes that follow will show the procedures to make half-blind dovetails and sliding dovetails.

 

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In this episode I will be trying something new - I think you will like it: I have been given permission by Leigh to post on the blog the videos they have produced for their entire product line, updated for 2008.

I will publish the entire set of videos over the next few weeks. These will thus become a full reference video library on the entire Leigh product line. So, let me know in the Comments section, or via e-mail, how well you like the series. Thanks!

This episode is the Introduction to the Leigh D4R 24-inch dovetail jig. The D4R is an update to the D4 I have in my shop, and that I use exclusively for many of my box projects - I LOVE to make boxes!

Some of you are already familiar with a little box I made with inlaid dovetails, and with what I called “bow ties” on the lid; the bow ties are inlaid end-on-end dovetails. At the request of one of the nice people at Leigh, photos of this little box found a home in the Leigh Inlaid Dovetail Gallery- the photos below reside at the Gallery:

As many of you know, Leigh Industries is one of my two new sponsors. What some people have not yet discovered is that Leigh has produced many videos on the use of their dovetails jigs; also, for the various templates used with these dovetail jigs; and for the FMT; for the router bit sets made for the jigs; for the vacuum systems used on the jigs; and for the superb User Guides they publish.

 

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Download Quicktime (*.mov)

In this episode I introduce Leigh Industries’ FMT, their flagship Frame Mortise & Tenon (M&T) jig. This is the latest tool in our shop.

Why the FMT? Because it excels at cutting mortises and tenons with high accuracy. With this jig we have the following options:

1. Use the FMT to cut all integral tenons and mortises for a project. The result: Perfect-fitting M&Ts.

2. As an alternative, cut all the mortises with the FMT, and also shape long tenons with the FMT. These tenons are then cut off on the table saw, to make loose tenons. The result: Perfect-fitting M&Ts.

3. A secondary alternative: Use the FMT to cut all the mortises, and cut loose tenon stock on the table saw, followed by shaping on the router table. With this option the loose tenons may require some “shaving off” and tweaking to optimize the fit.

I have confirmed that the versatility, simplicity, and the ease of use of this jig was the correct decision for me. The best way I can explain this is as follows. I need to make only one layout for the mortises, and one layout for the tenons; I then select one router bit and its matching guide, and make test cuts to confirm that my layout is OK. From this point on I can make as many tenons and matching mortises as I need for a particular project.

Enjoy the video, and let me have your Comments, either here or via e-mail (please note the e-mail tab in the menu above).

Relevant links:
Leigh FMT page
Leigh video page (the FMT is near the bottom of the page - 4 videos in total)

Recognition: I thank my friend and woodworking colleague John Fry (Chisel and Bit Custom Crafted Furniture) for reviewing the draft of this post, and for his feedback.

The Leigh FMT at Woodcraft:

 

 

Today is the day I take the plunge into the world of woodworking blogs. I ask myself as I start this new venture: Why? Why do this blog?

To be honest, I am doing it because I am lazy. I have had a regular woodworking web site for almost two years, and have not updated content much. Will I be less lazy with this blog? I hope not… But only time will tell. All I can do is ask my readers if they think this is going in the right direction, and whether it IS worth keeping the blog. Of course, it is hard to tell if it will be worth doing it. After all, THIS is the only entry thus far. But maybe, just maybe, it will make me work just a little bit harder at keeping something up to date, related to my woodworking and cabinetmaking work.

I am certain that, from time to time, something will take me away from woodworking and cabinetmaking. To cover this eventuality, I have created a Category called Sidetracking. I will have to see how well this works.

Now, the REAL reason for THIS woodworking blog:I want to share my woodworking and cabinetmaking experience. I make stuff, from small boxes to chests, to cabinets, to entertainment centers. I will be sharing with my readers the steps in each of these, providing photos and video to convey the message and to make it a good experience for the blog readers. I still don’t know if this particular blog setup allows video… hmmm, I must check it out. I hope I paid for the version that allows video!

So, see you around the blog. Thanks for reading!

—— Al