reviewing woodsmith box joint jig

[kalynzoo]

I just spent a couple of three hours with my new Woodsmith box joint jig. I was just too lazy to follow Nick's video thread and make a jig, I'll admit, so I figured I'd just purchase an adjustable jig and start playing.
Not so fast. Although well constructed, I personally feel there is too much play in the two adjustment screws. One sets grove width, the other finger width. Also establishing an accurate measurement from saw-blade to stop (finger width adjustment) sighting with a ruler across the saw table is less than ideal.
End result. After about 3 hours of play time, and lots of scraps getting smaller and smaller, I created a couple of almost satisfactory boxes.
Was it worth $100?
Don't know, we'll see how some larger projects turn out. So far only 4in square boxes.

[8iowa]

Gary:

Two years ago I went through "finger joint hell" making a 8" x 16" walnut treasure chest for my grandson. I made the jig according to the plan shown on page 27 of Nick Engler's "Making Boxes and Chests", Rodale Press 1994.

Since then I have viewed "Sawdust Session #2" where Nick and Jim McCann make small box finger joints with an improved jig that includes a fine adjustment screw. http://www.shopsmithacademy.com/SS_Archives/SS102/SS102_Finger_Joints.htm

While the fine adjustment screw is certainly a great improvement, I found that in making the jig the spacer stud has to be exactly the same width as the dado blade's cut. There's no room for any "slop" here. I first tried to make 1/4" fingers, but even only in an 8" height, the tinest bit of error was magnified to the point of utter frustration, not to mention all the scrap produced. I then went to 3/8" fingers, which required milling a new spacer stud, and I was finally able to get acceptable results - but still not as perfect as I would have liked.

I discovered that the Pro Planer, surprisingly, could incrementally, a couple of thousandths at a time, mill down my spacer stock to the exact width needed to match the dado. I don't know how I could have made this jig without this kind of precision.

This ain't easy folks. Be prepared for a learning curve that will test your patience.

[charlese]

I had better luck with using the simplest of jigs. Used a small hammer to adjust it with taps. Just a piece of wood that fastens to the miter gauge through enlarged holes through the wood. I've found the spacing stud can be narrower than the space between fingers, but the edge of the stud closest to the saw or router bit has to be spaced exactly the width of the saw or bit. - and you need to put some pressure on the piece to press against the stud.

I started out using a brass bar for spacing. With this setup I could make 4 or 5 inches of box joints, but when trying to go longer, the little bit off (probably less than .001") caused the fingers to be off enough to not fit.

A few taps and an hour or so of using up scrap, got the jig so I could make a 13" box joint. (a tap left followed by a tap right followed by ---) Still worked better for me than "screwing around". Al in all I think I saved time by not building a fancy jig. Made magaxine holders.

Used the same jig a couple of months later to build my wood tool chest. That time there were a lot fewer taps, because I drew pencil lines around the miter gauge onto the back of the jig. This time it took only about a half hour to get a box joint 13" long.

[dusty]

Gary:

Two years ago I went through "finger joint hell" making a 8" x 16" walnut treasure chest for my grandson. I made the jig according to the plan shown on page 27 of Nick Engler's "Making Boxes and Chests", Rodale Press 1994.

Since then I have viewed "Sawdust Session #2" where Nick and Jim McCann make small box finger joints with an improved jig that includes a fine adjustment screw. http://www.shopsmithacademy.com/SS_Archives/SS102/SS102_Finger_Joints.htm

While the fine adjustment screw is certainly a great improvement, I found that in making the jig the spacer stud has to be exactly the same width as the dado blade's cut. There's no room for any "slop" here. I first tried to make 1/4" fingers, but even only in an 8" height, the tinest bit of error was magnified to the point of utter frustration, not to mention all the scrap produced. I then went to 3/8" fingers, which required milling a new spacer stud, and I was finally able to get acceptable results - but still not as perfect as I would have liked.

I discovered that the Pro Planer, surprisingly, could incrementally, a couple of thousandths at a time, mill down my spacer stock to the exact width needed to match the dado. I don't know how I could have made this jig without this kind of precision.

This ain't easy folks. Be prepared for a learning curve that will test your patience.

Are you able to download the plans for this fixture from the blackboard. I did download them back then but it appears that the option to do a download has been disabled.

I have noticed this on some of the other sessions as well. If you browse through the different sessions, I think you will find that some are limited and others are as they always were.

With regard to dimensioning with the pro planner, this is how I make runners for use as miter bars. I plane the stock to the correct thickness to match the miter track and then rip off runners whose top and bottom surfaces 'may or may not' need sanding.

[mickyd]

Are you able to download the plans for this fixture from the blackboard. I did download them back then but it appears that the option to do a download has been disabled.

.........
I was able to right click save picture as while hovering over the jig plan blackboard item #8. I can email it to you if you'd like. PM your address to me.

I saved it as a pdf below also if you prefer that

7885

[dusty]

I was able to right click save picture as while hovering over the jig plan blackboard item #8. I can email it to you if you'd like. PM your address to me.

I saved it as a pdf below also if you prefer that

7885
Thank you for the offer, Mike, but that is not necessary. I can get the info the same way.

The point of my post was that at one time we could download the pdf right from the blackboard. We still can ON SOME but on others that option has been disabled.

It has been this way for some time now. I just never mentioned it before.

[kd6vpe]

Dusty,
In the beginning Nick did not have the download part working so we did the picture save as way after about ss#5 or 6 is when he had the download part working. I sure do miss those days.

[dusty]

Dusty,
In the beginning Nick did not have the download part working so we did the picture save as way after about ss#5 or 6 is when he had the download part working. I sure do miss those days. OKAY. I don't remember well the details from back then. If you say there was a time when we could not download the blackboard, these must have been during that time.

It is terrible - getting old that is!