Making large dovetails in the corners of your cabinets, boxes and drawers adds an elegant touch that shows the work of a craftsman with an eye for design. Doing this is not as difficult or time-consuming as you might think...
While there are, without any doubt, other ways to achieve this magnificent woodworking accomplishment, I am going to confine my comments to the use of the Keller Model 2401 Pro Series Dovetail Jig. Keller has other models available but this one seems best to me, considering both function and cost.
This will not be a protracted piece because the operation of this dovetail jig is elegantly simple. The whole kit includes two, large aluminum templates, one for the pins and the other for the tails. It also includes two router bits, one for the pins and the other for the tails. These bits have ball bearing tracking collars mounted between the cutter and the bit shaft. The collar tracks around the template while the bit is cutting into the end grain of the work piece.
Each dovetail jig template is screwed onto a piece of wood at right angle to the template. This wood is clamped to the one side of the workpiece while the template rests on the end grain. The only adjustments relate to proper left/right placement along the edge of the work piece and setting the depth of cut on the router.
Complete instructions come with each Keller dovetail jig kit and an instructional video is available. The width of each template is 24" (a 16" model is available) but the length of cut is not limited to those dimensions. You simply cut all the dovetails on the template and then re-align the template so that the first position on the template is now lined up with the last dovetail (or pin) cut during the firstpass. Theoretically, you could cut dovetails all the way to the moon although no one has tried this yet.
You can save money by ordering the 16" model but you will have to re-align the template more often for wide workpieces. With the standard (larger) bits that are included, you may cut dovetails in wood that are from 5/8" to 1" thick. A smaller dovetail jig bit set is available (at extra cost). With the smaller bits, you may cut dovetails into 3/8" to 3/4" lumber. The dovetail angle is 7 degrees. A 1 1/2 HP router or larger is mandatory and the router collet can be either 3/8" or 1/2". One-half inch is preferable. A Pro Clamp Kit is available for a bit more money for production work and is especially helpful formaking drawers with the Keller dovetail jig.
If you want large dovetails in thicker stock, you might want to consider Keller's Model 3600. These 36" wide templates will handle thicknesses from 3/4" to 1 1/2" thick. The standard bit set works with wood up to 1" thick. The optional small bit set is for wood thicknesses from 3/4" to 7/8". The optional large bit set is for stock 7/8" to 1 1/2" thick.
Bob GillespieWoodworker
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(C) 2010 Robert M. Gillespie, Jr.
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