DOVETAIL JIG 12IN. CRAFTEX WITH HEIGHT ADJ CT052N

The base had burrs from fabrication. The burrs are under the clamping bar. My prefinished birch was scratched through to the wood and has to be refinished. BBT gets 5 stars for the ease of return.

Because I only do woodworking for a hobby, I had a difficult time in getting it setup properly.

Starting this year, I want to up my woodworking game with the ability to cut dovetails. I know some people may look down upon those who use a dovetail jig, however as a hobbyist woodworker I don’t have the time at this point in my life to cut dovetails by hand. Having said that, I do want to learn how to cut dovetails by hand later in life. To level set, I approached this review having never used a dovetail jig, nor having experience cutting dovetails. Having said that, from the time I unboxed the jig to my first cuts it was roughly 90 minutes, it was probably less but I wasn’t keeping track with a stop watch. When unboxed this jig came fully assembled (with the exception one of the side stops fell off) and just needed the clamp bars to be installed. While this jig can be permanently mounted to a flat surface, I opted to use the Bessy Table Clamps which provided more than enough clamping pressure to ensure no movement of the jig. Setup of the jig was super easy as Busy Bee Tools created an almost flawless instructional video to reference in addition to the instruction manual. This is key as there are no other videos online that go over this detail for setup. My only criticism was setting up the side stops and not having a setup bar to properly set them. They indicate you can use a ruler however ensuring the side stops are square takes a bit of effort as this is an important step. Other than that, the setup was simple and easy. After setup, I was able get my test pieces of plywood into the jig, lined up and ready to cut. I thought at this point there had to be more to this than that. However, after double and triple checking I was good to go. Cutting was the easiest part as you just follow the jig and both boards are cut at the same time to ensure proper alignment. After reviewing my cuts I found the pins I cut were too big and wouldn’t fit, and sure enough the video explained this and after a slight adjustment to my dovetail bit I was able to recut and the joint fit snug. If you're looking for a jig that is quick and easy to setup and get you cutting dovetails right away, this is the jig for you.

I assume this jig is no more difficult to set up than other low cost, half blind dovetail jigs. I spent half a day and quite a few scraps getting it to work properly. Despite the message in the product video, it is not a quick or easy job (if your goal is to have perfect fitting joints). As well, don't bother to try and cut the joints for a box in just 2 passes as implied in the video. I don't think it is possible. The best you can do is 3 due to geometry/physics. Once set up, the jig does an acceptable job.