Dowelling jig

Fremantle

· woodworking ·

I bought a dowelling jig the other day, and made the frame of a box with it on the weekend. It went incredibly well, considering the lack of care I took over accuracy. I just bunged the thing on the corners of the boards and drilled away merrily — no clamping, not even a depth-stop on the drill bit, let alone a ruler or square within sight. But because the jig sets the first hole centred on whatever the thickness is, and then subsequent holes in reference to that, there's not much that can go wrong. I was pretty impressed.

It was also a nice exercise for me in realising that not all boxen need dovetails. This box is for my new angle grinder, so I wanted joints that would reflect the precision and beauty of that machine.