One-stop dovetailing
Leigh DR4 Pro Dovetail jig
UTILITY: High
FEATURES: Medium-High
PRICE: $769.00, #151003
FEATURES:
- One-piece aluminum extrusion base
- Makes both through and halfblind dovetails
- Accepts boards up to 24” wide
- Maximum pin thickness 1 1/4”
- Includes guide bushing and three
carbide router bits - Allows custom spacing
- Other templates available
- 5 year warranty
When the Leigh dovetail jig first hit the market about 4 decades ago, it was a real game changer. Until then, if you wanted to rout dovetails, you were pretty much limited to equally-spaced, halfblind joints—the kind you see on kitchen cabinet drawers. But with the Leigh jig, you could rout variably-spaced through and halfblind joints that looked pretty much identical to their handcut counterparts. Leigh’s latest iteration of this venerable jig continues to offer that kind of unmatched versatility. Out of the box, it comes with everything you need to rout variably-spaced through dovetails including an 8° dovetail bit which matches the dovetail angle built into the jig, a 5/16” straight bit, the guide bushing to attach to your router base, and a thorough, well-written instruction manual to guide you through the process. It also comes with a standard, 14° dovetail for halfblind joints for pin boards 9/16”-thick or larger.
Setting up the jig is a matter of clamping your stock in place via the crossbars and cam-action clamps, then adjusting the moveable fingers to suit the spacing you want. The fingers ride in a rack that attaches to a color-coded scale assembly at either end. The orientation of these scale assemblies tells you what kind of dovetails you’re cutting (through, or halfblind) and its fore and aft adjustment coupled with the bit depth, helps determine the joint’s fit. For joints with wide spacing, Leigh includes several lengths of filler material that you cut to bridge the gaps between the fingers to prevent inadvertent cuts. While the process is straightforward, there is a learning curve to it and you’ll be glad the manual is as comprehensive as it is. If you are more of a visual learner, QR codes throughout the pages link to online videos that go over the steps as well. Once you have the jig set up, routing the joints is a matter of setting the appropriate bit to the right depth and guiding the router in and out of the fingers. Leigh recommends using a fixed-base router for ease of setting the bit depth, but a plunge router will work in a pinch.
I made good use of this jig when I built the dresser featured in our Oct/Nov 2023 issue. Overall, I was very pleased with the results. After a few test cuts, I was able to cut all the same-size drawer joinery accurately and efficiently before resetting the jig to cut the next size drawers. To cut the custom-spaced halfblind dovetails on the 7/8”-thick drawer fronts, I did have to purchase a 10° dovetail bit which was not included with the original package. It’s a small quibble, but it would have been nice to know this as I was making the initial purchase. On a more positive note, the included guide bushing is quite innovative. Instead of being perfectly round, Leigh’s bushing is slightly oblong and is marked with a scale that allows you to adjust it to tighten or loosen the joint’s fit as needed. The bottom line? If you only need to cut drawer joints for built-in cabinetry, this jig is probably overkill. But if your dovetailing ambitions include exposed case dovetails as well as box joinery along with drawer joints, the Leigh Jig should serve you well.
Ken Burton
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This portable air cleaner captures dust particulates down to 0.3 microns using a MERV 15 filter. The unit is lightweight making it easy to position right where you need it to ensure clean air. Built-in sensors ramp up its 1⁄5HP brushless motor when particulates are detected, balancing power, sound, and air quality.
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MICROJIG
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