On the weekend I was holding down the JessEm booth at the Toronto Home Handyman and DIY (aka woodworking show) show at the international centre. My connection to JessEm Tools is new and I hope just the beginning of something long term. I had the chance to continue working with great tools and an opportunity to practise a new skill.
My new skill was the making of raised panel doors. In the photo are the latest three. Those doors were made during the show in the midst of the chaos and hullabloo that goes with a big show.
Equal parts really good teacher of the method, excellent tools and s time to practise before going to the show meant that I am confident and able to make very good doors while experiencing very little stress.
For a beginner that practise is necessary. If you are going to make kitchen doors, start off by making some doors for your workshop first. That way you can work out the bugs and get your method firmly established in your mind.
I was loaned this doweling jig last week. I did not buy it, neither was I given it, nor have I been paid or rewarded to write positive comments about the JessEm jig. If your have read this blog before you will find that I only write about products and tools about which I can sincerely say positive things.
Let me preface this with a couple of baseline statements regarding dowels and my working method.
1. Generally I am not inclined to use dowels, I am very happy with pocket holes. I make every effort at the design stage to enable pocket holes and to keep them from obvious view. If I can't hide pocket holes I will plug them to reduce visibility.
2. My view is that dowels are more of an alignment aid then a way to significantly strengthen a joint, my view.
3. When a pocket hole doesn't meet my need I usually count on glue and clamps and nothing else.
4. I have flirted with Biscuits and Mortise and Tenon in the past. Neither one called to me with overwhelming power.
5. Having said all that... occasionally a project needs a totally hidden joinery system or help with holding an alignment while clamped.
The hidden system that I have turned to over time is doweling. It is the one with the deepest roots. I made a cutting board in Gr.7 shop class and doweled it together (moderately successfully as I remember) and so that is the method upon which I fall back.
I own three doweling systems, one of which is quite famous and costly. (not Dowel Max) As they are un-named you can surmise that they did not make me happy. One was cheap, and you get cheap when you buy cheap. One was very limited in its application, it does one thing well but only one thing, and in only one orientation on the boards. And one has a long learning curve and requires fairly steady use to keep the skill level up.
With the JessEm I was successful the first time I used it, unlike all of the other jigs. The instructions are mostly intuitive and straight forward, unlike my super doweling jig that is collecting dust. It also appears that the jig will do all the things I need. The JessEm jig covers all the bases but you will need to keep thinking as the tasks becomes more complex.
Note, as the given tasks increase in complexity I believe it is fair to expect the user of the tool to have developed their skills and understanding too. I do not trust anyone selling a tool that claims it removes the need for operator skill as some jigs do, no tool is "idiot operator certified".
When I took the jig out of the box it was sturdy with a minimum of parts. Other than the body and sleeve of the jig most everything else is in one of your tool boxes should all the pieces not get returned to the box at the end of a job. My jig came set up for 3/8 dowels, with the drill bit, stops, sleeve etc. There is also an add-on 1/4 set up.
My feeling is that a Jig should enable me to get on with the project easily and with a minimum of fuss and bother. This is the doweling jig that I know I can comfortably turn to it once a year and use it successfully without having to make test pieces and practice to relearn the special tricks. In fact I can see using dowels more often because of ease of use of the JessEm Doweling jig . The JessEm doweling system meets my requirements completely.
