Workshop Woodworking Jigs

When I decided to build a set of kitchen cabinets, I had to make and assemble about three dozen raised panel doors. Instead of using pipe or bar clamps for this task, I came up with my own clamping jig.

This jig will fit most planers, but you can measure your planer and adjust the dimensions as necessary.

In the meantime, one jig that I have repeatedly heard is very useful as an upgrade to table saw owners is a Cutoff Box. I have also heard this referred to as a Sliding Cutoff Table or other variations on those words.

Here is a quick-fix jig that will come in handy the next time you need to bore a vertical hole in the end of a long workpiece.

You do not need a jointer to get a straight, square edge on a board. An L-shaped auxiliary fence makes it easy to joint a board on a table saw (see Photo at this link).

Recently, I made a cribbage board and needed a way to accurately drill the several rows of holes. I solved this problem by building a jig with a micro-adjustment feature for the drill press.

There are several things to think about when cutting a thin sheet of material on a table saw. Not the least of which is providing enough downward pressure so the sheet won not ride up inches over the saw blade, causing a potentially dangerous kickback.

One of the trickiest parts about working with crown molding is cutting accurate compound miters. But I found that attaching this slant-front fence to the miter gauge makes it much easier.

Featherboards are a great way to hold a workpiece firmly against a fence or table surface. But there is more to a featherboard than just sawing kerfs in the end of a board. The problem is cutting evenly-spaced kerfs so the fingers flex just the right amount. With the indexing jig shown below, cutting the kerfs is easy and accurate.

I recently built a large entertainment center that needed several identical slots cut in it for cord and cable access. Cutting them was not difficult. But getting them all identical, with clean edges was another story. To do this, I used a handheld router and a pattern bit guided by a shop-made template.

Instead of running out and buying additional clamps, I made two helpers right in my shop. Now I can use them anytime I need help squaring up a large project.

I use a shop-made splitter that is built into my throat opening insert. It also has the advantage of being a zero-clearance insert, narrow pieces can not fall down between the blade and the opening in the insert. Here is how I made mine.

See how a woodworker built a piston stop block to their shop-built drill press fence. To see how it was done click on the link above.

With this plan you can make yourself a truly accurate miter sled so you can cut first class segments for your rings that you do not have to send time touching up to get a perfect ring. A notable feature of this sled is that adding a new miter angle to your repertoire is quick and cheap!

With the tops of the tabletop boards clamped face to face, we used a simple plywood jig to rout the sockets for the butterfly key.

When setting the rip fence on my table saw, I used to check the distance between the fence and my saw blade with a tape measure. But trying to hold the end of the tape against the rip fence and adjust it at the same time took more coordination than I could muster. So instead, I made a simple set-up gauge.

Using a table saw to trim a number of small parts to identical size can be tricky especially if the cut is angled. But this small parts sled makes it easy and safe.

Use it with your sander to get the perfect results you want in seconds.

This jig acts like a third hand in the workshop. The sliding part of the sled is set to the height required to support a board.

The miter shooting board helps you trim perfect-fitting miters with a hand plane. Here are two hand-plane jigs for gap-free corners.

This is a link to a Google 3D SketchUp drawing for a mortise jig for your router. You will need the SketchUp software to download this drawing and its freely available online. We do not provide support for this software. Not all drawings have the measurements displayed but you can use the measurement tool in SketchUp to easily and accurately determine the dimensions of each lumber part. Most drawings do not have instructions, its assumed you can build it based on the completed drawing provided.

The keys to this technique are the overhanging edge of the scarf joint that allows you to clean up the top and bottom surfaces ahead of time...

The joints are always the weakest part of any piece of woodwork. Because of this, I am always obsessing over making better joints.

Instead of purchasing a special clamping jig, I use simple shop-made gluing cleats to help assemble mitered frames.They allow me to get a tight joints with just ordinary clamps.

This is a guide to cut dados to an exact width by making multiple passes. The capacity of this jig is 12 inches wide boards, to cut wider boards make the side guides at least 6 1/2 inches longer than the width of the board.

I made this simple crosscut sled, which works like a giant miter gauge, for crosscutting panels on my table saw.

Whenever I make picture frames, I like to use a clamping jig to keep the assembled frame flat and square during the gluing stage.

With no back or bottom, this jig is great for dadoing and for crosscutting wide stock.

Gluing up a frame and panel door so it ends up perfectly square can be tricky. ...To prevent this, I built the simple jig shown in the photo [at this link].

A jig for drilling equally spaced holes for adjustable shelves. Similar to one seen on New Yankee Workshop. Requires plunge router w/guide bushing. DXF Format