Workshop Woodworking Jigs

A chip chute for the Dewalt 12-1/2" planer. DXF Format

A jig for holding plane irons while sharpening. Designed to work with 3M paper on 1/4" glass plate. DXF Format

An adjustable jig for use with a router for making mortises. DXF Format.

This table saw jig trims the ends of segmented half-rings so the half-rings fit together into a perfect ring.

Isometric drawing of a shooting board used to cut 45 degree angles for frames. For use with a table saw. DXF Format

A jig used on the table saw to straighten the edge of rough lumber. BMP format.

When I need to enlarge a hole in a door for a new lockset (say, from 2-1/8 to 2-3/8 inch), I use a shop-made guide and a standard hole saw.

I used to trim dovetails with a chisel or a belt sander. However, using the chisel was slow work, and the belt sander made it too easy to round the corners or gouge the face of my workpiece. I found a better solution using my router, a straight bit, and a simple auxiliary router base that I made from scrap stock.

There is nothing that symbolizes machinery like gears. Seeing that I like to make machines out of wood, it follows then that I should want some of these machines to have gears on them. Wooden gears, of course. [Editor Note: This link does not have much in the way of measurements, but still useful info.]

I have been using my hand-held router a lot lately. For one project, I had to rout some stopped dadoes. With this kind of cut, an edge guide is almost a necessity. And although most router manufacturers offer an edge guide as an accessory, it is really no trouble at all to build your own. As you can see in the photo, it is just a replacement base made of hardboard with an adjustable hardwood fence.

A clever jig used to guide a router while cutting cross dovetail splines in a miter joint. Zip file includes .jpg photo of jig in use. DXF Format

This biscuit-joint miter jig makes it easy to biscuit-join mitered corners, even in thin stock.

Jed Dixons Curved Stair Nosing Jig by Dan Parish.

Making a straight cut with a circular saw usually requires careful measuring to set up your edge guide. To solve this problem, I came up with a simple circular saw marking gauge.

There was a problem when I tried to use a router with a flush trim bit to trim the edging. The front surface of the edging was not wide enough to support the router. So I built a simple jig to solve this problem.

This old-fashioned fixture will help you plane perfect miter joints.

This is a link to a Google 3D SketchUp drawing for a jig that gives square cuts when cutting piano hinge with a hacksaw. 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.

Using a miter gauge to cut multiple pieces to identical length on a table saw is easy if the pieces are fairly short. I just clamp a stop block to a wood fence attached to the miter gauge. But if the pieces are too long, I have always had trouble cutting them to identical lengths. So I ...

I turn almost all of my turnings glued to a faceplate. I usually part the turnings off the faceplate but I wanted to share a fixture that my friend Sonnie Sharrar uses to cut the faceplates off his bowls. The fixture in the photos is a bit different than Sonnie, but I tend to turn larger bowls and this fixture can handle them.

This circular saw cutting guide is so easy to make and so easy and accurate to use, you will be kicking yourself for not thinking of doing this sooner!

This is a link to a Google 3D SketchUp drawing of a jig for cutting the 2.5 inch and 5 inch wooden gears. 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.

Recently, I was working on a project that called for cutting a large circular workpiece. The material that I was using was medium density fiberboard (MDF), and I needed a quick and easy way to end up with a circle that had a nice smooth edge.

A great small jig for edge banding plywood with solid wood strips.

This is a link to a Google 3D SketchUp drawing for a log flattener jig. This jig makes several close cross cuts at a controlled depth across a log. 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.

Circle cutting jig for router. Handles circles from 7" to 36". DXF Format

This jig setup will assist you in cutting off pieces from any sheet material.

Using a standard tablesaw blade you can make dado cuts just as good as if you had a stack dadaoe cutter.

A viewer shares an idea for a jig that makes curved cuts in wood. This jig uses wiggle board to fit into two complimentary pieces of wood. Wiggle Board is 3/16 inch crosscut plywood.

You can install threaded inserts using a simple, shop-built jig. Also, we show you more on cutting raised panels. This supplementary article is available to download in this Online Extra from Woodsmith Magazine.

A simple guide for routing decorative grooves in boards. DXF Format