Tablesaw Dovetail Jig

Achieve the look of hand-cut joinery with a machine-made start.

- Chris Hedges

Dovetail joinery is an important feature on many of my projects. I like the look of hand-cut dovetails, but the time required to make them is a luxury I often can’t afford. With the dovetail jig shown here, I can duplicate the proportions of hand-cut dovetails with some time-saving help from my tablesaw.

I always cut the tails first, then use my tail board to lay out the pins. This jig gets the joinery off to a good start, enabling me to make perfect tail cuts. I usually remove the waste between tails using my scrollsaw to cut just outside the base line. Then I pare to the line with a chisel.