Sawdust on the Floor

How Many is Too Many?

I remember watching Norm Abrams on the “New Yankee Workshop” show and wondering just how many routers does one man really need? I don’t remember what the actual project was, but 20 minutes into the program he had used four different routers. My thinking at the time; this was just too excessive. Well, I guess I own Norm an apology. At this time, I now own six routers. Now before you ask me, how many routers do I really need, let me explain. Of the six I own, I actually only brought two of them. Three were inherited from my father-in-law, and one was a promotional gift from Delta when I purchased my tablesaw.

Over this past year, I have been building kitchen cabinets for our house and the combination of four of these routers has been an asset to that effort. Unlike building a book case, or a table, where if you are off a little and its no big deal, kitchen cabinets have to be exact. When you are installing cabinets between two existing walls, there is no real fudge room… it’s real hard to move a wall. Filler strips are often used to give that fudge factor, but I really didn’t want to use them. My choice was to make each cabinet, one at a time. I felt I could control the measurements better this way instead of batching cutting everything, and trusting my math and measurements. So far I am off by a little less then 3/16”. Not bad, but its also why I am still building them.

There are nine base cabinets, plus an island. Two of these are all drawers, and the rest are a combination of doors and drawers. Several of the drawers are intended to hold the pots and pans, so they are rather large. With that in mind, we decided that the best drawer would be one made with dovetail joints. For several years now, I have had my eye on a Leigh Dovetail Jig , but I kept putting the purchase off. You know the internal logic we all go thru. The cost is high and is it worth the investmen? It has a long learning curve……….. Anyway, I finally bit the bullet and bought one and the only thing I can say, is I wish I had done this years ago. Hey, that’s what I get for listening to myself!

About the learning curve, it’s not that bad. The instruction manual gives very explicit instructions, and every thing works out, as long as you pay attention and followed those instructions. Dovetails consist of two parts, the Tails and the Pins. One is cut with a straight bit and the other a dovetail bit. Both bits come with the Jig. The setup for each is time consuming and the process will take a little tweaking to get the cut just right. That’s why I decided to use two routers for cutting the dovetails. Since all of the stock for my drawers was the same thickness, once I had both routers setup correctly I wouldn’t have to change them. This saved me a lot of time and frustration. There is one thing that bears mentioning, The Leigh Router bits require a 15mm to ½” collet, only one comes with the jig.  I picked up an extra when I got the Jig.

If you use the Leigh Dovetail Jig , but don’t have the option of two routers, I would suggest strongly that you get a good Digital Micrometer.All of the setups are depth adjustments, so that once the correct bit depth is determined and recorded, you could easily return to that setting. Another option would be to make Gauge Blocks out of pieces of polyethylene. Rockler and Woodcraft both have the blocks for this purpose.

I choose to cut though Dovetails; the Leigh also cuts half and through Blind Dovetails. No additional hardware is required, just a setup change. The jig I purchased also has the ability to cut sliding dovetails. I haven’t had a chance to try these yet, but I promise to give them a try as soon as the Kitchen is done.

The one other feature of the Leigh Dovetail Jig is the adjustability of the widths of the dovetails. Years ago I bought one of the fixed width jigs. Other then the price, the fixed width was a real disaster. Think about it for a minute. Are all of your drawers or cabinets always the same size? I know mine are not. So this is one of those times where one size really does not fit all. I really like the ability to choose how wide and how many dovetails each end will have. The down side to all of these options is the cost. The Leigh Jig was not to cheapest jig on the market, but to me the quality made it worth the cost.

Getting back to the cabinets. The cases are all made from ¾” plywood; I used a Plunge Router to cut rabbits in the bottom and sides of these. All of these joints were then glued and screwed to add rigidity to the cabinets. I know a lot of woodworkers prefer to use a dado blade to cut these rabbits, instead of a router. There is nothing wrong with that approach. I prefer the router however, as most Dado blades do not cut flat. I equipped my plunge router with a 21/32 ‘’ bit, the actual thickness of Plywood. Since I had the third router, I was able to leave the router setup. Again, since the maximum depth of the cut is the critical measurement, not having to keep readjusting the router is a time saver, and keeps me from ruining a perfectly good piece of plywood.

I don’t think that having several routers is an extravagance. Not having to keep changing router bits and trying to duplicate a setup over and over again, is not only a time saver, but adds to the accuracy of your project. Isn’t that what we are all working for; better efficiency and more accuracy? Oh and Norm, I apologize.

There are some questions a guy learns not to ask, like which is better; Ford or Chevy, Republicans or Democrats, Packers or Patriots. There are no correct answers, just a lot of opinions. The same thing could be said if I were to ask who makes the best band saw on the market. Either thru extreme product loyalties, or because we all like to think what every particular product we own is the best, we would without hesitation announce to anyone within hearing, that our Delta, Jet, Powermatic, Steel City……, is the greatest thing since sliced bread. And there is nothing wrong with that, and I am not here to debate the merits of a particular brand. There are pros and cons of each and every band saw made.

It doesn’t matter if you have a 14” or 18” band saw; there are certain things that separate the okay  from really great band saws. Among those would be a smooth running saw, which means good bearings in the wheels, good blade guides as well as a table top that is flat and can be easily adjusted for angle cuts. One of the other options that can make or break a saw is a good fence.

I happen to own a Jet 14″ Band Saw and when I got it, it was an okay band saw. I have since upgraded the blade guide blocks, built a sturdy stand for it and connected it to my dust collection system. I also added a magnetic lamp, for those fine cuts. But I found that I still didn’t use it as much as I had hoped to. Straight cuts were difficult at best. I have attempted to use a straight edge held on with clamps but this proved to be a hit and miss proposition.

Last year, I purchased a KREG Band Saw Fence and I love it. The Fence took about an hour to attach to my band saw. I had to drill and tap an additional hole in the face for mounting, but other then that, it was a easy install. The instructions indicated that I might have to do the drilling, so this was no surprise.

This simple add on made it a much more useful tool, and moved it into the really great band saw category. Now straight cuts are easy, and more importantly, safe. The fence is easily removed when not needed. Using the printed scale along the front rail, repetitive cuts are easy to set up. KREG offers a Micro adjust option for the fence. Personally I think it’s an overkill . Band saw cuts are a lot rougher then that of a table saw, so I think the run out of the cut, over weighs the Micro adjust, but that’s just my opinion.

So, would I change anything? Yes, I wished I had gotten the 18” band Saw!. I love my 14”, but it limits the height of wood that I can re saw. And I haven’t seen any band saws with the KREG Fence installed, so I am not sure I want to start all over again.