Wolfcraft 3751405 Dowel Pro Doweling Jig Kit

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These are a very popular tool/fixture. I know from the reviews and experience as a design engineer that this fixture will be as good, especially for the price. I have saved a lot the last 3 years with Prime shipping and they have never failed to be on time. I have been waiting for Rockler to get these in stock for weeks. I just happened to be looking on Amazon and found the exact same tool for $15 less than Rockler's price and available in 2 days with my Amazon Prime shipping. I will update this review if I find any flaws. It doesn't get any better than Amazon and their Prime shipping.

For joining boards on edge, this looks terrific. Nor do the clamps look like they would hold a narrow piece of stock square to the jig. There's simply no way with this jig to precisely and repeatably position the holes. I bought this some time ago and only today took it out so that I could dowel a face frame. It looks much more accurate than the self-centering style (which I also have) where you need to drill the boards separately, removing and reinstalling the jig in the process. It looks like a useful jig if you don't need to join narrow stock on end. However, it's really useless for assembling face frames, where you need to precisely join narrow boards to wide ones.

This thing is perfect for that weekend coffee table project or bookcase or whatever. For common doweling jobs this thing is worth the buy (at around $25, 30ish, not too much more than that). But w/ a little resourcefulness you can get this thing to do a little more than what it's designed for. I wouldn't recommend this for the pro furniture maker or expert cabinet maker. Tolerances could definetely be machined to tighter specs. It'll do a pretty good job at squarin away ends with minimal planing or sanding needed afterwards. Generally made for limited use for 3/4"(+/- a little) solid planks in end to end doweling, corners, T's.

Add to the complexity the task of joining boards at various angles (think 45 degree mitered picture frame parts) and perhaps you can understand why the ability to line up both boards and drill the dowels at the same time can be a real advantage. It has width limitations for one thing. The results were excellent and looked as if performed by a professional (which I am not by any means). Not all boards are created equal, you have slight twists or cups to potentially deal with. There are many doweling jigs out there that perform well; what sets this one apart from the others is that you can align and cut dowels into two boards at the same time.

This jig will not replace the need for other jigs. Dowel alignment can be tricky when just attempting to edge join two boards of the same thickness and length. Dowel holes have to be precise and misaligned holes are not forgiving in a project.I recently used this jig to build an A frame for a quilting rack. But if you are working with dowel joinery with tricky angles and less than perfect boards, this jig will save you big headaches. Many of the boards were at 15+ degree angles.

Quick and easy. I've had trouble drilling dowels, and then successfully mating with an adjacent board. Great product. This takes out all the guess work, allowing fast drilling, alignment, and gluing of two boards. the way it should be. No more wasted wood due to incorrect measurements or imperfect perpendicular drilling.