EZ Dovetailing Jig

[D.Crawford]

I was all prepared to spend some time fabbing a dovetailing jig
but a few minutes of tinkering resulted in this.

Just make sure your platen is perpendicular to your tool rest.
Clamp the welding magnet with a c-clamp. A scrap piece of
barstock mounts atop the magnet to provide a nice work surface.
If everything is aligned properly you get a nice crisp dovetail
with a minimum amount of setup.

Hope this helps someone.

 

[thegeek574]

I was hoping this didn't involve a grinder. oh well. cool idea, though.

stupid question. is the magnet strong enough to keep the piece of barstock from moving at all?

 

[D.Crawford]

I was hoping this didn't involve a grinder. oh well. cool idea, though.

stupid question. is the magnet strong enough to keep the piece of barstock from moving at all?

It was very stable. I did use the biggest magnet that I had.

 

[Frank Niro]

What i did for mine is take a piece of 1 1/2" angle iron about 4" long, established the angle I wanted and brazzed it to a flat piece of steel so I could attach it with a clamp to my grinding table of my 2 X 72" ftat grinder. I've used it so much I can't believe it's not worn to nothing. Frank

 

[unky_gumbi]

While my tool rest is stationary I have a GIB with the Multi platen so I just rotate my platen to the angle I want Only thing is that I haven't actually done a dove tail on a knife yet I have just practiced with scraps so far

 

[BMK]

Jigs are great!

 

[Frank Niro]

Unky.
I leave my table set at 90 degrees to the platen and never move it. I can do the bolsters teday and the scales in a week and I am able to maintain the same angle for both. Frank

 

[unky_gumbi]

While my platen isn't index, I do have a few angle that I like marked out on it so that all I have to do is put my square on the tooling arm and rotate the platen to the angle I want and lock it down again. Coming back to 90* I just put the square on the table and rotate the platen back to 90.

Unky.
I leave my table set at 90 degrees to the platen and never move it. I can do the bolsters teday and the scales in a week and I am able to maintain the same angle for both. Frank

 

[lytefoot45]

Mr. Niro,
Before you completely wear out your fixture, would you mind posting an image -- I'd love to see it because I can't make the description work out.
Thanks!
Wayne

 

[Frank Niro]

Wayne.
Maybe you see an old man on the keyboard. As my friend Don Robinson would say no that's not my grandfather it real is me. But please call me Frank. And now the sad part. I have yet to learn how to send pictures to the forum.
Here's another approach to making that dovetail cutter. Cut a piece of mild steel say 3" X 6". 1/8" thick will work. Now take a piece of 1 1/2" angle iron and cut it 6" long. Take that piece of angle iron and grind down one side so that you will create an angle of say 20 degrees. If this will be a good angle for you to use, braze, hard silver solder, or weld it to the plate so that the lowest edge of the angle iron is near even with one long edge of the plate. The space on the rear side of the plate allows for you to clamp it to the table of your grinder. If your bolsters are prepared and level on their out side and the scales on the in side and you have not changed the table angle, these will fit perfecto. I also use this for the front of my folders. After the bolster is attatched to the liner, this will allow me to make both sides with the same angle. So that's my $2.00 milling machine. I don't have another. To see some of my work go to customknifegallery.com and scroll down on the left hand side until you find me. I hope this helps.
Wayne. I will have my new shop going again soon I have not yet unpacked my angle grinder. If you send me a note at niro@telus.net I will send you a picture or two direct to you. Frank