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Waited 3 weeks for a custom jig for my router, then made one from scrap plywood in 20 minutes
Last month I needed to cut 14 identical mortises for a set of cabinet doors, so I ordered a fancy aluminum jig online for $85. It showed up 3 weeks later and the clamp blocks did not even line up with my router base plate. In the meantime I had grabbed a piece of 3/4 inch scrap plywood, cut two guide rails, and screwed them down in about 20 minutes while my coffee was still hot. That plywood jig cut all 14 mortises clean on the first pass, and the $85 one went back in the box. I still feel a little silly about it. Anybody else got a homemade jig that completely embarrassed a store bought one?
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murray.jana1mo ago
That line about the clamp blocks not lining up really hits home. I saw a woodworking channel last year where the guy tested like six different store bought jigs against a plain MDF one he threw together in half an hour, and the cheap one won almost every time. His whole point was that a jig only has to fit your router and your project, not everybody's, so all those fancy features just add stuff that can go wrong. That stuck with me because most of my best jigs are just scraps with a couple screws holding a fence where I need it. My dovetail setup is literally a piece of oak with a notch cut in it and it beats the plastic one I bought years ago.
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