This comparison is about the ability to produce joints with some form of dowel and not about joint strength because they are all capable of making a joint of sufficient strength for our jointing requirements.
The biggest issue I have with dowels is it can be a slow process, especially gluing and inserting a load of dowels so any reduction in time is a good objective. I have been using the Dowelmax for some time, it is the second most expensive tool out of these three but it has delivered from day one out of the box and it is a completely self contained device that clamps to the workpiece and is extremely accurate once setup and clamped. The quality of this jig is outstanding, it has been engineered to very high standards and with an extreme level of precision. It is easy to use with no aligning of marks or lines, alignment is done by the reference block and setting the drilling block flush with the end of the workpiece, the dowel pattern does not need to be centralised so long as you ensure a mirror image on the mating face. To offset the jig for another row of dowels requires changing the spacer between the drilling block and reference plate, the incremental change being determined by the thickness of the spacer and on occasions this can require that you make a new spacer or shim. This jig also has to be reconfigured to perform side/face doweling as shown below so you need to drill all of one type before the others otherwise it can be a lot of messing about unless you have two jigs.
The Jessem is new to me, I purchased this because I like dowels and I am looking to reduce the time required to do this task although I have tried a Domino XL700 as another alternative with various degree's of success. This Jessem tool is very well engineered which is what you expect from them and it is the least expensive of these three tools, less expensive than a Dowelmax because it comes with everything needed to use 6, 8, 10 and 12mm dowels wheras the Dowelmax only comes with the 10mm capability and you need to buy the other sizes which are 6, 8 and half inch coming in at another £190 making a total cost of £390 plus shipping and any taxes compared to the Jessem at £284. I had initial reservations about the Jessem because it has to be clamped to the workpiece using clamps unlike the Dowelmax with the clamping built in but I have found this to be an advantage in that the jig does not have to be reconfigured for side or face doweling as shown above. Using the Jessem I am aligning using the Dowelmax checkmark method rather than aligning centre lines which Jessem seems to advocate, this method simply sets the jig flush to the workpiece edge and is less error prone than trying to align a pencil mark and is easily replicated on the mating piece. Using this checkmark method I am getting perfect results that match the Dowelmax and joints that close with minimal clamping even with a patern of six dowels. A big bonus for the Jessem is that the drill guide can be offset from 6 to 100mm in 2mm increments without having to unclamp it from the workpiece and without changing the spacers as with the Dowelmax, this gives far more flexability in laying out the dowel pattern. The only thing the Jessem is lacking is the pin and rod arrangement used by Dowelmax to get longer spacings as shown below.
The Domino XL700 is by far the most expensive tool and with so much plastic it does not look as well engineered as either of the doweling jigs. I have had issues with the level of precision from this tool which is also the only tool that deliberately introduces a sloppy setting to help with alignment. The Domino is a really great concept and it does drill a very nice oblong 14mm mortice 70mm deep very fast and clean, probably cleaner and faster than drilling a single 10mm dowel hole but not with the location accuracy of either doweling jig and in my opinion it lacks repeatable precision. I can drill twenty dowel holes all spot on but am still finding that with the Domiino I may get as good as 3 out of 4 which is not good enough. I have made some joints using a sloppy domino for it's bulk and backing this up with dowels for precise alignment which does reduce assembly time.
I would conclude that for anyone starting out in woodworking and not pursuing the hand tools route that a doweling jig is a good option that will deliver sound joints with minimal outlay. The Jessem jig is really good, I did not think I would find another doweling jig as good as the Dowelmax but in some ways the Jessem is better, that ability for 2mm incremental offset is great and without the inbuilt clamping arrangement gives added ease of use and 12mm dowels. The Dowelmax is still a great doweling jig and both deliver but without a UK distributor then the Dowelmax is no longer a contender, it becomes expensive to import and no UK support.
The biggest issue I have with dowels is it can be a slow process, especially gluing and inserting a load of dowels so any reduction in time is a good objective. I have been using the Dowelmax for some time, it is the second most expensive tool out of these three but it has delivered from day one out of the box and it is a completely self contained device that clamps to the workpiece and is extremely accurate once setup and clamped. The quality of this jig is outstanding, it has been engineered to very high standards and with an extreme level of precision. It is easy to use with no aligning of marks or lines, alignment is done by the reference block and setting the drilling block flush with the end of the workpiece, the dowel pattern does not need to be centralised so long as you ensure a mirror image on the mating face. To offset the jig for another row of dowels requires changing the spacer between the drilling block and reference plate, the incremental change being determined by the thickness of the spacer and on occasions this can require that you make a new spacer or shim. This jig also has to be reconfigured to perform side/face doweling as shown below so you need to drill all of one type before the others otherwise it can be a lot of messing about unless you have two jigs.
The Jessem is new to me, I purchased this because I like dowels and I am looking to reduce the time required to do this task although I have tried a Domino XL700 as another alternative with various degree's of success. This Jessem tool is very well engineered which is what you expect from them and it is the least expensive of these three tools, less expensive than a Dowelmax because it comes with everything needed to use 6, 8, 10 and 12mm dowels wheras the Dowelmax only comes with the 10mm capability and you need to buy the other sizes which are 6, 8 and half inch coming in at another £190 making a total cost of £390 plus shipping and any taxes compared to the Jessem at £284. I had initial reservations about the Jessem because it has to be clamped to the workpiece using clamps unlike the Dowelmax with the clamping built in but I have found this to be an advantage in that the jig does not have to be reconfigured for side or face doweling as shown above. Using the Jessem I am aligning using the Dowelmax checkmark method rather than aligning centre lines which Jessem seems to advocate, this method simply sets the jig flush to the workpiece edge and is less error prone than trying to align a pencil mark and is easily replicated on the mating piece. Using this checkmark method I am getting perfect results that match the Dowelmax and joints that close with minimal clamping even with a patern of six dowels. A big bonus for the Jessem is that the drill guide can be offset from 6 to 100mm in 2mm increments without having to unclamp it from the workpiece and without changing the spacers as with the Dowelmax, this gives far more flexability in laying out the dowel pattern. The only thing the Jessem is lacking is the pin and rod arrangement used by Dowelmax to get longer spacings as shown below.
The Domino XL700 is by far the most expensive tool and with so much plastic it does not look as well engineered as either of the doweling jigs. I have had issues with the level of precision from this tool which is also the only tool that deliberately introduces a sloppy setting to help with alignment. The Domino is a really great concept and it does drill a very nice oblong 14mm mortice 70mm deep very fast and clean, probably cleaner and faster than drilling a single 10mm dowel hole but not with the location accuracy of either doweling jig and in my opinion it lacks repeatable precision. I can drill twenty dowel holes all spot on but am still finding that with the Domiino I may get as good as 3 out of 4 which is not good enough. I have made some joints using a sloppy domino for it's bulk and backing this up with dowels for precise alignment which does reduce assembly time.
I would conclude that for anyone starting out in woodworking and not pursuing the hand tools route that a doweling jig is a good option that will deliver sound joints with minimal outlay. The Jessem jig is really good, I did not think I would find another doweling jig as good as the Dowelmax but in some ways the Jessem is better, that ability for 2mm incremental offset is great and without the inbuilt clamping arrangement gives added ease of use and 12mm dowels. The Dowelmax is still a great doweling jig and both deliver but without a UK distributor then the Dowelmax is no longer a contender, it becomes expensive to import and no UK support.
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) should do a good job of holding it all together.
