Leigh D4 Dovetail jig £100 off

[Anonymous]

Here

http://www.rutlands.co.uk/

 

[ByronBlack]

It's odd that this has come up. Only yesterday I was watching the wood-whisperer video podcast about dovetails, and he was bestowing the virtues of this, but it must have taken him about 10-15mins just to set the thing up, let alone cut any dovetails, is it me, or does this just make things even more complicated and difficult to use than just cutting by hand? It certainly looks complicated, but then that might just be a reflection of me

Good link though Tony, that is a sizeable discount (I wish they would do the same with the incra router fence).

 

[tnimble]

Mey be then we should ask Marc to do an podcast using the router fence?

But seriously. This jig is not as hard to set up as it looks. It takes very little time to set up actually. However I find this (and any other dovetail jig) overpriced. Only when having to make dovetails on a huge amount of boards it really benefits above handcut dovetails. When having to do that this D4R is one of the best jigs around.

 

[cambournepete]

is it me, or does this just make things even more complicated and difficult to use than just cutting by hand? It certainly looks complicated, but then that might just be a reflection of me

I think it is quite complex, although I've not tried it personally, but then it lets you cut more interesting dovetails than the usual jigs and more repeatably than most can do by hand.
Norm :norm: makes good use of it

 

[mailee]

I recently bought the Dakota dovetail jig from Rutlands and find it simplicity to use. I do have one of the cheap clamp type jigs for the router but find that takes such a long time to set up. With the Dakota one I just clamp in the wood set the depth (once) and cut the pins then reverse the jig repeat and cut the tails, easy. :wink:

 

[ike]

It has one or two tricks up it's sleeve. You can make inlaid dovetails for example. Perhaps not to everyones taste though.

Not forgetting the finger joint and isoloc templates. It's not cheap but it stands head and shoulders above any other jig on the market. Is it any less good value than say an Incra system after all they are not cheap either- who is to say?

A cracking deal though!

 

[Mike.C]

Once you have used the Leigh a few times, it is fast to set up and easy to use. We all know that the Rat does a lot more, but for just making dovetails IMHO the Leigh is the best jig on the market.

The only problem with the Leigh was the mess it made. Even when they introduced the old dust extraction accessory it wasn't much better.

But after speaking to one of their agents and then trying it out for myself, I can say that their new "Vacuum and Router support" http://leighjigs.com/vrs.php is a 100% improvement. I only used it for about 10 mins, but this was enough time to see that it is well worth buying. Not only for the dust extraction but also for supporting the router and keeping it stable.

Cheers

Mike

 

[Dibs-h]

Been after one for a while, but somehow couldn't (or wouldn't to be precise) stretch to paying £359 - but at £100 off, a damn sight more attractive.

Couldn't resist - especially as at that price, it was marginally more expensive than from the US.

Should be arriving on Monday.

 

[Anonymous]

It's odd that this has come up. Only yesterday I was watching the wood-whisperer video podcast about dovetails, and he was bestowing the virtues of this, but it must have taken him about 10-15mins just to set the thing up,

Byron, I had one and they are very quick to set up once you are used to it - max. 2 minutes.

Once I got to the level of the Houndstooth box, I couldn't see the point in keeping it any longer. The new owner in Ireland sems to like it :wink:

 

[ByronBlack]

You have to wonder how much markup there is on that machine if they are happy to sell it with £100 off!

Are the cheaper ones any good?

 

[Russell]

Its cheap because Leigh are launching 3 new jigs in the next month and they are much cheaper than the D4

 

[Mike.C]

Russell, they have already launched them http://leighjigs.com/superjigs.php the Super 12, 18 and 24, and your right if you scroll down to the bottom of the page you will see that they are much cheaper.

Leigh have also reduced the price of the D4r http://leighjigs.com/d4.php again scroll down the page.


EDIT Brimarc are selling the Super 24" for £221 (£132 for the 12" and £177 for the 18") http://www.brimarc.com/home.php3?page=p ... pc=SUPER24

Cheers

Mike

 

[ByronBlack]

They do look to be quite an attractive tool - but for me there is always the nagging feeling that using one of these is somehow 'cheating' and the work loses credit for it - I know thats probably not true, but there seems to be an internal struggle I have with regards to buying one of these, i've thought about it a couple of times, but something stops me and says 'you can do dovetails by hand, stop being lazy and learn to perfect them'

 

[Russell]

Last time I spoke to Brimarc the jigs were not yet instock but that may have changed my rep is on holiday

 

[tnimble]

They do look to be quite an attractive tool - but for me there is always the nagging feeling that using one of these is somehow 'cheating' and the work loses credit for it - I know thats probably not true, but there seems to be an internal struggle I have with regards to buying one of these, i've thought about it a couple of times, but something stops me and says 'you can do dovetails by hand, stop being lazy and learn to perfect them'

Thats about what I do. Almost every time the D4R is used, shown or advertised I think about I should buy one. Then I remember why for crying out loud am I wanting to buy this expensive but superb jig why I can do them by hand without the limitations of the jig? (yes the D4R also has its limitations).

I'm currently working on this design:

Try doing this roling houndstouth with the D4R

 

[mailee]

Ah do I detect you slipping into the darkside Byron? I am afraid I am lazy and just can't be bothered to make hand cut dovetails, besides I could never get them as tight a fit as a machine anyway. My customers wouldn't even know the difference anyway! I am quite happy cutting them with a router and getting them all done quickly so I can get on with the next task.

 

[DomValente]

Rather you than me

Dom

 

[Woody Alan]

Just so as I get this straight. Does the new 24" jig do everything that the D4r does just more expensively ....even with the discount from Rutlands?

Because I am sorely tempted on the grounds I can ebay it if I find it gathers dust in the corner, and if anything is going to gather dust I'd like it to do it as cheaply as possible :?

Cheers Alan