Leigh jig dovetail cutters

[Deadeye]

Yes, yes, I ought to cut them by hand, but I have borrowed a nice Leigh jig, need to buy the cutters...and am slightly confused.

Firstly, the table in the manual listing bits has most at 8 degrees, but also "14o or 15o". I thought the angle required was set by the geometry of the fingers so don't understand how different angle bits would work? Similarly, Wealden's list of dovetail cutters marks "Leigh" against cutters of 8, 11 and 14 degrees. What is the actual cutter angle I need for a standard set of fingers on a Leigh jig?

Secondly, is Wealden the best place to buy these or can I get a cheapy version somewhere as it's a smallish one-off project? What would I search for, as everything seems to list by measurement of width and length, not angle?

Third, does it matter what straight bit I use or does the size have to be matched to the dovetail cutter?

Many thanks!

 

[Yojevol]

The angle selected depends on the timber you're using - wide angle for softwoods and shallow for hardwoods. If you look at the video on Leigh's website it gives a good overview including a section on cutter selection.
Brian

 

[Cabinetman]

The mistake I made using the Leigh jig was having different height drawers and through dt’s at the back of the drawer and lapped at the front.
The amount of time setting it up each time and testing it with sample cuts was HUGE. I could easily have saved time cutting them by hand, which of course was the very reason I bought the Damn thing to start with. Best of luck btw, so if you are making anything have everything the same at each corner.
Ian

 

[Amplidyne]

The mistake I made using the Leigh jig was having different height drawers and through dt’s at the back of the drawer and lapped at the front.
The amount of time setting it up each time and testing it with sample cuts was HUGE. I could easily have saved time cutting them by hand, which of course was the very reason I bought the Damn thing to start with. Best of luck btw, so if you are making anything have everything the same at each corner.
Ian

Exactly my own experience. It's a good tool, and if you want through dovetails on one box, or equally sized boxes, it's great. I made a number of chests like that. I also made a small chest of drawers for artists out of black walnut with IIRC, through dovetails on the front. Equal spaced drawers, quick and easy.
Making traditional graduated size drawers though, with lapped dovetails front and through rear as you say was a horrible job, and I ended up going back to cutting them all by hand.

 

[Deadeye]

Thir

The angle selected depends on the timber you're using - wide angle for softwoods and shallow for hardwoods. If you look at the video on Leigh's website it gives a good overview including a section on cutter selection.
Brian

Thanks Brian...the confusion is because the pins are cut to the template of the fingers...and those are a fixed geometry (I've take my school protractor to it and it's 8 degrees I think), so I think I *must* use that cutter. So how does it work with other angles?

 

[Deadeye]

Exactly my own experience. It's a good tool, and if you want through dovetails on one box, or equally sized boxes, it's great. I made a number of chests like that. I also made a small chest of drawers for artists out of black walnut with IIRC, through dovetails on the front. Equal spaced drawers, quick and easy.
Making traditional graduated size drawers though, with lapped dovetails front and through rear as you say was a horrible job, and I ended up going back to cutting them all by hand.

Yes, the instructions are a mouthful! It's a 4-sides the same project, so hopefully one set up

 

[Amplidyne]

Yes, the instructions are a mouthful! It's a 4-sides the same project, so hopefully one set up

Yes, IIRC the instructions with mine, a fairly early one, are in a spiral bound book. No doubt they're a quality piece of kit.
I haven't used it for ages though TBH. I've stopped doing most woodwork that makes dust in any quantity, as I became allergic some time back.
Again IIRC, getting the setup right is crucial. The results depend on it. Very good when you do though.

 

[MikeJhn]

I found the Leigh jig to be much better and easier to set up if the cross section of the timber was consistent, once set up a small pice of the work could be used as a set up template for the next set of drawers, length of depth was easily compensated for, once you understood how it works it's easily the best jig you can get and use, with brilliant results, Loved mine, sorry I left it behind in France when I sold up.