Woodrat or Leigh Dovetail jig?
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Stuart Moffat
Established Member
I have No experience of the Leigh jig, but have had a wood rat for >20 years. I bought it with dovetails in mind, and it does work well for that purpose. I suspect that if you just want a device to give you perfect fitting dovetail joints every time, then the Leigh jig may be easier and more foolproof, but I wouldn’t trade my rat for one. I haven’t had to junk any piece of work I have done on the rat, but because you make pencil marks on the face of the machine and align things to that it requires the same good eye and marking as most other woodwork you do. It’s kinda up to you to do something tight fitting or a little looser. The single thing I have used it for most is for making shelves with the shelves fitted by way of a long sliding dovetails. i have done hundreds of them. They are easy to do, and the result is superb. The photo shows a pair of fully laden bookshelves made with cheap pine. none of my shelves ever sag using this method, as any one wanting sag would mathematically require all other shelves to do similar. Using just two long shelves for a shoe rack, one can sit on the upper shelf in the middle, and there is no give. I doubt any other construction method would hold together. They have other uses too but that is my favourite.
Stuart
Stuart
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Stuart Moffat
Established Member
Certainly the first couple of times you use it for any type of joint you will be referencing the instruction book, but once it clicks it’s fine. But probably true of the Leigh too maybe.
e.g. For sliding dovetail shelves. Set the dovetail bit at an appropriate depth for the two vertical ends. Pencil mark the sides for the centre of any shelf. Put the board under the rat and lock it in place. Pull the router forward as far as you like (all the way if you want the dovetail to be visible) and that’s your dovetail trench done. You leave the router bit exactly where it is, but then need to read the instructions to mark where to clamp the shelves for the male part. its straight forward, and once clamped you just pull the router forward again, but it is that part where you can vary how stiff or loose the fit is - the rat doesn’t mandate it like a single purpose jig would.
Stuart
e.g. For sliding dovetail shelves. Set the dovetail bit at an appropriate depth for the two vertical ends. Pencil mark the sides for the centre of any shelf. Put the board under the rat and lock it in place. Pull the router forward as far as you like (all the way if you want the dovetail to be visible) and that’s your dovetail trench done. You leave the router bit exactly where it is, but then need to read the instructions to mark where to clamp the shelves for the male part. its straight forward, and once clamped you just pull the router forward again, but it is that part where you can vary how stiff or loose the fit is - the rat doesn’t mandate it like a single purpose jig would.
Stuart
Have a look (if you don’t mind secondhand) at a trend dc400
It can do dovetails and box joints up to 400 mm wide
You can place the DT within 3 mm increments
I find them very easy to use and parts seem to be easy to come by
There’s a very nice one on eBay at the moment which I’m sure you would get for near the start price
These were expensive new ( £400 ish)
They were made in Canada by admira and badged as trend
Ian
It can do dovetails and box joints up to 400 mm wide
You can place the DT within 3 mm increments
I find them very easy to use and parts seem to be easy to come by
There’s a very nice one on eBay at the moment which I’m sure you would get for near the start price
These were expensive new ( £400 ish)
They were made in Canada by admira and badged as trend
Ian
I have owned both and I would say the Woodrat is a far better machine. It's been years since I used the Leigh but got pretty annoyed when I found you had to insert slips of wood into the machine to make wide dovetails. The result was always industrial looking dovetails - nothing like a good cabinetmaker would make.
The Woodrat needs a bit of practice but Martin Godfrey the inventor has ironed all all the bugs. I found that the most fiddly task was setting the spiral cams to get the correct dovetail angle but if you use his HSS router bits the settings are available online. While he recommends his own HSS bits I found that carbide tipped bits are also available and work very well.
You don't have to use a 1/2" router either - a mid range 1/4" inch router is absolutely fine for dovetails.
It's remarkable how accurate the human eye is when aligning the test piece to a set of pencil lines - I wouldn't have any worry on that score.
The Woodrat needs a bit of practice but Martin Godfrey the inventor has ironed all all the bugs. I found that the most fiddly task was setting the spiral cams to get the correct dovetail angle but if you use his HSS router bits the settings are available online. While he recommends his own HSS bits I found that carbide tipped bits are also available and work very well.
You don't have to use a 1/2" router either - a mid range 1/4" inch router is absolutely fine for dovetails.
It's remarkable how accurate the human eye is when aligning the test piece to a set of pencil lines - I wouldn't have any worry on that score.
Inspector
Nyuck, Nyuck, Nyuck!
One benefit the Woodrat has over other systems is the ability to do other kinds of joinery besides dovetails. Other jigs are pretty much one trick ponies so you need multiple jigs to do as much.
Pete
Pete
Absolutely. It will do finger joints very nicely. I'd also have a look at the ' Router Boss ' which is the Woodrat sold in the US under franchise. It uses a peg system instead of the spiral cams . Too bad it would be expensive to import.
The woodrat can do very fine dovetails so they look handmade and not machine made and has a multitude of other uses. Watch some of the video's and I am not saying it is a simple learning curve but worth learning. Finger joints are easy.
Based on this forum I bought a woodrat
And love it
Would also recommend Mark at Bespoke Furniture | Lakeland Cabinet Makers | Penrith for a course on how to use it
Or Martin himself if your more south located
They pop up on ebay every so often
And love it
Would also recommend Mark at Bespoke Furniture | Lakeland Cabinet Makers | Penrith for a course on how to use it
Or Martin himself if your more south located
They pop up on ebay every so often
pe2dave
Established Member
Woodrat any day. Much more a complete tool.
The forum archives have quite a lot of discussion. custard went from leigh > woodrat > router boss and explains his reasoning
I would say if you are into your dovetails then the woodrat is the tool because it is not a jig, you have total freedom on setup unlike jigs where the dovetail is pre defined.
thank you - all very interesting - the woodrat concerns me slightly because I get the feel that it has been developed by one person with their perspective on how to do things which they have iterated over the years - and if their logic is not my intuitive logic then I fear that I will be frustrated by it... but will look at more videos and I am not far from the Somerset location, so I guess I could pop down and see one in action which might be the best option...
For extra info look at
As a woodrat owner, I too can vouch for its versatility.
In addition to Martin's videos, take a look at the series from Steve Cashmore - here's a link to his Intro clip:
