That's good to know. I'll pin your comment so if people are looking at comments they can see this. Can you describe the new collar? It looks like they haven't updated their photos online.
Great video... thanks! Question for you: I just bought the 3/8 jig (I agree with your comments about the stop collar). I tested the jig on a couple of scraps and had issues both times. When I put the pieces together, the lines I drew do not align. One is offset by a slight amount, which causes the boards to be misaligned. Did you ever experience this issue? I wonder if its due to the way I'm clamping or maybe just my eyes! Thanks
I have the previous carnation of the Rockler dowel jigs. They look like the TayTools jig. I bought the 1/4" and 3/8" jigs and then bought the case for them, with the plan on getting the 1/2" jig at a later date. Checking Rockler's site, they don't sell a case for the new dowel jigs. I think that's disappointing. Having a drill bit, stop collar and allen key to go along with the jig, you've 4 loose parts and nowhere to store them. Good review though. Very thorough.
Thank you! I ended up getting a small parts organizer to hold everything... the type where you can remove dividers to make larger sections. That way I can keep all the different parts, and the dowels, all in one place
Have you considered doing a demo on this jig fir the different types of joints? I want to buy a dowel jig but find it difficult to pay the high price of other jigs. But would like to see one of the cheaper ones used for multiple types of joints.
Haha, that does strike a sore point. I had a full video I was working on where I was making a coffee table, and this jig was used for almost all of the joints. I used it to align all of my edge glue ups (which you saw in this video), but also to attach the horizontal pieces to the legs and some edge to end joints. Unfortunately as I said in the video, most of the construction footage was lost due to me thinking that I had already copied the videos to my computer before formatting the card, and most of that footage were those alternate joint types. I will say this, it works very well for when you need 2 boards to line up flush where you make your marks. However, if you want to inset, such as a 3/4 inch thick piece directly in the middle of a 1.5 inch piece, this jig will not work as well, and you would need something that has more adjustments. I am looking for video ideas for the winter, since my shop is packed up during the cold months. I will think about doing a demo video of the different types of joints that can be done, however it may be a while before I get this done.
I bought this yesterday and noticed the drill collar is loose. I still want to give it a chance but I’m im eyeing up the Dowelmax jig. If it comes on sale this holiday season I might just pick it up instead. Thanks for the great video.
I've heard the Dowelmax is a dream to use, but it's pricy in comparison. Check out the collars I mentioned in the video; it definatly upgrades the experience
All the references I've found say to use a dowel that's 1/3 to 1/2 the thickness of the wood. So for 3/4 inch (actual) width wood, you could use either the 1/4 or 3/8 inch dowel. The Rocker site recommends the 3/8 dowel kit for 3/4 inch wood. So, I'm wondering if maybe the 1/4 wouldn't be a better choice. What do you think? With 1/4 inch dowel, I could fit 4 dowels into the end of the work piece, and with 3/8 inch dowels, I can only fit 3. It's hard to decide without actually doing the strength test.
With a 3/4 inch joint, I recommend the 3/8 inch jig. That will put the joke right in the middle of the board. 1/4 inch may place the hole slightly offset, and could cause an issue. To be honest dowels, biscuits and dominoes do more to help with alignment than add strength to the joint. They do help with some strength but if you are reducing the size, and adding more dowels, you may have a harder time aligning the boards for your joint if they are slightly bowed.
The problem I’m finding is this doesn’t have a HEIGHT adjustment. So this only works on specific thicknesses of wood…it doesn’t center the hole on my 1 1/4” wood.
You are 100% correct. In thicker boards, you could drill holes on opposite faces to make the holes symmetrical, but unless you want to pay for a Dowelmax or similar, you are stuck with the height
@@TheTallWoodworker shoot buying this was a mistake. I may just put little dots of paint on the slab and push them together to mark the drill locations instead of buying those metal puncture tips
I have been looking at dowel jigs. I am a beginner so I am not ready for the more robust joints like fingers and dove tails. I think I will get the Rockler and the extra collars. I noticed the collar looks similar to ones on router bits. I'm not sure which size. I either work with 2 x 4 or 3/4 thick hardwoods. Great video thank you
Technically, it will work on the 3/8 Rockler jig. However, the Kreg drill bit has the thinner tip that will drill in further than you dowel can go. Best case, you just put some extra glue in hole and you are done. On narrower pieces, you may drill right through the piece. That being said, the stop collar from Kreg fits MUCH better than the included one in the Rockler jig, though it's not a perfect fit. There is a bit of wobble still, but again, not as bad as the included one. In a pinch this would work, but getting the extra set of collars I listed would be the best solution.
Can you drill/dowel 3/4" x 1 1/2" (1x2) cabinet face frames with either of these dowel jigs or would the preset hole spacing bring them too close to the edge?
The wing stops are really intended for 2" boards. 1-1/2" will result in one dowel going through the edge. I feel this is a mistake, as 1-1/2" is the more common size, and more importantly, stops are everything. Eyeballing marks is close but not close enough for perfect joints. Also, I feel 1/4 would have been a more appropriate size for 3/4 stock but the 3/8 jig is on centerline for 3/4 stock.
I would, too. I think the Dowelmax is at a different level than the Rockler one, though. Dowelmax seems to have so many extra features, but for simple use, the Rockler is still a good one
Not with this jig. I think I would double up the dowels on each side for a 2 inch board. This really only hits the center of a 3/4 inch actual board. There are other more elaborate jigs if you need to hit the center of anything other than that
didn't even know this existed... very informative. thank you.... never knew how to do that. table looks like it turned out awesome as well. was that a sliding top or articulating, or ... ?
Thanks. The top of the table has a lift mechanism that brings the top up and towards the couch. We had that on our old table, and we liked that feature
@@TheTallWoodworker yeah that's what I thought it looked like - great for eating in the living room :) My cousin has one like that - and I see on in the future as well.
It’s called capitalism bud, a company as well established as Rockler is not going to sell the actual parts you need with the product you’re buying. A company trying to establish themselves will. Rockler is all about profits.
![Dowel Jig Basics [video 441]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/zTj_hiEVfvw/mqdefault.jpg)
![[TH] 2024 PMSL SEA W2D2 | Fall | เครื่องร้อน พร้อมลุย](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/JO2_bLow_1Y/mqdefault.jpg)
I just bought the Rockler dowel jig and it now comes with the better stop collar.
That's good to know. I'll pin your comment so if people are looking at comments they can see this. Can you describe the new collar? It looks like they haven't updated their photos online.
Would love to know the answer to that question
I just bought one but it is still the same "biting into the flutes" stop collar 🤔
Some guy I know said I should come and watch this since I was thinking of buying this jig. Fantastic review. Thank you for the great information.
Thanks for watching. Glad you got some good information out of it
Rest in peace. 😢
Great review for a first tool review. Your video explains the shortcomings very well.
Very helpful review of everything! 👍🏻⭐️✅
How do you adjust for thicker boards. Seems lime it’s fixed for one thickness only.
Great video... thanks! Question for you: I just bought the 3/8 jig (I agree with your comments about the stop collar). I tested the jig on a couple of scraps and had issues both times. When I put the pieces together, the lines I drew do not align. One is offset by a slight amount, which causes the boards to be misaligned. Did you ever experience this issue? I wonder if its due to the way I'm clamping or maybe just my eyes! Thanks
I have the previous carnation of the Rockler dowel jigs. They look like the TayTools jig. I bought the 1/4" and 3/8" jigs and then bought the case for them, with the plan on getting the 1/2" jig at a later date.
Checking Rockler's site, they don't sell a case for the new dowel jigs. I think that's disappointing. Having a drill bit, stop collar and allen key to go along with the jig, you've 4 loose parts and nowhere to store them.
Good review though. Very thorough.
Thank you! I ended up getting a small parts organizer to hold everything... the type where you can remove dividers to make larger sections. That way I can keep all the different parts, and the dowels, all in one place
Have you considered doing a demo on this jig fir the different types of joints? I want to buy a dowel jig but find it difficult to pay the high price of other jigs. But would like to see one of the cheaper ones used for multiple types of joints.
Haha, that does strike a sore point. I had a full video I was working on where I was making a coffee table, and this jig was used for almost all of the joints. I used it to align all of my edge glue ups (which you saw in this video), but also to attach the horizontal pieces to the legs and some edge to end joints. Unfortunately as I said in the video, most of the construction footage was lost due to me thinking that I had already copied the videos to my computer before formatting the card, and most of that footage were those alternate joint types.
I will say this, it works very well for when you need 2 boards to line up flush where you make your marks. However, if you want to inset, such as a 3/4 inch thick piece directly in the middle of a 1.5 inch piece, this jig will not work as well, and you would need something that has more adjustments.
I am looking for video ideas for the winter, since my shop is packed up during the cold months. I will think about doing a demo video of the different types of joints that can be done, however it may be a while before I get this done.
I bought this yesterday and noticed the drill collar is loose. I still want to give it a chance but I’m im eyeing up the Dowelmax jig. If it comes on sale this holiday season I might just pick it up instead. Thanks for the great video.
I've heard the Dowelmax is a dream to use, but it's pricy in comparison. Check out the collars I mentioned in the video; it definatly upgrades the experience
All the references I've found say to use a dowel that's 1/3 to 1/2 the thickness of the wood. So for 3/4 inch (actual) width wood, you could use either the 1/4 or 3/8 inch dowel. The Rocker site recommends the 3/8 dowel kit for 3/4 inch wood. So, I'm wondering if maybe the 1/4 wouldn't be a better choice. What do you think? With 1/4 inch dowel, I could fit 4 dowels into the end of the work piece, and with 3/8 inch dowels, I can only fit 3. It's hard to decide without actually doing the strength test.
With a 3/4 inch joint, I recommend the 3/8 inch jig. That will put the joke right in the middle of the board. 1/4 inch may place the hole slightly offset, and could cause an issue.
To be honest dowels, biscuits and dominoes do more to help with alignment than add strength to the joint. They do help with some strength but if you are reducing the size, and adding more dowels, you may have a harder time aligning the boards for your joint if they are slightly bowed.
That stop collar kit is no longer available at Rockler :(
Nice critique regarding features of each.
Thanks! I hope you find it informative
Thanks for the review! Was thinking about buying one
Glad I could help!
The problem I’m finding is this doesn’t have a HEIGHT adjustment. So this only works on specific thicknesses of wood…it doesn’t center the hole on my 1 1/4” wood.
You are 100% correct. In thicker boards, you could drill holes on opposite faces to make the holes symmetrical, but unless you want to pay for a Dowelmax or similar, you are stuck with the height
@@TheTallWoodworker shoot buying this was a mistake. I may just put little dots of paint on the slab and push them together to mark the drill locations instead of buying those metal puncture tips
Excellent review. Thank you so much!!!
Glad it was helpful!
I have been looking at dowel jigs. I am a beginner so I am not ready for the more robust joints like fingers and dove tails. I think I will get the Rockler and the extra collars. I noticed the collar looks similar to ones on router bits. I'm not sure which size. I either work with 2 x 4 or 3/4 thick hardwoods.
Great video thank you
Glad to help
Can you use the Kreg drill bit and collar with the Rockler dowel jig? Thank you.
Technically, it will work on the 3/8 Rockler jig. However, the Kreg drill bit has the thinner tip that will drill in further than you dowel can go. Best case, you just put some extra glue in hole and you are done. On narrower pieces, you may drill right through the piece.
That being said, the stop collar from Kreg fits MUCH better than the included one in the Rockler jig, though it's not a perfect fit. There is a bit of wobble still, but again, not as bad as the included one. In a pinch this would work, but getting the extra set of collars I listed would be the best solution.
Thanks so much. It was very helpful. 👍
Glad it helped you out
Just bought one for a box project 1/4 inch to start wondering how to attach for face to edge
Were you able to think of a solution to that? I could think of a lot of use cases for that
Been working on closet 3 door install and baseboards fun haven’t started box project yet
Great video. Thank you.
Glad you liked it!
Can you drill/dowel 3/4" x 1 1/2" (1x2) cabinet face frames with either of these dowel jigs or would the preset hole spacing bring them too close to the edge?
I actually feel like these are perfect for 1x2 nominal boards. My jig is a 3/8 wide hole, and I have had no issues in 3/4" actual sized boards
The wing stops are really intended for 2" boards. 1-1/2" will result in one dowel going through the edge.
I feel this is a mistake, as 1-1/2" is the more common size, and more importantly, stops are everything. Eyeballing marks is close but not close enough for perfect joints.
Also, I feel 1/4 would have been a more appropriate size for 3/4 stock but the 3/8 jig is on centerline for 3/4 stock.
Would love to see the rockler vs dowelmax scenario
I would, too. I think the Dowelmax is at a different level than the Rockler one, though. Dowelmax seems to have so many extra features, but for simple use, the Rockler is still a good one
Great Review. Thanks!!
Glad it was helpful!
Drill bits from dealt Milwaukee
can you dowel in the center of 2 inch wood
Not with this jig. I think I would double up the dowels on each side for a 2 inch board. This really only hits the center of a 3/4 inch actual board. There are other more elaborate jigs if you need to hit the center of anything other than that
loved this video
Thank you!
didn't even know this existed... very informative. thank you.... never knew how to do that. table looks like it turned out awesome as well. was that a sliding top or articulating, or ... ?
Thanks. The top of the table has a lift mechanism that brings the top up and towards the couch. We had that on our old table, and we liked that feature
@@TheTallWoodworker yeah that's what I thought it looked like - great for eating in the living room :) My cousin has one like that - and I see on in the future as well.
Good stuff and I agree. The bit and stop collar are total crap.
I don't think I had any issues with the bit, but yeah, I wish they would include the better stop collars
Just use a krieg drill bit.
Only problem with Kreg bits is that extra thin piece at the tip. Depending on what you are drilling into, that could blow right through the other side
It’s called capitalism bud, a company as well established as Rockler is not going to sell the actual parts you need with the product you’re buying. A company trying to establish themselves will. Rockler is all about profits.
Rockler stuff is more competitively priced compared to some others.
just stop it, you sound silly.