KatieJig System - "It makes great dovetails and box joints."
When I am done, I move to the other side of the jig and position the router with the
dovetail bit on the KatieJig. I want to route one pass for each of the forks. I
proceed slowly to allow the cutter to do its job cleanly and with a minimum of
splintering.
Now the first time, you, like me, will want
to immediately test the joint and check the fit. It is a great fit. The wood that
protrudes will be trimmed later.
Now we will proceed with the other corners. I simply follow the
corner markings and match them up per the instructions. You can't go wrong.
It doesn't take long to have completed all the corners and I can now add some glue and
assemble.
These are wonderfully tight joints so I use
a rubber mallet to help the process.
And I place a clamp across the opposing
sides just adjacent to the joint. This view shows how the pins and tails protrude. They
will be trimmed once the glue has set. By using "Option 2" you can make corners
that are flush and do not require the trimming step.
Once the glue has set, I can trim the protrusions. A router
mounted flush trim bit makes short work of this. The manual suggests mounting a spacer to
the bottom plate of the router so that the router can clear the protrusions.
I found it simpler to use a simple spacer of ¼" ply and I just set it
next to the protrusions. Since the router will be moved from right to left, I added a
small block at the right hand side to let the spacer rests against the box side and not
move when routing.
With this, I can make the trim cut on all the corners.
You can see how perfect the joints are. And
this is the first KatieJig box and the results are 100 percent right the first time. That
speaks well for both the KatieJig and the fine instructions.