Terry Hampton, the inventor, always claimed that using the KatieJig on a router table was
his favored way — and great for production shops. I absolutely agree. You start by
adding the router table handles. They fasten in place with 4 screws and provide very
comfortable and safe routing with any router table.
Since the system uses two bits, it is easiest to have two router tables
and just switch back and forth. But if you have one table, read on — I purposely
tried it using just one table — the results are further down this page.
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Similar to using a hand held router, you
route away from you. The photo here shows the pins being routed with the straight bit.
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On the second router table, the dovetails are cut using the
dovetail bit.
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And the two pieces fit snugly together. Personally, I prefer to use the
router table with the KatieJig. Fortunately, I was able to use two tables. Since
many shops have only one router table, I tried making 4 drawers (16 corners) making ALL
the tail cuts (sides) and then switching over and making all the pin cuts (of course it
doesn't make any difference which you do first.)
It worked fine. Just remember to line the numbered corner with the edge
guide. Marking is extremely important if only to keep the drawer sets straight.
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The Two-router table: Well a 2-router table
does increase your productivity...just not this much. But what a great boon it is to using
the KatieJig. While it is large (32 X 48), it isn't as large as two tables would be. When
I first set it up in the shop, I thought that it was more router table than I could
justify just for the KatieJig. Then in talking with some cabinet shops, I found
that there are some practical other uses for this table. This is a beautiful and
useful table — and not just for the KatieJig. I will be doing more on this table and
Woodhaven in the near future.
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Bethany uses the two-router table with the
KatieJig for the first time. She loved it.
Here she sets the fence on the straight bit side for cutting pins.
Usually the fence does not need to be used.
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But you can set the fence so that the KatieJig handles touch the
fence at the depth of the spacer. If you set this carefully, you do not need to add the
spacers—just let the handles hit the fence and limit the cut.
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One thing you can notice is our use of
"fronter" boards. When dovetailing plywood it keeps the face front having
splintering and chip-out...just as the backer board protects the "in" side.
Rather than to constantly being discarding this fronter board, I make
them full width for each dovetail spacing set-up and store them with the backer boards as
complete sets. They are milled from MDF or Poplar.
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I use this simple block to align the complete sandwich. It rests
against the backer boards which are fixed to the KatieJig. Then it is simply a matter of
making sure the "fronter" boards are snug against the block. Note that I have
placed arrows on backer and fronter boards to indicate which end is the alignment end.
With the use of fronter and backer boards, you will get
perfect dovetail joints in any and all stock.
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Depth Setting: The
katieJig instruction manual gives two methods for setting depth. Here is one that I have
adopted. It couldn't be simpler and is the same as if you were making hand dovetails.
I first mark a line using the "other" board as the
guide. In this case, I am scribing a line based on the 3/4" front on the 1/2"
side.
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Now with the marked board in pace on the jig, I simply
raise the bit to the line—and then a bit more. I usually add a 1/16th that can be
sanded off after gluing.
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On the other 3/4" board, the line is
only 1/2" up so I place a 1/4" dowel under the board to raise the line. Once the
sandwich is all clamped, the dowel is easily removed without altering the height. I use
dowels as spacers since they are easier to slide out than flat stock and sawdust doesn't
build up on them and affect the height.
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One last tip: I have made more than my fair share of
sides and fronts with the wrong shape...i.e. tails instead of pins. So I keep this
"sample" handy and refer to it often.
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