When I set out
to review this "new doweling jig" I was a little skeptical. I am not a person
who uses dowels. In fact, I have 20-30 years of disliking dowels.
When biscuits came in, I jumped to join the biscuiters — anything was
better than dowels, or so I thought.
BeadLock brought an even better method to the shop — loose tenons with
deadly accuracy and ease.
So why did I take on the Dowelmax? Simple: because of its precision. It is
one very nicely machined tool. It is quite a kit. If it works as well as it is
described in their WebPages, it will be a winner.
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The package I got from
them was a "press kit" and contained some very beautiful props — real
doweling joints. They were as intricate as they were beautiful. The picture at the left is
from their WebPages. I was amazed at all the joints they could make. It seemed clear to me
their purpose was in making strong joints.
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As we usually do, we
start by reading the instructions. This time, I suggested that Beth look at the film
demonstration on their website. It is blurry and low res. but the "live"
demonstration shows the basic method very well. [click here to start demo]
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Now we can start our real
learning of the Dowelmax System.
Beth spreads the parts of the kit in a clean spot. Also displayed are
the samples that they had sent.
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The instruction
book shows that this is a good joint to start on. It is a "face type joint" and
one that we could use in countless different applications — such as face frames. It
has often been said that biscuits offer more value as alignment rather than strength. Good
dowels can offer both. The key word is "good". In the past, I have had too many
dowels that caused misalignment, rather than alignment.
She is studying my first testing of the jig. It was easy for me to make
perfect joints from the start. Now it is Beth's turn.
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Beth
starts by checking the drill bit's depth stop. This dowel has a "half-way" mark
which helps setting the stop.
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She installs the drill bit
in the only corded drill I have in the shop. It has a speed at 2200 rpm which I prefer
over cordless drill's slower speeds for drill guides such as this.
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The
instructions for the Dowelmax say to put the boards together as they will be assembled.
Several specific marks are suggested .
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On the ends that will
line up with each other, Beth places a checkmark.
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On the faces that will
be drilled for dowels, "X's" are marked.
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On the end of the jig, there
is a checkmark that is a good indicator of where your checkmark should be.
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It is easy to place
the Dowelmax on the board with the checkmarks aligned and the unit flush with the wood at
the checkmark.
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