Can you cut accurate dovetail tails with a Festool Jig Saw

[sbolton]

Hi:

Very new to the forum.  I have a neat device to cut dovetail pins on a router table with a jig.  You can make them look like antique "needle pins".

I know I should learn how to hand saw all my dovetails, but in the mean time can the Festool jigsaw do it?  It there a way of keeping the blade perpendicular?  (90 degrees)

Many thanks

s bolton

 

[Matthew Schenker]

S Bolton,
Welcome to the forum, and thanks for posting your question.

I have not used my Trion for dovetails, but I'm sure other members will have their opinions and perhaps personal experiences to share about this.  One thing I do know -- the Trion is great at keeping the blade perpendicular.  This is one of its strongest characteristics.

By the way, I think this discussion would get more attention in the "General" area.  I'll move it there now.

Again, welcome!

Matthew

 

[sbolton]

Thanks for moving my query.

S Bolton

 

[sbolton]

I sure wish I could get at least one answer.  It is that dumb of a question?

sbolton

 

[Eli]

I don't think anyone has tried it. Give it a shot and post some pictures. I don't think anybody has anything against you for not cutting them by hand necessarily, it's not a dumb question. Maybe the silence means there's five guys out there trying it.

 

[sbolton]

Thanks for the reply.  I don't have a Festool jigsaw, but if it could cut the tail boards, I would probably buy it.  I have a device to cut the pins.

sbolton

 

[Eli]

I would say as a guess that the jigsaw would cut them as good or better than a bandsaw, if you're going to use power to do it.

 

[sbolton]

It would seem to me that two things are essential.  That the cut be made perpendicular and that it be an accurate cut.

sbolton

 

[John Stevens]

I've thought about this question a hundred times.  My PS2e always amazes me with how accurate it is.  But I don't think I can balance it on the end of the work piece--I just don't have the fine hand skills required.  I think I could do it if I mounted the jigsaw upside down in the MFT.  Still haven't gotten around to mounting the jigsaw upside down yet.

Regards,

John

 

[woodshopdemos]

S Bolton,
  This is a good question and good thread. I think the Festool Trion would be able to do it if any jig saw would. I have used it for removal of the material between the pins but used a hand Dosuki saw for the actual cut.  Can you show a photo of the device you have to use the jigsaw for making the cut(s).

 

[sbolton]

Actually, I found the pin cutting jig at this location.  The credit must go to the man in the video.
http://www.woodworkersedge.com/DovetailRouterJig.htm

I think it is an ingenious way of making very handsome "hand cut" dovetails.

Thanks for your reply.

Any more input is higly welcome.

s bolton

 

[hgporter]

I don't mean to be condescending, but cutting the sockets for the pins is the challenge. This man did a nice job on his router table jig. But how does he cut the tails so that the pin sockets are less than 1/4 inch? I'm guessing by hand.

Of all the machine cut DT's, the Woodrat comes closest to the handcut look. It uses High speed steel bits instead of Carbide tipped buts, so the minimum diameter is smaller. You don't have to weld a chunk of carbide to two or three places around the shaft and you don't have a larger diameter follower tracing a path in the jig.  Of course the finest DT sockets, including pin DT's, cannot be cut with a rotating bit, but most DT joinery can take advantage of the router.

Rockler has a plate to mount the jigsaw upside down in a router table. It is not typically advertised in their catalog, and I couldn't find it by searching their website. Yet is is still a current item. Anyone looked into it?
http://www.rockler.com/findit.cfm?page=5767&afsrc=1

 

[Eli]

You can mount the trion upside down in a CMS module...

 

[sbolton]

My question should have been, is the Festool jigsaw capable of making a cut which is very perpendicular?  I don't own one and never had held one.  If it will cut perpendicular, it will cut the tail boards I think.  A friend, who is a very accomplished professional woodworker states he cannot get his Bosch jigsaw to cut perpendicular.

Thanks

s bolton

 

[sbolton]

I called a Festool dealer and he thought the Festool Jig Saw could do this, but also suggested a scroll saw like the DeWalt.  Any input on this.

An obsessed s bolton

 

[Dan Lyke]

I'm just starting to get really precise with my Jig Saw, but I think that with the right blade and careful adjustment of the blade guides this'd be no problem in, say, 3/4" or thinner stock. I've had problems with blade wandering when cutting curves through two clamped together wet fir 2x8s with the long blades and the orbital motion set to full (making a Rocking Horse), but moving carefully along straight lines in thinner stock (as cutting the tails would be) seems totally reasonable.

Just practice a lot. There are some issues with visibility through those layers of dust and anti-tear-up shield that I've gotten used to now, but that have left me flummoxed a number of times.

 

[sbolton]

Dan, do you think a jigsaw or bandsaw would be better.

Thanks

s bolton

 

[Dan Lyke]

I don't have a bandsaw, so I'm gonna side with the tools I've got...  ;D

If you've got a bandsaw, I think it'll give you a much clearer view of where the cut's going, the same (or less) tearout. The only advantage I can think of is that if you're trying to nibble away the recess inside the tails the jig saw has a wider blade.