Richelieu | Professional Doweling Kit

In the past I joined boards via dowels using simple methods that I dreamed up basically on my own. While most of these worked out OK I found that they would usually take substantial time. So recently I became curious about what might be available in the way of commercial doweling jigs. In researching what was available I came across a series of Wolfcraft instructional videos (they are easily found on the net). The result was that I bought two doweling jigs ... the "Dowel Pro" and the "Dowel Quick". The Dowel Pro is a jig that the work is brought to ... while the Dowel Quick is a jig that one takes to the work (similar to the comparison of a circular hand saw and a table saw). Both jigs are well priced ... and they both work. The Dowel Quick jig not only aligns holes in end boards it also centers the dowel holes in end boards. The Dowel Pro does not center holes in end boards ... instead it only aligns holes in end boards (normally the holes will be off center). I think the Dowel Pro could be improved by providing two identical components. The only down side to that would be that it would likely cost a bit more. Wolfcraft evidently also sells what they call the Dowelmaster ... which is basically just an improved model of the Dowel Quick. I think it costs a bit more but it allows a much more convenient handling of the fence. Assuming the cost wasn't too much more I would have bought the Dowelmaster but I couldn't find it for sale in anything but metric units. In any case I'm perfectly happy to have the Dowel Pro.

This is a must for the diy guy. This took my trade to the next level with efficiency and professional accuracy. I work in a high level custom wood shop. This is for garage projects when I don't have the biscuit joiner. Does the same job and honestly is not all that much more time consuming. 1000$ or less than 40.... no Brainer

I've just finished my first project with these. I'm a beginner woodworker who is also frustratingly perfectionist. Apologies for my incorrect terminology below. My project was a shadow-box type frame made from one-by-fours placed end-to-side. I wanted no visible screws or pocket-hole caps. I also don't have the shop setup or experience to get complex dovetailing type connections done right. I also didn't want to spend a lot on extra wood because of mistakes, despite using only select pine. If you take nothing else away from this review, consider this advice: place a piece of tape blocking one of the two sets of holes on the jig (it has three sets of wholes total, 2 you'll use and one not with any given project), so you don't accidentally drill the wrong one. Maybe this is only a beginner mistake, but it's advice I'll follow no matter how accomplished I get, knowing myself. I spent several minutes getting the boards aligned, double-triple checking as I tightened the clamps since they occasionally shift as you tighten, then drilled the wrong dam whole. Patching that one with wood filler and it hopefully won't be too visible. If you're doing end-to-end doweling, the extra set of holes won't line up with any board so the tape will be unnecessary. The most frustrating part for me was that my situation did not allow for use of the second clamp and thus I had to realign the boards for each of the two dowels per connection. That was just a function of using a 3.5 inch wide board and probably why I've so many people recommend pocket screws or the like. The second biggest issue for me was that I couldn't choose my dowel diameter, unless I was ok with non-centered dowels. For a 3/4" wide board, you really have to use the largest dowels which are 3/8". I wanted to use 1/4" dowels based on the lack of anticipated stress on the finished project, but the non-adjustable alignment would have resulted in the dowels being shifted very close to edge of the wood. The jig is advertised as allowing three dowel sizes, but that is somewhat misleading since in practice it will only work for one size based on your project. Maybe the jig forced me to make a better product, but it should be stated that the jig only supports one dowel size for any given project. AND, the holes will still be at least slightly off-center unless you happen to have the exact width board (they have in Germany, I'm guessing). Another limitation is with the drill hole guides. There is enough play in the guides while using the correct bits to allow for slightly angled dowels, less so with the largest of the three. I think the diameter of the guides is right, they just aren't deep enough for the smaller dowel holes. For my configuration, I also had to drill two different depth holes (or cut standard size dowels shorter) and ended up just marking the drill bit for depth instead of trying to move the finicky drill guide with every single hole. I also didn't trust the included drill guide to hold in place given the issue with the flimsy screw. The one clamp that moves for different configurations also has too much play and often gets out of 90 degree alignment, so that as you tighten the board tends to be pushed laterally. To fix it you have to loosen and then carefully re-tighten while holding it square. All while keeping your boards in alignment. It could easily be designed with tighter tolerance to lock into place better and save a lot of headache. I didn't have any issues with the paint build-up alignment problem or weak clamps. I clamped rather tight to prevent movement and didn't have any hint of give from the jig or indication it would break. Hopefully this means the manufacturing problems noted in other reviews have been resolved. All in all, the youtube videos from the German manufacturer make these look much easier to use than they are in practice. Or at least faster to use. This seems like a jig designed for someone without a fully outfitted woodshop and yet not well suited to a beginner. Regardless, still 4+ stars based on price and the fact that it allowed me to finish a project that I couldn't have done by hand. I tried and failed before buying this.

I picked-up this doweling jig as a back-up to a much more expensive jig I have and quickly found myself using this one more! The jig sets-up very easy and is surprisingly accurate - particularly over long lengths (I was joining 10' oak planks and they fit together perfectly!). I am by no means a professional woodworker, but I found this to be a very handy addition to my tool chest. Pros: - Easy to use - 3 different joining options (edge-to-edge, T-joint, corner joint) - accurate - well built, all metal construction Cons: - vice brackets could snap into place better to keep them from falling out - a little slow to adjust two vice clamps when doweling long lengths

I bought one of these as my first doweling jig and first joinery system of any kind. The concept makes a lot of sense and it basically does what you would expect it to do but it has one issue that prevents me from really recommending it -- the guide bushings on my unit are oversized. There is an unacceptable amount of play between the bit and the inside of the bushing when using a bit of the specefied size. I am thinking maybe the internal dimension of the bushing is machined to a metric measurement? Either way, this makes it difficult to get the "bang-on" accuracy that we all expect out of a store-bought factory-built woodworking jig. In edge-to-edge joining this results in more planing and sanding after glue-up than I think should be needed, and in face-to-end joining ("L" Joint) the result is that one board is sometimes slightly twisted compared to the other which is hard to correct. The exact amount varies and is hard to predict or correct. That said, I have used it for a few things and gotten results I can live with. Just make sure to use cauls during edge-to-edge glue-ups, use right-angle clamping guides of some sort on right-angle joinery, and do your dry fits to make sure everything looks right and goes together easy. If extreme clamping pressure is needed the dowel holes probably need to be drilled a little deeper. Using a good sharp high-quality twist bit and making sure to back out and clear the threads a few times during drilling of each dowel hole also seems to help. Also after drilling the two holes at a position make sure to clear any sawdust from the back side of the jig before clamping down in the next position and take care that the jig is fully registered against the wood surface across its entire width. If you take your time and are ready to do a little work with a block plane and a sander afterwards you should be able to get decent results, especially in edge-to-edge joinery like a panel glue-up. This is not a terrible value but would be MUCH better if the bushings were correctly sized. Overall I am not really satisfied with this purchase but not so upset with it that I am willing to go through the trouble of sending it back. I think there are probably better values out there but this one is at a pretty low price point and it can be made to work, just if I were giving it a grade it would be like a B or B- , definitely not an A which is a shame because the concept is great.

There are many doweling jigs out there that perform well; what sets this one apart from the others is that you can align and cut dowels into two boards at the same time. Dowel alignment can be tricky when just attempting to edge join two boards of the same thickness and length. Not all boards are created equal, you have slight twists or cups to potentially deal with. Add to the complexity the task of joining boards at various angles (think 45 degree mitered picture frame parts) and perhaps you can understand why the ability to line up both boards and drill the dowels at the same time can be a real advantage. Dowel holes have to be precise and misaligned holes are not forgiving in a project. I recently used this jig to build an A frame for a quilting rack. Many of the boards were at 15+ degree angles. The results were excellent and looked as if performed by a professional (which I am not by any means). This jig will not replace the need for other jigs. It has width limitations for one thing. But if you are working with dowel joinery with tricky angles and less than perfect boards, this jig will save you big headaches.

I bought this to do some basic woodwork around the house. I made my wife a mission style full length mirror and a red oak book stand for her textbooks. I looked at many styles and price ranges for dowel jigs and decided on this one. It works fantastic! The dowel holes are precise and fit perfectly. The other reviews that talk about not lining up etc can only be attributed to the initial markings of the hole location. I plan on buying another jig so I can use the small clamp in the middle of a job and use the drill clamps on the ends, eliminates any movement during jig placement. If you are looking for a great, easy to use product, this is it. I have used it free hand with no clamping and even that worked very well. Given it is not "professional grade", for the weekend dusty warrior, it cant be beat.

Having just started to use this doweling jig kit, I am writing this preliminary review to clarify an important feature of the device. As many have pointed out, the key advantage of this jig vis a vis others is that the two workpieces to be joined are drilled in one setup, so that no measuring or other alignment step is needed. This is very useful. What was not clear to me before using the jig was how the dowel holes were positioned relative to the workpiece edges. Some jigs, for example, automatically center the dowels on the workpiece edges. As it turns out, the design of the Wolfcraft 3751405 jig is such that the dowels are always located at a certain fixed distance from one edge, not generally centered. Moreover, each dowel diameter (1/4", 5/16" or 3/8") has a different fixed setback. The measured setback values are 0.25", 0.31" and 0.37" respectively, which means the dowels would be fairly well centered (but not exactly) for stock thicknesses of 1/2", 5/8" and 3/4" respectively. The instructions recommend using 1/4" dowels for stock from 1/2" to 9/16", 5/16" dowels for 9/16" to 11/16", and 3/8" dowels for stock from 11/16" to 15/16". Therefore, in many cases the dowels will be pretty far off-center along the joint. The product description says that stock up to 1 1/4" thick can be used, but in that case the asymmetry would be huge. This is sort of OK, in that if the instructions are followed explicitly, the holes in the two paired workpieces will be off-center by the same amount and in the same direction, and thus the dowelled assembly will come out OK. However, this kind of asymmetry bothers my sense of craftsmanship and may weaken the joint, so I have shimmed both sides of the jig's separator plates with tape (depending on the stock thickness) to cause the holes to be approximately centered. For example, with regular 15/32" plywood, the necessary shims are about 0.020" each (5 layers of my masking tape). This fix only works for stock that is thinner than the nominal for each dowel diameter, however. For thicker stock, there is no obvious solution, although one could alternate dowel offsets, with every other dowel located off center in a zig-zag pattern. Fortunately, for my current projects the shim fix works well. I have dropped one star due to this "feature". Otherwise, the product quality is reasonable for the price -- not a precision machine by any means, but good enough for routine work.

Good

Good product

La verdad es un producto muy bueno fácil de instalar no requiere ningún ajuste le doy un 95% de precisión la verdad muy bien para el ensamble de muebles de melanina que requieren que no lleven tornillos si lo saben usar es un muy buen producto de mucha utilidad los niveladores de profundidad están excelentes para las brocas de acuerdo a la medida, la verdad si lo recomiendo.

Produto excelente. Satisfeito com a aquisição.

This is a grest product. It is a little different from the original but I can't tell if there was anything lost in this new design. It is less costly which hasto be an advantage.