3.6.2020

Several reviewers have commented that it is difficult to hold this jig steady especially when doing the first drilling into the end of your wood or panel. Several complaints about the jig moving slightly and the dowels not being quite vertical. The trouble is we might have been watching the wrong You Tube video, the English version where you clamp the wood vertically and try to drill down for into the wood while trying to hold the jig firm and steady at the same time which is very difficult. By accident I came across a Spanish video where the wood is clamped horizontally or at a slight upward slope towards the user and then you drill from the front.Assuming most of us are using the 8 mm dowels you can now use your weight pushing down on the handle of the jig and at the same time pushing forward with your thumb to keep the jig pressed squarely and firmly against the edge the the edge of the wood. You are also drilling forward which is slightly more comfortable than drilling down. Try this method and see what you think - I am sure like me you will find it to be a better and easier way. EDIT : having used this jig quite extensively on 18 mm melamine faced boards to make kitchen units here are my further comments. The first picture shows my inclined workmate raised about 2 inches at the front. This was easier than making an inclined ramp on my fixed workbench. It is weighted down by a heavy tool box which is also pushed hard up against a scrap piece of MDF to make the workmate really firm and solid. The MDF is just hung on the the workmate frame with a couple of cup hooks and is easily removable. The second picture shows me using the dowelmaster. You will see that I am not only bearing down on the handle to make sure the dowel enters the centre of the panel but also pushing with my thumb to make sure the jig remains square on to the board. The drill is a very old 300 watt Black & Decker which is not too heavy and does the job fine. You will notice it will be easier to remove build of wood chips when you are drilling your 28 mm hole as the exit path for the chippings is now almost horizontal rather than being vertical. The blue pads off cuts of these silicone type non slip mats. Even with strong clamps I found that because the melamine surface is so slippy there was a tendency for the board to move when pushing hard on the drill. The last picture is a few tips which you might find useful. I had to think of some easy way to provide depth stops to drill 28 mm into edges but only 14 mm into faces of boards. In my odds and end boxes I came across these black nylon spacers which were unused bits from fixing a wall mounted TV bracket and they have a 8 mm hole. The larger ones are 15 mm high and the smaller ones are 5 mm high. Using steel washers as well I can make up any length drill stop. The red one I use for drilling 28 mm edge holes and I just add the blue one to it as well to reduce the drilling depth to 14 mm for face drilling. The adavantage of these spacers are that they are very cheap and the nylon will not cause any wear on your jig. The other thing I noticed is that when the spacer stops spinning you have drilled down to the correct depth! You might be wondering why there is a piece of green and yellow earthing tape stuck on the top corner of the jig. Well I noticed that this angle was almost exactly over where the dowel hole is made in the edge. So if you want to be more precise where you put your dowel holes then just line up the middle green line over where you want your dowel! I was not impressed with the video recommending that you move the board 40 mm, using a ruler, when making T joints. I could see looking down the holes that I was a little bit out. I decided to use instead to use the raised edge on the side of the dowel master. The trouble is that it is grey plastic on grey plastic so not easy to line up. Just rub the edge with white chalk and blow off the excess and now makes lining up really easy. Last thing. I strongly recommend the 50 mm long confirmat screws in between your dowels if you can't glue your joints, which you can't easily do with melamine boards.

22.1.2012

I couldn't find a suitable A/V cabinet to match our Ikea furniture. Bought some 18mm MDF, 18mm laminated pineboard and some 30 by 45mm smooth planed pine. Now I needed a tidy and invisible way to join it all together with no screw heads showing. I'd had a go at doweling before but found it very difficult to position the holes accurately enough to get really neat joints - obviously some sort of aligning jig is needed. Found quite a few available but decided on this one because it allows the hole to be centered on differing thicknesses, within limits, of material (watch what you buy because not all makes allow for this) and it is a quality manufacturer I trust at a very reasonable price.

5.9.2016

As many reviewers have commented this is a cleverly designed tool. I used it for the first time today and quickly made three successful joints. It does have one or two limitations which are not entirely clear from the instructions / YouTube video. First, the (clever) method for ensuring you drill in the dead centre of the edge of the wood prevents you from drilling holes close to the end. That's probably not a big deal most of the time. A more serious issue is not being able to clamp the tool in position. This means that you are trying to hold the tool square and steady with one hand while drilling with the other. I found that quite tricky, though it probably gets easier with practice.

18.3.2013

Whoever was responsible for the design of this piece of plastic and metal - take a bow!I am not a carpenter/cabinet maker, nor have I ever had any training in woodwork. However, having drawn up a design for a 5 shelf, multi-compartment unit for my AV equipment using 18mm thick MDF, I was wondering how best to put it together...?Well, I'd seen the ubiquitous MFI & IKEA dowelled solutions so I thought - "there's a plan..." - but how do I get all the dowel holes in the right sizes and, more importantly to match up in each piece of panel being joined together?Worry no more! I watched WolfCraft's uTube video and it was crystal clear! Better still, it really is as easy in practice as the video makes it look.So,

22.2.2021

It's fine for the odd little DIY job but there's a couple of downsides to a plastic handheld jig:1) It moves. No matter what you do, there is always a little "rattle" which in my experience, loosened the clamps on a couple of occasions allowing my workpiece to move a few mm.2) End-drilling is not that reliable. When you're twisting the jig to keep it centred, it can become skewed as there's nothing to keep it square on the end of your work piece. It wasn't a serious problem for me. I was working with 18mm ply and I didn't find that any of my holes were off square enough to prevent the two pieces from pulling together once I'd inserted the dowels, but I imagine it could be more of a problem for thinner sheet materials.On the whole,

1.11.2012

What it says on the side of the box it does. The instructions are bit over the top, so my advice, get two bits of wood, your drill and some dowels. Then watch the 'you tube' video on the product, pausing after each demonstration, and then do what they have done on your test bits of wood. The hardest bit when you do a project is to remember to keep your wood orientated to the dowel holes you have already drilled, when you drill the holes at the othe end of your board. The video gives you advice on how to mark your boards to prevent this. Really easy to you. First time dowelling project was a dolls house book case for my granddaughter, with three shelves,

19.6.2020

Overall this has been excellent and I couldn’t have completed a project without it. It allows you to drill dowel holes accurately and perpendicular very quickly. An easy and strong alternative to mortise & tenon joints. It is a bit fiddly and can wobble a bit but you get used to it with very good results.One issue is that I was putting so much rotational force into it to keep it stable that I was denting the wood face (see pic). I would suggest putting strips of thin wood either side to protect it. Also it is not designed to drill holes more than a few mm from the edge of a post. This can be overcome by unscrewing the torx screws and taking the entire thing apart which allows you to move the slider further than designed.

15.12.2019

After a couple of test runs to make sure I knew what I was doing I have built a couple of wardrobe units using this jig. I found it easier to mark all the boards first so I knew which pieces would join together and their orientation. Once I got the hang of it I found things went together quickly.I think it is easier to have the drill spinning in the bushing before contacting the wood as this helps to hold the jig steady if it cannot be clamped.I made a couple of spacers to go on the drill shaft to act as depth stops as the collar I had wouldn't grip properly. It also meant I could switch between face and end holes that required different depths just by changing over the spacer.

22.6.2021

It took a little while to understand how to use these. Watching the many YouTube instructional videos was very helpful. Funnily enough, the original German video made by Wolfcraft was not the best. Drilling dowel holes in the edge of a board is easier and more accurate when the board is clamped horizontally, rather than vertically as shown in the German video. One word of caution: while this jig is good, it can only be used on timber with a maximum thickness of 30mm, which limits its use. and why I only gave it 4 stars for versatilty. Second word of caution: the jig does NOT come with depth stops, and I would recommend buying a set to use with this. I bought he original Wolfcraft set for £9.99 from Amazon and they work extremely well.

20.5.2014

Works well, and is relatively well-built. The design is very clever and with only a little skill allows dowel joints to be prepared quickly and easily. A couple of minor niggles:The first hole is difficult to line up with your pencil marking so the location ends up arbitrary within a few mm of where you intended. This isn't really a problem however as using the jig means the next hole is lined up with the first rather than with the pencil measurement so everything fits together accurately.Secondly, it can be a bit tricky seating the jig on the end of the first piece of wood when drilling end-on so you're not quite sure if the drill is exactly vertical.

8.6.2014

At first I could not understand the instructions but after looking at a few you tube videos I realised that this jig is absolutely superb and very well designed and superbly engineered. If used properly it is impossible to miss-align any join. All that is needed is to work within its wood thickness specifications, use the correct drill and drill depth stops. The very clever design and very excellent drilling guide bushes make sure that you get perfect results on end or tee joins. I found it perfect and an absolutely great addition to my amateur craftsman toolbox, well done Wolfcraft tools and thank you from a happy customer.

22.5.2016

This device is sensational. I have never seen a more ingenious piece of kit anywhere. I am an amateur carpenter and I was looking at a router jig for mortise and tenon joints. They are very expensive. Accidentally, I saw this and for me, it replaces these joints (obviously not in every case but nearly). Is sites the dowels unbelievably accurately and is very easy to use. If you need a stronger joint, use extra dowels. Fantastic. The depth of hole drilled is important. I would also get the drill stops that Wolfcraft sell. You an get them here. Get two sets as it it is much easier using two identical drills with depth stops attached at the two required depths.

19.2.2014

I have build cupboards, toy boxes, drawers etc over the years but they were all screwed, filled and painted. I wanted to build an ottoman, I wanted to keep the original wood finish but didn't want to see screw heads. This little tool was an absolute dream. It marked dowel holes and dowels in the exact position so alignment was not a problem. Depth is easy to set and once done you can drill hundreds of holes all identical, likewise position from the edge can be pre set and away you go. Since the ottoman ( glued and doweled) I have also build six wall units across the bedroom and it was a piece of cake. IF it ever breaks, which I doubt as it is quite robust, I will definitely buy another

25.3.2021

Such a simple device yet works perfectly. I've been making bird boxes for a while now and have been gluing the pieces of wood together, securing with screws (instead of clamps) and when dry, removing the screws, drilling out 6mm diameter holes and gluing in dowels I've cut from long lengths (2m) from the local store, sawing off when dry and trimming with a chisel. Works great but you can see where the dowels have been placed.Gave one a go purely using this dowel jig and even using a large number of dowels, you can't see them and looks so much better.I had to watch a couple YouTube videos to find out how to use it properly and it's so simple to use.

23.2.2012

what a brilliant bit of kit, opted for this one rather than the wolfcraft older version and some of the cheaper version and am so glad i did, have never tried any dowelling before and had lots of jobs which i needed to use dowels and was very surprised how simple and ingenious this is, i must admit before ordering i researched a lot of different varieties of these and picked the one i thought would suit my needs best and looked at the wolfcraft website which has a user video in english you can watch and learn very easily.....10 out of 10 would recommend to anybody, if you are good with your hands you will have no problems with this

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