Richelieu R88708 Professional Doweling Kit

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.

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.

The price is fine, the directions were straightforward, seems well made, clamps hold securely, it's easy to use, and have already put a 5 shelf unit together using it. My only complaint is the drill stops - the little set screws won't tighten down well enough to hold for more than 2-3 holes. The slot in it is shallow enough it strips if you try to crank it down tighter... I understand they want to sell an "everything included" kit, but Wolfcraft would be better off by just digging them out of every box, throwing them away and not being associated with them at all. And don't get me wrong, I would love to give it 5 stars because the jig itself is great and, imo, the process was fun once you get going. The problem is relying on the "kit" - getting everything set up, drilling your holes and all of a sudden, see the stop hit but feel the bit still going. So you stop, you realign/retighten the screw. You drill a couple more holes. Stop. Realign/retighten the screw. After about the fourth time I knew it was a matter of time before I drilled through the board and was almost p.o.'d enough to send the whole thing back. Fortunately, I also bought a set of Milescraft stops for 6 bucks, just in case. Got the new stop on my bit and over 30 holes later, still haven't had to mess with it. So in other words, 5 stars for a great jig, -1 star for really awful accessories.

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 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.