While I was teetering between 4 and 5 stars, I landed here. The jig is solidly built and except for the plastic pieces should last a lifetime. It is easy enough to set up and use to quickly cut mortises and tenons. Cutting tenons, however, does require attention to keep the router-mounted guide bushing tight to the template through a full rotation. Otherwise, your tenons will not be tight. Also, be careful clamping the workpiece to ensure it is square and flush to the alignment/registration plate. I found that sliding a metal sheet of the same thickness from the left hand side prevented the workpiece from possibly ending up slightly tilted. I also found that the centering of the workpiece once clamped was a hair inboard even with the sandpaper strip attached to the back fence. An additional sheet of paper would probably correct this if you want to avoid any sanding of a completed joint. I had no problems with the workpiece slipping once clamped but I did augment the clamping by fixing the jig's mounting board into a dovetail jig aligning clamping fences of both jigs. This is easily done with most dovetail jigs or with a table vise. The plastic pieces are the left and right templates and their stops referred to as "positioning indicators". While they worked as expected securing the template setting for mortise/tenon length, the securing screws do bear down directly on the (hard) plastic material, so best not to overtighten. Going from mortise to tenon is easy by simply changing out guide bushings and possibly adjusting template positions to trim away more stock around tenons depending on the size of the workpiece.

While the jig seems well constructed and performed well in cuts I made, I believe it has a limitation that should to be pointed out in the description. That limitation is related to the depth of mortices/length of tenons that are able to be cut. Due to the thickness of the mounting adapter and mortising guide bushing, the maximum realistic depth is only ¾.Also, I did not see it in the specs, but if you want the tenon centered, the overall thickness of the workpiece must be a multiple of ¼”. The wood I had was actually only 11/16”, so I had to compensate, by adding a 1/16” shim in the back. Fortunately, I had a piece of a 1/16” HDPE sheet that worked nicely for this.Installing the mounting adapter and getting it tight can be a challenge. The instructions say to use a spanner wrench (not included), but there is no way to keep the adapter from spinning while using the wrench on the other side. I was finally able to temporarily hold it in place using a 1/2” x 1-1/2” bolt and nut with a couple of washers. I don’t have a “spanner wrench”, but don’t see how that would have helped. With a little bit of effort, I was able to tighten the 35mm lock nut with a large adjustable wrench using a smaller wrench on the temporary ½” bolt on the bottom of the router base plate. After the adapter is tight, the bolt and nut are removed.Care must be taken to align the tenon board to be exactly 90° to the top of the jig. I guess the adjustable stop could help with that, but I made my own add-on that was a bit more robust than that stop. Nowhere do the instructions mention this. I didn’t notice that I had a problem until I was cutting off the excess wall around the tenons on my table saw and notices that the depths at either end of the tenons didn’t perfectly match. I will now have to tweak my design just slightly and recut those tenons adding a 1/16” to my plunge depth.Lastly, it would be nice if the user manual could be available online somewhere. I would like to have been able to review this before my purchase.

I have just tried it out for the first time, on my third attempt I got a snug and accurate joint, I recommend getting to know the jig a little before attempting a real work piece. I have only used the 1/4 “ router bit that is supplied with the jig so still have no experience with the larger bits I still need to get. .To my understanding the maximum length of the tenon cannot exceed 34 mm. or it will bump onto the aluminum part of the jig. I think it is a good and well made jig, if you make sure all your parts are square and ready to begin with it will get you good results.Pros: well built, accurate results, well priced. Quite versatile when all router bits in hand.Cons: does not offer an easy solution for cleaning around the tenon, you still have to remove the outer sides of the tenon. 3/4 and 1/2 router bits are not supplied. a bit messy as far as dust.

I’m building a double pedestal desk. As part of that build I’ve got over 40 mortices and tenons in the plan. I had originally thought I’d do them all by hand, but then realized that was way too much work. I decided to find a decent jig that would help in getting the joinery done. Some jigs I saw were thousands of dollars. Then I came across this one at a very reasonable price.Overall the jig is very solid and nicely built. Putting the jig together is very easy. There were however a number of things that I did not like and these required some workarounds before the jig worked perfectly for me.First, the template guides that come with the jig are a bit off, or at least they did not seem to fit well in my Bosch plunge router. A tiny lip at the bottom of the bushing prevented it from riding nicely in the template. I ended up buying specific Bosch template guides that fit my MRP23EVS router that ended up working very well.Second, the calculations given in the instructions for getting to a specific tenon length did not seem to work. Perhaps this was because I ended up using the Bosch template guides. However after a few test runs I was able to nail this down.Third, I wasn’t confident that the clamping mechanism would hold the work piece strongly enough during the routing process. I honestly can’t say that the clamp wouldn’t work, but I didn’t trust it. To compensate I arranged for the jig to be setup in my Moxon Vice. This allowed the work piece to be clamped by both the vice and the clamps that came with the jig. Very solid and will not move. I’ve attached a photo to clarify.Finally, when routing tenons, the edges of the tenons would sometimes blow out. To avoid this I cut around each tenon shoulder about a 1/8 of an inch deep using a hand saw. It’s sounds like a fiddle, but really is quite easy and it solves the blow out issue.With these workarounds in place I can say that this jig works very well. The joinery is very accurate, very precise, reliably repeatable and just makes you smile when you see the two pieces mate so perfectly. It’s a bit of a fiddle, but at this price, for me anyways, if you can get such good results it’s worth the effort.

This jig is well-designed, well-built, and produces tight, square, and easily repeatable joints. I was using it to make perfect joints after a couple trials. It is now my preferred method for making mortises and tenons. I've tried many approaches over the years. Prior to buying this jig, I settled on making mortises using my drill press with a forstner bit and then cleaning up with a chisel, and making tenons on my router table. This jig offers several advantages: Substantially faster to setup, faster to cut the joints, and the mortise walls are perfectly smooth.Quality, fit, and finish: If you appreciate the feel of a good tool in your hand then you will like this jig, it's very well made. The jig body and fence are thick anodized aluminum. They have been well machined, the edges are smooth, the finish is quite nice and has been applied evenly. The bushings and fasteners are high quality, nicely polished, and also chunky. The bushing for making mortises fits snugly into the channel with no slop, but it can move smoothly back and forth. The adjustment plates that control joint width are made of plastic, but the plastic is quite thick and hard and I do not have any doubt about their durability, I think they will last as long as the jig body if properly cared for. The registration plate is sheet metal held in with some magnets, and also well made. Overall, I was very impressed when I unboxed the jig and that perception was reinforced by actually using it. The included 1/4" carbide upcut spiral bit is also high quality, it makes very clean cuts with no burning.Jig assembly and setup: It takes roughly 5 minutes to assemble the jig after opening the box, including mounting the fence to a board. I mounted the jig to a piece of 3/4" plywood that I attach to t-track embedded in my workbench. This is a rock solid setup.Design: It is a good design, the jig makes it is easy to produce smooth and square cuts. If you are consistent about orienting your stock, you can get perfectly flush joints no matter what thickness wood you use. The jig has a large surface area in contact with the router base plate at all times, so stability is excellent. I especially like the design of the registration plate, it shows some attention to detail and makes a big practical difference. This plate makes it easy to precisely align the center across the mortise and tenon, and provides a surface to butt up against to ensure the joint is square.Router: I've used a handheld router (Dewalt 611) and a mid-size router (Dewalt 618) with the jig. Router power is not an issue because I make multiple passes while increasing the depth of plunge. I could not tell a difference between the joints made by the two routers, they both work well. With that said, I have a slight preference for the mid-size router because it is a little easier to control and less likely to tip.Loose tenons: The jig is not really designed for loose tenons, but it is perfect for cutting matching mortises. If you have stock of the right thickness, then loose tenons are easy. I didn't buy this jig with the idea of making loose tenons, but I tried it and it worked perfectly. I think I will end up using it frequently for this purpose, loose tenons can be easier to align a joint and keep the shoulders square. Keep in mind that the minimum length for a mortise using this jig is roughly 1", so this is not exactly a replacement for dominos.Tips for good results: 1. When making tenons, don't go crazy trying to hug the wall of the jig with the bushing as tight as possible, this will give you tenons that are a little too thick. Just use firm, easy pressure and the tenons will fit perfectly. 2. Make both mortises and tenons in several passes, increasing depth of cut by about 1/4" each pass. This makes resistance to the router low and the cuts very smooth. 3. When cutting the tenons, reduce the depth of cut slightly so that you have a little space for excess glue to accumulate in the bottom of the mortise during assembly.Limitations: Out of the box, you can only cut mortises that are 1/4" wide, but you can cut tenons that are 1/4", 3/8", and 1/2" thick. This is because the kit includes bushings for the three tenons, but just one 1/4" carbide upcut bit for the mortises. You will have to buy 3/8" and 1/2" upcut spiral bits if you want to cut those size mortises. With that said, I think this kit is a good value, it is a little much to expect them to include all three of those bits at this price.Final words. I am very pleased with this jig. Its build quality make it a pleasure to use and the results it produces are perfect. I'm sufficiently impressed that I'm now looking at the O'Skool router table and lift to replace my benchtop router table.