Joint Genie 'Craftsman'

 

See HERE for demonstration video

 

Dowelling In Woodworking

In wood working (and in other trades) dowelling involves the insertion of pins between mating components of a structure. Dowelling is a very old woodworking technique commonplace, for instance, in ancient Egyptian furniture.

 

Despite modern attempts to improve dowelling with plate joiners (good for alignment but average for structure), and slip tenons, dowelling remains an extremely useful, cheap and - when aided by a jig - accurate method of joining wood. The accuracy and flexibility of the Joint Genie jigs described below allows ganged arrays of dowells which, with the strength offered by modern adhesives, means these joints rival mortice & tenon joinery in the strength they offer.

 

Wooden dowells require accurately drilled opposing holes. For permanent work an adhesive is applied and dowells are usually concealed when the joint is clamped. Dowells perform two functions, alignment and structural jointing. The resulting joint can be very strong. Dowells used without adhesive are also commonly used as locators for knock down pieces.

 

The best dowells are fluted which allows for the distribution of adhesive throughout the joint. The use of the correct amount of adhesive is important; too little and joint will be starved, too much and the pneumatic pressure due to excess glue can cause problems when clamping up the joint. In this case it is best to tighten clamps in stages. The trapped air will usually find its way out via the pores of the wood althougth excessive glue may not.

 

Best practice

• use the right amount of adhesive
• match dowell and drill diameters
• drill just past half the length of the dowell in each piece of the structure
• use a jig as accurate dowell alignment is critically important
• mark a registration face on each component of the structure and work from this face when using the jig

 

Joint Genie Dowelling Jigs

The range of Joint Genie dowelling jigs offer solutions for all common dowelling requirements from post and rail to sheet joining. Joint Genie jigs are British made and patented.

 

Availability & Purchase Options

Joint Genies are available in the following sizes;

Craftsman - 8mm
Professional - 6mm
Professional - 8mm
Professional - 10mm
Multi-Professional - 6mm, 8mm, 10mm in the one jig
Jobber - 6mm
Jobber - 8mm

 

Fluted Dowell is available in packets of 100 or boxes of 1,000

 

 

 

Instruction Manuals (included with jigs)

These are scans of the manual included in the kits.

Craftsman

 

 

 

 

Professional & Multi Professional

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jobber