WeekendMiniaturist Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 I purchased the Jack Blackam dovetail jig when I went to Guild School - I think that was 2006... A few years ago husband found the Scale of Twelve Dovetail jig for me on eBay. I did find instructions for the Scale of Twelve jig in Nutshell News, and I found a review from James Dorsett in the Scale Cabinetmaker. I would use it with my Dremel 210 router and corresponding Dremel table. What kind of cutter am I looking for? I know what the cutter looks like in life size, but I do not know what it is called in miniature. Is this a Gesswein item too? I saw Gary's Madness in Miniature blog, and he mentioned the Willis Dovetail jig - it looks like the same Scale of twelve jig that I have, unless there is a third jig? I've never even tried hand cut...since I'm expert at imprecise miniature making, hand cut may take a dozen attempts to get both sides to fit, so prefer to use a jig. Hopefully I'll be attending the Boorum's box class next Wednesday at the NAME Convention, so my mind is thinking in advance about boxes... Thanks for your help. Tamra Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElgaKoster Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 Tamra, I have one of the Jack Blackham dovetail jigs...you must have had at least two South Africans with you in that class, I got the one that used to belong to Bill de Pinho (I never met him) after he passed away about two years ago. In any case the cutter that you need is an inverted cone bur.http://www.riogrande.com/Product/LYNX-Inverted-Cone-Burs/344460?Pos=24I used the Jack Blackham jig when a few of us used to meet at Aubrey Cronje's (the other South African who did this class too, sadly he passed away late last year) house to work together on miniatures, for evenly spaced dovetails your piece's dimensions need to be dividable by an uneven amount of 1/16", the size of the bur that you would need for this jig. Because many pieces dimensions doesn't work out to this limitation of being dividable by 1/16 I either do dovetails by hand or on my drill press. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wm. R. Robertson Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 One trick with these kind of bits is to take a emery wheel (dremel cut off wheel) and grind away every other tooth. These type cutters were not made for wood and clog easily.... This method helps a lot! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElgaKoster Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 Thanks for the tip Bill...wish I had known about this one earlier, I think mopane clogs everything up even quicker than other woods. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wm. R. Robertson Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 It does and it is hard too.... This tip keeps the burning way down and it is the burning that starts all the problems, cutter starts to clog, then it burns the wood, but worse it heats the cutter past the point it will hold it's temper, the cutter becomes dull, and burns some more and things just get worse.....and worse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WeekendMiniaturist Posted July 23, 2015 Author Share Posted July 23, 2015 Thanks Elga & Bill for the discussion...it is very helpful. ah yes, the elusive inverted cone. Also helpful to understand to grind every other tooth away. Have dremel, can use it. I know where the foredom is... have to buy polishing supplies for it, and now an inverted cone... I knew there was a reason to delay placing my order. I hope Gary (hint, hint) will tell me about the Willis dovetail jig. Is there a third one that the collector of cool tools must find? Tamra Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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