A dowel jig is an awesome tool that helps with making straight holes as you drill into a particular location; for example, when you are doweling two pieces of wood together. Whenever you have any piece of wood that you need to drill a straight hole into, a dowel jig is your ‘guy.’
It is a handy tool that not only suits many woodworking needs; you can also use it for your daily needs if you’re not such a woodworking pro. Dowel jigs are sought after woodworking tools by many builders, but what’s usually the case is that these jigs are just too expensive.
So, if you’re looking to get a jig that’s as functional as a factory-made one, these tutorials will be of great help to you.
Table of Contents
1.DIY Scrap Wood Dowel Jig
This a simple tutorial that helps you make dowel jigs from scrap wood. The dowel jig was created to help the designer make strong joints by connecting the pieces of wood using dowels. It also helps him with making accurate holes and lining them up.
If you’re looking for an alternative for pocket holes, this design is very suitable. With a couple of scrap wood and bushings, you can make yourself this cheap dowel jig. To make accurate holes in your project, you can make use of a drill press with a Forstner bit.
This written tutorial is very educational and easy to grasp. It comes with an embedded link to a video lesson, is effortless to make and use when needed. The tutorial is also a short one.
2.Simple and Easy DIY Dowel Jig
The need to do construction work faster and assemble projects using a different approach the creation of this DIY project. The designer advises caution as you work with solid lumber, such as pine, because they could easily get warped or twisted.
For this design, there is a cutting list within the tutorial, and the designer also adds a list of measurements that can be substituted for other sizes. The tutorial for the design being created is a 2-stepped written tutorial that can be done in a jiffy.
This tutorial also has an embedded video lesson that can serve as a substitute for the written tutorial. If you would wish to watch this tutorial instead of reading the written version, then you may visit the link. The video is about 6 minutes long and very instructional.
Whichever tutorial you use is your choice to make.
3.Designer DIY Dowel Jig
In this tutorial, you would find how to assemble pieces of wood in two ways. This lesson was created because of the need to build joints for cabinets and other traditional home items. Again, it is a written tutorial with videos embedded within.
You can adapt this jig making principle to different boards, frames, edges, end to end joints, wall drilling, etc. In the 12minute tutorial, you would find all you need to create a super-functional dowel jig.
It is an instructional video, and the teacher gives instructions as the video progresses. Your cutting information, as well as the building plan, measurements and other relevant details, can be found in the video.
For more helpful tips in using this dowel jig, you may visit the 20-minute video also found within the tutorial.
4.Self-Centring DIY Dowel Jig
This jig was a bit of modification for the first jig. The designer found some significant challenges in the first one that he made. The tutorial is not divided into steps, but as you read, you can note the instructions that you would need in the creation of your jig.
Unlike in the old version of the jig, the new version does not need you to dismantle the entire jig whenever you need to drill from the other side. You may drill your dowel holes from the side, as demonstrated in the article.
For this design, the author gives users free plans to the design and can be gotten by merely adding the plan to your cart and downloading it at no cost.
5.Simple DIY Dowel Jig
According to the designer, you can get this project done in less than an hour. You would need some scraps of wood and two bushings. This can be found in any hardware store, or you may even have some within the workshop.
If you make the jig properly, you would have very accurate results when you use it. Although it’s not an instructional video tutorial, it is clear and easy to understand. There is no cutting list or design plan for this design.
6.Easy-to-use DIY Dowel Jig
This is a simple, yet very precise and easy-to-use dowel jig. It was made within an hour with very simple tools. You would need a small plexiglass, plywood, metal pipe/bushings that have a ⅜ diameter within.
You would also need working tools such as clamps, drills, vice, glue, etc. It is a short tutorial, about 3 minutes long, but it is instructional, and you wouldn’t even need written instructions to make sense of it.
The materials for this project are not challenging to find, so building the project should be a breeze.
7.Big DIY Dowel Jig
A fun and interesting DIY video that keeps you hooked till the last second. Necessary tools needed include plywood, drill, pencil, saw, steel pipes, glue, and clamps, among others.
This video tutorial will show you how to create a big dowel jig and a drill socket to accompany it. There are no building plans or cutting lists to work with, so all measurements and drawings, you would have to figure out yourself.
Conclusion
Dowel Jigs are the ultimate tools you need for making accurate and precise holes into your wooden materials and any material you would like to make into a joint. This means that if you’re an avid DIY builder, you would need one more often than not.
These tutorials are free and easy-to-understand guides that can help you achieve that in about two hours. That’s a small price to pay for a long term supply of accurate joints and straight holes.
Ask Me Anything