General Tools EZ-Pro Dovetailer Jig

Like many woodworkers, I certainly look for devices that make joinery simple.  While at IWF I spoke with Peter Harper of General Tools and he suggested I try General’s EZ-Pro Dovetailer.  A few weeks later the jig arrived and upon taking it out I discovered the only assembly required was inserting four thumbscrews into the jig for holding the workpieces in place while routing. Unlike my other dovetail jigs, the Dovetailer could be used  with my router table.

For many woodworkers, concerns about setting bit depth and board alignment are issues of concern when buying dovetail jigs.  I too was concerned, but I just followed the directions and set the bit height to 1/2′” inch on the depth guide and cut some sample tails.  Board alignment for the tails is always the easiest setting on router jigs and the General EZ-Pro Dovetailer was no different.

Center your board in the jig, aligning the board edges so that they fall on the same spot. Or more simply put, the edges of your tail board should be mirror images of each other.

Your second piece to cut is your pins board, containing the notches that will receive the tails and complete the joint. To line up the pins board in the jig, you loosely secure the pins board into the pins side of the jig(the side with plastic bit depth adjustment.)  Take your tail piece you just cut and slide it into the notches cut into the plastic bit depth adjuster.  Grasp the pins board and adjust it so that the edges of the two board are perfectly aligned and tighten the thumbscrews. I added 1/8 of an inch to the depth of my pins for a tighter joint, adjusted the depth adjuster to 5/8 and routed my pins.

Joining the tails board to the pins board using this setup will give you a nice tight joint. If the 5/8″ depth is too tight, then adjust to a shallower cut for a looser fit. I tapped my pieces together using a deadblow mallet and they are firmly mated.  In the photographs I dyed the tailpiece of one joint to show them more clearly and dyed the pins on the remaining joint.

In the above photo you can see the pins and tails more clearly as they are dyed. The right side of the photo shows a joint with the tailpiece dyed red and the left hand side shows the pin board dyed red.  You can use different woods to highlight your dovetail joints and make them standout as a testament to the quality of your project.

The General Tools E Z-Pro Dovetailer is a bargain at just 39.95 and includes a dovetail bit. For a beginning woodworker it is simple enough to use and for an advanced woodworker, it offers the flexibility of using the jig on your router table.  I also like the ability to make box joints and through dovetails using this jig.  My other dove tail jig requires that I buy optional accessories to perform these cuts and those accessories alone cost more than General’s Dovetailer. For the money, the EZ-Pro Dovetailer is an exceptional value whether you are a novice or hardcore woodworker.