I use this jig for routing the sliding dovetail housings for the legs of small pedestal tables and stands: It’s fast to set up and very accurate. I made the jig’s index head from a 1/2-in.-thick aluminum plate bandsawn into a circle, but you can make it as easily out of a thick piece of hard maple. I tapped the center of the index head to receive a short length of 1/2-in.-dia. aluminum rod with one end protruding slightly and pointed to act as a center. Three indexing holes are bored through the head to correspond with the dovetail housings to be cut in the pedestal. A registration pin pushed through the face of the router support seats in one of these holes, positioning the pedestal for routing.

I use a 3/4-in. dovetail cutter in my router to cut the housings and install an adjustable stop block on the router support to keep the housings the same length.

Eric Schramm, Los Gatos, Calif.

Fine Woodworking Magazine, April 1989 No. 75

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