On my recent trip to the left coast I stopped in Dallas, TX for a visit with the folks at INCRA. The first afternoon I met Chris Taylor the head of INCRA and his staff, and was given a tour of their facility. On the second day I spent some time in the shop of Perry McDaniel, who Chris refers to as "Mr. All Things INCRA." The result is the three boxes shown below.
I had seen the INCRA stuff at woodworking shows, but other than their excellent miter gauges, I never had a chance to closely examine or use their fence systems. I read the reviews, but didn't quite understand about their precision. Well, let me tell you, the INCRA LS Positioner fences for tablesaws and router tables is really incredible! Not only do they give you incredible precision, they do it easily, quickly, and repeatably. That is a lot for someone like me who has little patience, but likes precision, to say. While the INCRA fences work as well or better than typical fences for standard tablesaw and router table functions, they really excel when it comes to precision joinery, including dovetails and box joints on case work, jewelry boxes, and other projects.
With some help from Perry, since I was an absolute INCRA newby, I made these three boxes. They illustrate just some of the dovetail joints possible using a router table, standard dovetail bit, and and INCRA fence system. I have a top of the line Leigh Dovetail Jig. Many of you have heard about its capabilities and excellent manual, but the INCRA system is equal to or may exceed the Leigh in both categories. Chris Taylor was one of the pioneers of the decorative nested dovetail shown in my third box (possibly "the pioneer," pre-dating Leigh). Anyway, here are the boxes:
I had seen the INCRA stuff at woodworking shows, but other than their excellent miter gauges, I never had a chance to closely examine or use their fence systems. I read the reviews, but didn't quite understand about their precision. Well, let me tell you, the INCRA LS Positioner fences for tablesaws and router tables is really incredible! Not only do they give you incredible precision, they do it easily, quickly, and repeatably. That is a lot for someone like me who has little patience, but likes precision, to say. While the INCRA fences work as well or better than typical fences for standard tablesaw and router table functions, they really excel when it comes to precision joinery, including dovetails and box joints on case work, jewelry boxes, and other projects.
With some help from Perry, since I was an absolute INCRA newby, I made these three boxes. They illustrate just some of the dovetail joints possible using a router table, standard dovetail bit, and and INCRA fence system. I have a top of the line Leigh Dovetail Jig. Many of you have heard about its capabilities and excellent manual, but the INCRA system is equal to or may exceed the Leigh in both categories. Chris Taylor was one of the pioneers of the decorative nested dovetail shown in my third box (possibly "the pioneer," pre-dating Leigh). Anyway, here are the boxes: