Serious question about those 'perfect' dovetail jigs everyone loves

I was in a shop near Portland last fall and this old timer named Frank told me he's never used a jig in 40 years because "the machine makes you forget your hands." Am I crazy for thinking we lean too hard on router jigs and lose the skill?

2 comments

2 Comments

eva_moore9h agoMost Upvoted

Frank was dead right. I spent my first five years cutting dovetails by hand and once I tried a jig I realized I was just letting the tool do all the thinking for me. My joints came out cleaner but I had zero understanding of what made them work. That old timer's point about losing the skill hit me hard when I tried to do a repair on a vintage piece and couldn't even figure out the angles without my template. The machine really does take over. Have you ever gone back to hand cutting after using a jig for a while and felt completely lost?

beth_park5h ago

It's the same with cooking from scratch versus using box mixes. You follow the box and the meal turns out fine, but you never learn how flavors actually work together.