Astrounding accuracy.

This fence along with the templates provided at first seems to be aimed solely at delivering fancy dovetail operations. The tool provides the best accuracy I've seen for this task. If you know and understand dovetails the specific methods of use for the fence and templates will be clear and you will appreciate its ability to repeat accurate dovetails as well as streamline your operation. On the other hand if you have never cut a dovetail by hand - or do not understand the geometry needed to make good dovetails this is not the way to learn. If you just have to have this tool "to grow into" be sure to work a few joints by hand or by router first until you understand the nature of the task before learning this system. Learning on this system could very well confuse or frustrate a dovetail novice. There are other excellent dovetail jigs and fixtures out there (and some really poor ones as well) but the set of templates provided in this system along with the extreme adjustment capabilities make this unit the most flexible by far. If you are into `trick' dovetails this is the tool.

To me the best thing about this fence is what it can do aside from dovetails. It can pop onto your table saw drill press shaper or sander and turn it into a machine-shop quality wood cutting machine (or metal I suppose although I don't do metal so I can't truly say). Precise movements of the micrometer style adjustment of this fence can get you an accuracy that is not easy to get any other way. Precise ripping drilling or sanding - in the order of about two thousandths of an inch are easily obtained (the tool adjust to 1 thousandth. But in my humble opinion the flexibility of wood and cutting heads make the practical everyday accuracy about 2 thousandths). In my endeavors I have used it to make a precise repair parts for an intricate inlaid floor repair replacing a cooling tower watertight wooden connector and to make an airtight joint on a vacuum table without using sealers or glues. Just wood to glass - but very accurate wood.

It is not a tool I use everyday. Quite often however there arises a task that only this tool can accomplish. For the serious woodworker this tool can expand your horizons by giving you an accuracy that is easy to obtain and highly repeatable. With the caveats mentioned above this fence gets a five.More detail ...

A great set

What they don't tell you when you buy a lathe is that it's only the beginning of the money you'll be spending. You need tools to cut wood with (that part is obvious) you need a way of sharpening of those tools and you need ways of holding the wood while you shape it. This chuck set up gives you several options for that and it looks good doing it.



I frankly don't know what advantage the titanium coating gives this product over the other model but I will admit that it looks pretty fancy. I bought this set because it seemed complete: several sets of jaws that are exchanged fairly easily along with a center that can be clamped in there (to allow you to do some spindle work without removing the chuck) and a screw chuck.



I did have trouble with said screw: it failed shearing off shortly after I started using it. Since they don't stock individual replacement parts Amazon put me in touch with the manufacturer who readily agreed to replace it. No further complaints!



I had always heard how addictive turning was but I found it very frustrating also. This chuck system has helped with that since it's reliable and versatile. I have accessorized it with a pair of larger jaws for finishing off the bottoms of larger bowls. I'm still a rank amateur when it comes to turning but at least I can't blame my tools.



Note: changing the jaws means removing several small black screws. If you're doing this on the lathe do yourself a favor and put something under the chuck to catch those screws before you drop them into the sea of shavings all over your floor!!! And keep a magnetic pickup tool around to help find them when you drop them anyhow.

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Unsuitable at any price.

The package arrived and the 50' of hose was in a 4' box. When I opened the box it turned out to be what you might describe as a heavy duty dryer hose. I pulled on the end to extend a portion of the hose and being still cold the hose broke at about 6" in. The next thing I noticed was the box was printed 12 mill vinyl in red ink but there was a sticker added at the end of the box that said 6 mill vinyl.

The 50' was only $50 bucks so I thought I may keep it as a back up that could be made into whatever size I needed and that it may be somewhat more durable when warmed up.

Several days later I hooked it to my 110v planer then to the dust collector. Within 30 minutes holes were beginning to appear in the creases of the hose. This product might make a great dryer hose with lint passing through but don't attempt to use it for woodworking it is much to delicate for its intended use.

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Jet stepped up to the plate late in the game....

These clamps are rock solid and heavy. They seem drop proof so far as the red seems a mix of plastic and rubber. Clamping pressure is easy on the hands as they designed a wide diam. size hex grip much easier to twist then classic round grips. The dog system and framing blocks are very well made. They are the ultimate "one size fits all" clamping system. The dogs go into the the bottom of the clamps as well as a movable dog insert on the back of the clamp to allow perfect positioning on any dog hole pattern. Very well thought out high build quality...I plan to buy lots more...



update 9/13/06



AFter using these clamps for some time a few more thoughts. I have recently been testing the clamping pressure of all my make clamps and by far the jet clamps are the best of all the parallel clamps I own... I have most of them. The big handle with hex grip allows sufficient and fast clamping pressure vs. most other parallel clamps with thin round grips.



Update: Further testing with a pressure gauge has indicated many of my Jets are under performing in the pressure category. Wood Magazone did a very good article in the ~Aug 07 issue...if you are in the market for lots of parallel clamps i suggest reading the test results in this article. The Stanley's actually out performed all the clamps. More pressure = less clamps needed on a glue-up.



The only downside to these Jets are... they have not discounted the price :-) and they are quite heavy vs. any of the other clamps. So if you don't need a lot of clamping pressure the other less expensive clamps are easier to use if you constantly moving the clamps around the shop... yep they are that heavy :-) If your pretty strong it probably wouldn't bother ya much. But with that extra weight you get the biggest jaws made and the easiest clamps to apply pressure which often allows you to use less clamps....More detail ...

Great photo album

This is a great photo album. The stickers that are included are very convenient. I love that there's a space for a photo on the cover. Also there is tons of writing space next to the photos so it's easy to label stuff. The pink color is soft and pretty. Good solid quality.More detail ...