New Jigs and Fixtures for Woodworkers: Clamping, Cutting, and More

Jigs are fun. Sure, they’re incredibly useful, improve accuracy and make us safer, but the bottom line is that they’re just plain cool. The difference between a jig and a fixture is that you can usually hang a jig on the wall between uses, while a fixture stays with the machine. Of course, that can be confusing. For example, the MatchFit system from MicroJig uses a fixture (a table with sliding dovetail grooves) to hold all kinds of clamps and jigs. So, what’s important is not so much what we call them, but what they do.

Suppliers such as Incra and Woodhaven have been making precision guides for decades. And there are so many resources online for building shop-made jigs that just doing the research can become addictive. In fact, making jigs can be even more fun than buying them, which is why woodworking consumer magazines have been publishing plans and ideas for shop-built jigs for more than a century.

That makes for a lot of jigs and cutting guides, and they keep on coming. Here’s a quick look at some of the most recent ones.

The new MortiseMate from Kreg Tool (kregtool.com) lets a woodworker create loose tenon joints using just a drill. There’s no need for a router. The device is built around a special cutter that’s a hybrid between a drill and a router bit, and the operator uses a cam-action handle to move the bit sideways to make elongated holes. It’s very adjustable, requires minimal setup, and eats into the wood with 1/16" passes. The mortise can be set for a tight or loose tenon fit, and the jig is cleverly designed for clamping and dust collection. The standard bit is 6mm, but Kreg also offers 8mm and 10mm cutters, plus hardwood loose tenons.

Do a search for jigs on the Rockler website (rockler.com) and it will kick out over a hundred results. Among the new ones are a pair of board flattening devices (large and small, item Nos. 59943 and 60808), and a couple of interesting miter sleds (31593, 61373) that let a woodworker make repeated cuts at specific angles for segmented work.

The Jig and Sled Square from Katz-Moses (kmtools.com) is an aluminum square with tabs on one edge that fit into a saw kerf. That allows a woodworker to locate a fence so it sits at precisely 90 degrees to the kerf. The jig can be used to perfect the cut on miter gauges and miter saws, or build the ‘ultimate’ table saw crosscut sled. It can also be used with a portable circular saw to lay out cuts that are at right angles to an existing kerf, so it can be quite useful when breaking down full sheets of plywood on sawhorses before trimming them on the table saw.

The Twin Pocket Hole Jig from Massca Products (masscaproducts.com) is a simple pocket screw jig with a twist. It has a magnetic quick-adjust base that lets the woodworker locate the screws the perfect distance from an edge.

Bourbon Moth (bourbonmoth.com) is offering plans for a 20" x 20" tenoning jig for a table saw that rides along the fence and can be adjusted for angled tenons. The YouTuber also makes a Universal Table Saw Jig that facilitates the cutting of raised panels, bridal joints, castle joints and other joinery that requires tall set-ups.

The Kiwi Woodshop in San Diego (kiwiwoodshop.com) offers a Juice Groove Jig that makes it easy to mill a drainage groove in the top of cutting boards. It uses adjustable jig sides and a set of spacers between the board and the jig walls to locate the groove.

The new Grr-rip Clamp from MicroJig (microjig.com) is ideal for building jigs because it’s designed to work in any 1/2", 14-degree dovetail groove. The clamping pad is 2-1/4" deep and there’s 6-1/4" of travel. A large anti-mar pad protects workpieces from damage and holds odd shapes in two directions.

TigerStop (shop.tigerstop.com) has a new online store for woodworkers looking for cutting guides. TigerStop’s products push, pull and position material automatically for repeatable accuracy.

Kizen Enterprise (kizenenterprise.com) turns an ordinary miter saw into a precision production tool. The company makes a variety of fence packages and its newest product is the Plastic Kizen Miter Fence, a system for saws with siding factory fences. The fence is made from a marine-grade plastic, and the system accepts Kizen’s accessories, including a 45-degree insert that lets the saw cut some extreme angles that it normally can’t handle safely.

Among the newer jigs and cutting guides from Woodpeckers (woodpeck.com) are the Add-an-Inch Block and the Compact Auxiliary Rip fence. The Block clamps to a table saw fence and prevents the trapping of small parts between the blade and fence. It’s an old idea, but Woodpeckers has added two features. First, the Block is exactly one inch thick, which lets the woodworker use the table saw’s rip scale by just subtracting an inch from the reading. And second, it offers a couple of low-profile ways to clamp the Block, so it never gets in the way. The other jig is an add-on fence for a band saw that now comes in a compact size for smaller and older saws. It adds a longer straightedge and more support before and after the table, plus it can be used on its side for a low profile. And in its vertical orientation, the fence and the clamping blocks add exactly two inches of width, which again makes for easier calculations during setups.

The new Bow Master Table Saw Pack from Infinity Tools (infinitytools.com) is a long auxiliary fence that clamps to the table saw’s regular fence and accepts a number of attachments. Called the XT XTender Fence, it’s 5” tall and attaches with two T-track clamps. The attachments apply downward and inward pressure and feed support.

Some new clamps from Milescraft (milescraft.com) may be of interest to CNC operators. The HoldDown 200 is 5-1/4" long and holds parts up to 2-1/2" thick, while the 100 version is 3-1/8" long and handles stock up to 1-1/2" thick. Both of these clamps have removable rubber tips, a triangulated geometry for maximum torque, a self-centering mechanism, a solid metal bar that won’t flex, and a 1/2" x 20 T-bolt that works with almost any T-groove.

Grizzly Industrial (grizzly.com) has added a four-piece set of jigs for routing corner radii. The set (item T32712) includes three rubber-bottomed templates and a handle, and it’s intended for use on a router table that’s equipped with a flush trim bit. It’s designed to create a corner with a radius between 1/8" and 2".

Grizzly also makes a production-grade jig for shaping cabinet door panels safely on a shaper, including arched panels. These heavy-duty jigs have pneumatic clamps to hold the work in place, and the various door style templates can be switched quickly and easily. The huge advantage is that they keep hands away from the cutters while providing excellent control. And beyond panels, they can be used for stile and rail joinery, finger joints and tenon forming. They will clamp parts up to 2" thick and, depending on the jig, up to 11-1/2" (T10460), 16" (T10462) or 24" (T10464) wide.

Most of the circular saw manufacturers have created guide systems that can be used to break down sheet goods in the shop or rip a thin strip on the jobsite. There’s the Bora Clamp Edge (boratool.com); Kreg’s Rip-Cut and Accu-Cut; the Track Guide from Skil (skil.com); SawGuide from Milescraft; Makita’s (makitatools.com) Plunge Saw Guide Rail; Wen’s (wenproducts.com) Track Saw Track Guide; Track and Plunge Saw System from Bosch (boschtools.com); options from True Trac (truetrac.com)and Powertec (powertecproducts.com); DeWalt’s (dewalt.com) Track Saw Track; 31", 55" and 106" Guide Rails from Milwaukee (milwaukeetool.com), and guiderails, stops and accessories from Festool’s (festoolusa.com).

There are lots of other jigs and cutting guides on the market. But no matter how many new ideas come along, woodworkers seem to have a particular fondness for gadgets and widgets that help us get the job done right – while still reminding us that we get to play, as the world around us goes to work.

Originally published in the January 2025 issue of Woodshop News.