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Tenoning jigs: Grizzly vs Jet vs Delta?

5K views 15 replies 10 participants last post by  derrick3636 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
Hello,

I'm in the market for tenoning jig. The Jet I have my eye on is a model JTG-10, best I can tell. It's cheap on craigslist. I'm still waiting to hear from the seller. Grizzly and Delta would be whatever the current models are. The 3 aren't really similar in price, but I'm wondering if there are any major differences in form/fit/function? I'm working with a craftsman 113(early '80s), so it looks like none of them will fit miter slot right out of the box. I've seen plenty of fixes for this issue, and I'm not worried about that.

Best I can tell is that the differences between theses brands are negligible. I figured I'd come and ask the experts first, before I blow any money.

Any help would be great.

Thank you.

Derrick.
 
#4 ·
While I do not use mine all that greatly the Grizzly version in the 15 plus years I have owned it has worked well. Only thing I upgraded recently was the plastic adjustment levers. They stripped out so I made new ones on the lathe. Minor and I would guess others have done the same on other versions.
 
#5 ·
#7 ·
I have the Delta, but all of the ones you mention will do an adequate job of holding the piece solidly for cheek cuts and have adjustment for the tenon size. The only real innovative one is the Powermatic, but it s about $300.

- Rich
Ok. That's what I was hoping. I looked at the PM one. Super nice, but out of my price range.

Thank you to everyone who pitched in their .02!!
 
#10 ·
Make an auxiliary fence with very tall left wall and enjoy the tenoning jig it makes. Othewise you could join the club of "I have it but di not use it folks.

- Carloz
I'm not a member of that club. When I need M&T joints, my tenoning jig and hollow chisel mortiser do the job quite nicely. There's no way you're going to get the solid performance from a fence jig that you can get from a 20 lb jig riding in the miter slot with a solid clamp and lead screw adjustment for the workpiece.
 
#12 ·
I'm all for a sturdy tenoning jig, but with a non-compatible Craftsman saw I wouldn't bother. Just use a dado stack to make tenons.

The old logic that you need a tenoning jig to make clean through tenons disappeared when I upgraded to a premium dado set.

A FWW review put one of the Delta versions ahead of the pack for tenoning jigs available that year. It was from issue #175 in Feb. of 2005. I don't think much has changed since then.
 
#13 ·
I have used my Delta guide on the table saw for 20+ years without a problem and for the current price of about $100 you can hardly build your own out of wood and hardware.

Maybe this discussion could be expand to cutting tenons with router jigs and other hand held tools. Are they better, I haven't used them but I am working on rebuilding my router table to do just that. https://www.woodsmithplans.com/plan/combination-router-table/

Another thing is the use of loose tenon. What are peoples experiences.
 
#16 ·
I have a Jet it Works very reliably and parts are still available for it.

- pontic
Good to hear! I hope the seller on CL responds. He's got one for 35$ and it includes a delta mortising attachment. I don't need the attachment, but at 35$ it's still a deal. There's a cpl grizzly jigs as well but they're further away from me.

We'll see what happens.
 
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