Past, Present, & Future
Woodworking machines have
been around for the last 100 years. Prior to the introduction of
woodworking machines, everything was done by hand.
Not much has
changed in the last ten years, well, almost. The biggest and most
significant new woodworking machine advancements and introductions has
been that of two products that in my mind have significantly improved the
individuals ability to build products comparable to those available
commercially.
Those two
products are the dovetail jig and the plate joiner (commonly referred to
as a biscuit cutter).
The dovetail
jig has enabled individual woodworkers to produce dovetails of various
designs with incredible accuracy and repeatability. The Leigh dovetailing
jig is hands down the best. Yes, I know that others such as Porter Cable
make jigs too however, the Leigh jig still wins hands down.
The plate
joiner has really revolutionized woodworking joinery at least as far as
face frames and other wood projects go. The plate joiner simply cuts a
radius slot into a various pieces of wood allowing the user to join them
together with extreme precision. The plate joiner serves to align the
pieces so that the woodworker can then insert biscuits (beech wood) into
the glued slots. When the glue contacts the beech wood biscuits, the
biscuits begin to swell resulting in an extremely strong joint. Recently,
an FF (face frame) biscuit size became available making it even easier and
faster for the individual woodworker to join together face frames.
