Jonathan Katz-Moses – A Beginner’s Guide to Woodworking

Jonathan Katz-Moses is a YouTube video woodworker who has a large following for his informative how-to style videos. He teaches a range of techniques and tool discussions for high-end, production woodworking. He’s the creator of a magnetic dovetail jig that makes it easy for anyone to cut perfect dovetails every time.

Dovetail Jig

Dovetail jigs are a great way to create perfect dovetail joints for your projects. They make the cutting process a lot easier, and they also make sure that your joints are perfectly cut.

They are used for routing both through dovetails and half-blind dovetails. They can be made by using a router or a scroll saw.

There are two main families of dovetail jigs. One type uses a pair of fixed templates. The other uses a jig with interchangeable templates for through dovetails and half-blind joints.

For both types, the jig is designed to use a dovetail-shaped router bit to cut the pins and tails of your joint.

To use the jig, insert your workpiece into the jig and secure it tightly. If you fail to do this, it is possible that the jig will not be held in place properly and that your workpiece may end up being ruined when you try to cut through it.

Router Plane

The Router Plane is a special tool for hand and power tool woodworkers. It’s used to make fine-tuning cuts that are made by chisels, saws or machines.

To get the best results from your router plane, try to take smaller passes. This leads to cleaner tearout-free cuts that will help you fine-tune joinery to perfection.

Before making a pass with your router plane, be sure to trim the fibers of your joint. This will help your blade cling to the wood without slipping and can save you a lot of frustration.

Aside from the standard depth cuts, you can also use a router plane to cut dadoes and grooves. This is especially useful for katz moses woodworking projects that require hinge gains, inlay and door locks.

Router Bits

There are many different types of router bits. Some are primarily used for making grooves and dadoes in material to join pieces of wood together, while others plunge into a workpiece’s center to make rabbets or inlays.

The most popular type of router bit is the straight cutting bit. These are usually made of high-speed steel or carbide-tipped. They can be used for everything from cutting channel at the sides of drawers to mortise joints in timber.

Other common router bits are profile bits which make cuts along the outer edge of a material to make decorative features like ogees, beads and chamfers. These are especially useful for custom moldings in furniture, cabinets and other trim work.

Flush trim router bits trim the edges of a veneer or thicker piece of stock to the correct thickness. They are most often used when following a template or pattern. They typically have a guide bearing on the shank and are normally used in a held hand or table-mounted setup.

Dovetail Guide

Dovetails are one of the most important features in handmade furniture. But cutting perfect dovetails takes practice and patience. The Dovetail Guide is a simple tool that will help you cut dovetails at a consistent angle and dead square, making your hand-cut dovetails look much more professional.

The Dovetail Guide uses powerful rare earth magnets to secure your saw at the right angle when you’re hand cutting dovetails. Its slightly recessed sides allow your saw to glide across its face without any abrasion to the saw blade or the guide itself.

The Dovetail Guide is available in 5 popular dovetail ratios (and approximate angles): 1:4(14deg), 1:5(11deg), 1:6 (9.5deg), 1:7/8(7deg), and 1:8 (7deg). They are colour coded to make it easy to find the correct one for your project.