Milescraft 1333 Dowel Jig Kit - Complete Handhel Doweling Kit

I don't do a lot of woodworking, but from time to time I get myself into projects that are certainly above my pay grade. I originally bought a cheap Chinesium dowel jig thinking "Well I won't use this often... why spend a lot of money on a tool I won't use much?" Well... as usual I found out why, when a positioning lug broke off the first time I used it after it fell from the workbench. Maybe I'm silly, but I think any tool used in a shop should survive at least ONE fall. After that jig was immediately returned, I then went with the Milescraft, which was recommended by practically everyone on the Internet. Glad I did. Not only did I drop it twice without issue, but it was perfect in every way that I used it. I think it certainly qualifies as "durable" and "accurate". My project was a 50x32 outdoor television enclosure, made out of 5-inch cedar planks doweled together. Although I didn't need the bit stops, dowels, or glue, it was nice to have them quickly on-hand in a self-contained kit. A nitpick criticism though - I didn't like fact that you have to take the jig apart to get it into the case. (Very minor complaint though.) As for the jig itself, there was nothing I asked of it that it didn't do. See photos I guess... it helped a novice woodworker turn a pile of lousy cedar fenceboards into a functional outdoor TV enclosure. A few YouTube videos on how to use dowel jigs helped the included instructions. Pro woodworkers recommended this thing, I can see why they did. Great tool!

I have never joined two pieces of wood together before, and this made it very easy. It does have a bit of a learning curve, but it’s minor. I suggest practicing on a sacrificial pieces first. I definitely recommend this for anyone trying to join two pieces of wood together. Whether you’re experienced or not.

I gave it 4 stars for ease of use but really think it is more 3.5. The pros are that it comes with everything you need to get started including the most common dowel sizes. It provides drill bits, collars and the allen wrench to loosen/tighten the collars. It also came with glue. This is everything needed to start. Its also lightweight and comes with a case to keep things organized and neat. It really helped me with alignment of the two joining dowel holes. Some of the cons as a beginner: 1) It should have a vice of sorts to tighten against the object. The drill causes vibrations and you need to coordinate how you hold everything or make sure you clamp it well to something and you clamps also clamp both the objects you intend to join. I use both hands to drill and because of vibrations, it helps me to drill steady and straight and the the dowel jig has a "fence" to place against your object you are drilling on but that's it. 2) The plastic is only ok. I think it could wear over time pretty quickly. I did not have any instructions. I had a precision drill so I had a little experience with dowels using it but it would have been nice to have instructions. YouTube has some videos that were great and helpful. I still had some issues with centering, collar slippage, and there is some slack on the dowel holes for the size of dowels used (not a snug fit). Maybe it is supposed to be looser (not sure). My dowel joinery is getting pretty good and the finished look is great, but it is still tedious. I cannot afford the tools for domino joinery but I am looking at routers next and hope to move up to box or dove joinery jig kits. I don't think I will ever completely move away from dowels so I am still very glad I bought it. I would suggest you look at the steel, clamping Milescraft dowel jig before you decide to buy. I still may buy the steel clamping version.

I bought this Milescraft dowel drilling jig kit for half the price of its popular name brand competitors, and I’m glad I did. The kit comes with 3 pilot point drill bits in the same sizes as the jig, a selection of fluted hardwood dowels, a small bottle of wood glue, and the jig itself. I immediately did a test run on some 3/4” boards to test its accuracy and alignment, and my results were perfect. The jig’s design accommodates drilling pairs of boards for edge-to-edge jointing as well as edge-to-face joints using the jig’s alignment slots to ensure the dowel hole are in perfect alignment. Also the centering pegs on the top of the jig make placing your first holes exactly in the center of the board edge. Then once the first hole is drilled you can place a dowel into it and use it to set the depth of the included fence to ensure the resulting joint is flush. A QR code linking to the Milescraft website is included for instructions, but so far I didn’t need to use it. Finally, this tool, while made of plastic, is dimensionally accurate and of sturdy construction. Like other Milescraft tools and jigs I’ve purchased this is a quality addition to my tool set at a reasonable price.

This was my first time tackling a wood project that required a lot of dowels, so I picked up this kit. It was affordable, and I trust Milescraft as a brand. At first, it took a little trial and error to figure out exactly how to hold the jig to get the holes positioned where I wanted. That was mostly on me, though. The instructions are clear, and once I got the hang of it, drilling dowel holes became fast and effortless. I did have an accident where the jig fell off my bench just right and two of the positioning pins snapped. I reached out to Milescraft support, and they were fantastic. They quickly offered to replace the jig at no cost, which is the kind of customer service that makes a difference. Overall, this jig made my doweling work much easier and more precise. It’s a solid kit that I would recommend to anyone doing projects with dowels, especially if you value responsive support from the manufacturer.

Easy to use and did exactly what I wanted it to do.

This set needs instructions and best practices for the first time user. While I am handy, it would be nice to read about the best way to line things up easily. I found that not all my dowels lined up perfectly. The quality is good and the case will keep everything organized, but directions would be a plus.

It's pretty cool, and the first time I've ever worked with a dowel jig. There's a little bit of a learning curve and I messed up the very first one I did, but I think I've got it now. You use the jig in a slightly different way depending on if your joining ends, making a 90-degree corner, making a perpendicular joint (like joining a shelf to a vertical side). I find the little metal inserts with the sharp points especially useful (insert the temporarily where your dowel holes are on one piece, and then press that piece onto the piece you want to join it to and the sharp tips will mark where you need to drill the next holes.) At this reasonable price, I'm not complaining, but it would be nicer if some of these pieces were metal instead of plastic. Negatives: It annoys me that the case requires you to disassemble everything in order to get the jog back in - tempts you to just throw away the case altogether. Can't even keep the depth-stoppers on the drill bits. The drill bits did the job but seemed a bit dull - the wood I was using was pretty soft and I felt the bit should have done the job with half the effort. And one of the depth stoppers came loose and almost caused me to mess up, but I caught it in time, so I don't fully trust them and check them often. For occasional use and at this price, I think it deserves 4 stars. Had it been priced any higher, it would probably get 3.

The very reason I purchased this particular dowelling kit was 1, the very good reviews and 2, the fact that it all came in a nicely organized case. However, I got my first huge disappointment while trying to unlatch the closure snaps, the right side closure snap opened up nicely and so I went to open the left side closure snap and the entire left front top of the lid blew off the corner. At first, I thought that the plastic closure snap had just popped off so I went to put it back on and realized there was no longer a lid corner to attach it to, now what I believe caused this was the two tiny zip ties that the manufacturer used to secure the lid during shipping. While I understand why they would want to ensure the lid stayed closed they could have easily just wrapped 1 zip tie around the middle of the handle where the customer could easily see it and remove it before trying to unlatch the closure snaps. I've included pics for both the manufacturer and others who may be interested in purchasing this product so that hopefully the manufacturer makes the necessary changes and so that others don't have the same thing happen to them when they go to open their kit for the first time. As to the parts which make up the dowel jig and all the associated hardware it all works very nicely and allowed me to put together an oak frame face, so if you are looking for a decent dowel kit this could be the one for you, just be sure to be careful to remove the two micro zip ties from the small areas you see in the pic BEFORE you try to unlatch the closure snaps. For the time being, I can only rate this product a 4 due to the issues with the case.

Lo encontre en promoción y fue buena elección. Viene el kit completo y es muy util para trabajos de ensamblaje

Excelente producto, todo bien ordenado en su caja, da gusto recibir productos de buena calidad

Si necesitan unir dos tablas ya sea en esquina o en plano para hacer un tablero, es el juego que necesitan, además está muy completo y está contenido en un práctico estuche

Muy buen producto. Hasta el momento lo he usado para algunos trabajos en casa, y me ha funcionado muy bien. Es un buen kit para iniciar y aprender carpintería