SS Wood Used In Making Jigs

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JethrowClampett
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SS Wood Used In Making Jigs

Post by JethrowClampett »

I received a jig from SS. I'm curious what kind of wood SS uses in making the various jigs they sell ? I plan on making custom jigs and I like the wood they use. Please let me know the species.

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JPG
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Re: SS Wood Used In Making Jigs

Post by JPG »

For jigs, I would be more concerned re grain than species.

At one time(a long time ago) I suspected cherry, but now think just about any straight grained hardwood is acceptable.
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garys
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Re: SS Wood Used In Making Jigs

Post by garys »

Any wood works well, but my favorite is maple. It has a fine grain with no voids so you end up with a very solid jig.
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jsburger
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Re: SS Wood Used In Making Jigs

Post by jsburger »

JPG wrote:For jigs, I would be more concerned re grain than species.

At one time(a long time ago) I suspected cherry, but now think just about any straight grained hardwood is acceptable.
I use hard Maple for all my jigs. If SS has their jigs made over seas (China) who knows what the wood is.
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reible
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Re: SS Wood Used In Making Jigs

Post by reible »

I have a couple of shopsmith jigs but they use different woods, yes hardwood but species vary.

For your own jigs you can use almost any wood depending on the function you are looking for. Certain woods work better then others but especially for jigs that are expendable why waste money and resources on "good" wood?

Also think Baltic plywood for jigs. Especially ones you plan to keep and want to have stay stable. This is especially useful for larger jigs.

A good starting point on jigs can be found in the Shopsmith bible "Power Tool Woodworking for Everyone".

Ed
{Knight of the Shopsmith} [Hero's don't wear capes, they wear dog tags]
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