Shopsmith Forums

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.

Jethrow Clampett

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.

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.

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.

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