Make this Box Joint Jig in Minutes! | STEP IT UP 

Awesome! I remember that bed...it really looked great. Thanks for watching!

3 years later, and you need to know this comment is perfect.

+Dukefazon Thank you!

Just set the blade height to the thickness of your material

Brian Knowles There are some from UK sellers on eBay. They are not cheap though!

It also works with a router! I made a video about it, called "⚙ How to make a simple box joint jig for small parts "

Just use a single blade. You'll make more cuts with thinner fingers and grooves, and have much more surface area for glue (making an arguably stronger joint). The only downside is more cuts, but it's not that big of a problem.

Many thanks to one and all for the comments and ideas. Noted./ appreciated

I do not have a dado stack (not possible to mount on my circular saw). I tried it using a router but my router cannot cut 15 mm of depth in one time. I'll try it with a standard saw blade next week.

If you don't put the outer flange on the saw, you can actually stack 3-4 regular saw blades on a european saw. If the teeth hit each other, make some shims to put between the blades out of plastic soda bottles. If your saw has a brake, be sure to tighten the nut well though, so the inertia of the stack doesn't loosen it. I am european, and i have done this with cheap blades from the local hardware store. Ps. a channel called pocket83 here on youtube actually demonstrates this. He uses bicycle inner tube as shims.

It's worth pointing out that in places where Dado Stacks aren't readily available, single blades can be passed through the work multiple times for wider notches, and spaced for wider fingers... It's going to call for a narrower "peg" to allow the work-piece notches to move from side to side a bit, and it's up to THE OPERATOR (that's you, running the saw) to watch carefully for each pass... So you DO NOT try moving the workpiece with the whirling blade still buried inside it. Should you leave slivers behind in the notch, it's not much work to break them out, either with a chisel (if you are so equipped) OR with a flat-ended screwdriver... which you can also sharpen like a chisel, because it's cheaper and flat-head screws are the bane of human existence. (aka "should be outlawed") A little care and a file or a bit of scrap wrapped in sandpaper and the fingers and notches will be perfect every time. ;o)

his original box joint video is pretty good too. that's how i learned it.

then which was the worst

Me too!

Woohoo! That's for your support, Daniel.

Daniel Worthy Seconded!

Bill Diehl Use a single 1/8th inch flat toothed saw blade. It will become the width of your finger joints. You'll have more cuts to do, but you'll get a great result.

You could either make it with cuts the width of your saw blade, or if you want wider spacing you could hog it out. Basically just take multiple passes, sliding the piece a little bit over each time until each notch is fully cut out. Starting the first notch accurately would take a bit of patience, but it should be possible. Otherwise it would be possible to make a similar jig for a router table if you have one.

Just keep the key the same width as your blade and make multiple cuts. Look for the dado jig by the woodfather. That will work too. Or use a router instead of the table saw. That works too. Same jig same everything. Your key is the same width as your bit.

I was going to say the same thing as Frederick. A dado stack just means thicker fingers and wider grooves. Without a dado stack, you just need to make them thinner (1/8" is the typical blade width). Arguable, it's a stronger joint, due to the much higher glue surface area.

using a router is only slightly slower than a dado stack

You can use single blades, just have a lot more fingers

@@danielmitchell6940 Spot on, Daniel, not every sawbench will take a dado stack, single blades work as well!

I had the same exact question. Would like to know the prep needed to ensure the rod will fit the slot snugly.

so that he could cut the rod to be a good fit in the slot, using the slot to check it.

use the stack of dado blades to space the fence the correct distance from the blade to cut the rod.

make some sticks up ahead of time and tweak them in a planer for exact fit. if you have a planer.

You can buy them in the UK, every saw listed here has the option of a Dado Set... woodfordwm.co.uk/acatalog/Table_Saws1.html

dabbishaw I got them in Canada

Just use a single blade. You'll make more cuts with thinner fingers and grooves, and have much more surface area for glue (making an arguably stronger joint). The only downside is more cuts, but it's not that big of a problem.

dabbishaw You can get them here in Australia, but even a cruddy set is unfathomably expensive. The Freud set you guys would buy at Home Depot is multiple hundreds of dollars. A nice set from CMT is $500AUD :-(

I'm in the Uk and I have 2 sets of dado blades

Not true, Carbatec sells dado stacks.

Its not the blades, i have a set, they dont fit in the tablesaws we have - unless you have craploads of money to buy something $700+ or more

yep,dado blades here are way out of my budget,cheapest I've found are around 160 bucks,and don't get me started on a price for a saw that can handle them.

you could do the same thing with a router table

You can buy them in Australia no problems from Carbatec, Timbecon etc. Also Steve's method will work with a standard blade if you want skinny 1/8" fingers which can look cool. that Jig will also work with a router table.