December 30, 201411 yr John Moody and I were talking today about dovetail jigs. We both have the Peachtree version and the discussion got around to replacement bits and it looks like the Amana bit for the Keller system is identical to the Peachtree bit. I heard that Keller's patent ran out and Peachtree copied it. Any input on this? Anyone have a Keller system?
December 30, 201411 yr I have the 1601 and love it, but I have no other frame of reference, I do not know how the Peachtree's are and I have never owned a Peachtree anything. I have this unit, It's dead on accurate, the quality and machining is tops, it's made in the USA, (I think still), the one I have was my dads and he bought it back in the early 90's. The pins and tails are a perfect fit after the test runs of course. I am sure Peachtree has a good fitting tails and pins too. The aluminum in the jig is about 3/8" thick. Very sturdy. I needed some new bits for it and a replacement manual and they shipped out the bits to me at cost and a free replacement manual the next day. I do believe they are family operated. And if they are still made in the USA, and family owned, I would think that may have some impact on the decision of which one to purchase. I have done 4 blanket chests with my Keller, I simply moved the jig up a section to cut all the dovetails, since my jig is only 16" long and my chest case was 20" tall. In a nutshell, I love mine, and the company, so you are not getting a very unbiased opinion from me Ron, specially since I have never tried any Peachtree products.
December 30, 201411 yr By the way Ron, can you verify the copyright information you have? That does not sound like anything Keller would let happen, or did they have a choice?
December 31, 201411 yr Author Don't know John. The "journeyman" is the double system Keller has that looks like Peachtree's.
December 31, 201411 yr I have the one from Peachtree that I bought at "The Woodworking Shows". It come with the jig and you cut the pins on one side and the tails on the other side. I purchased a second 15" jig so I could go up to 30" without having to move the jig so I could do chest sides faster. This is what comes in the standard kit. After Ron and I got to talking about them he had me to pull up the Keller journeyman 1500 which looks just like the one at Peachtree or the one at Peachtree looks just like theirs. I have no idea about the patent. I did notice on Keller's home page it was at one time endorsed by Norm Abrams.
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