I'm sure many of you have built single use jigs that you throw away because you probably will never need that

particular jig again or it is so simple you can make it again if you need to.

When I built my simple crosscut sled I forgot to cut a bevel at the bottom of the face of the sled so sawdust

wouldn't build up and cause problems/errors. I use the sled more and more and the dust thing is becoming a

problem so I decided to try to fix that. I spent so much time making sure the front plate was a perfect 90° to the blade that I hated the thought of removing it, cut the bevel on the bottom and put it back together and retaining the 90° angle so I started thinking about how I could cut the bevel without removal.

My first thought was to use my Dremel tool with a diamond bit to make the bevel but that seemed to be impossible to get a clean smooth bevel and not mar the bottom of the sled. So I finally came up with this idea based on a jig I has seen on YouTube for another purpose.

I smoothed out the 4 sides of a piece of 2x4, cut the end at a 45° angle, mount two magnets flush to the 45° face and place two hardwood runners on either side of my 1" wide wood chisel.

 

 

By placing a thin piece of plastic below the jig put it at the right height to create a 3/16" bevel at the bottom of the front plate.

 

 

By butting the jig up to the face and 3-4 taps on the chisel with a mallet then moving it to the right and repeating I was able to cut a perfect 3/16" high 45° bevel the full length of the face plate.

I will probably never need this capability again in my life but the jig did such a great job I hate to throw it away.

Of course I will salvage the magnets if I do discard it.

 

 

I'm a "jig junky"! A lot of jigs I build turn out to be a single use, although that wasn't the way they started out. Some have been salvaged for other uses, some I have forgotten what they were for and how to use them!

8 minutes ago, lew said:

some I have forgotten what they were for and how to use them!

I know what you mean, I had to start using a Sharpie to write what some of my jigs were used for.

It's tough getting old. 

Edited January 16Jan 16 by Bubba

12 minutes ago, Bubba said:

It's tough getting old.

 

To quote Betty Davis "Getting old ain't for sissies"!

Great solution Bubba. Thanks for sharing the idea. 

Great idea , now if I can remember it til time to .....uh do what.

 

I have those jigs I just really thought I would use a lot. Yes I have written on some what they are for and some directions on a few. Hey That new Dust Closet is a great place to hang those jigs.

On 1/16/2026 at 12:04 PM, Bubba said:

I know what you mean, I had to start using a Sharpie to write what some of my jigs were used for.

It's tough getting old. 

I generally cross reference jigs with notebooks. If i draw a design and it needs a specific jig, I will write that in the notebook and then write the notebook reference on jig so I can tie a project and its pieces back together later.

When I have a jig on the shelf that hasn't been used more than once or been sitting there not being used for a while I reuse the wood for another jig that is needed. I recycle but after several times of doing this it becomes scrap and tossed.

53 minutes ago, MrRick said:

When I have a jig on the shelf that hasn't been used more than once or been sitting there not being used for a while I reuse the wood for another jig that is needed. I recycle but after several times of doing this it becomes scrap and tossed.

When I upgraded to y Jet lathe (14" to 16") all the lathe jigs had to be rebuilt. Some were easy to do, others not so much.