1 Getting The Most From The Festool VS-600 System

By: Jerry Work

Table of Contents

Page

3 Anatomy of a Dovetail Joint

9 The desired outcome – a perfect drawer every time

10 How the VS-600 system works

14 A perfect drawer using half blind dovetail joints

23 A perfect drawer using through dovetail joints

29 Perfect finger joints

31 Conclusion

32 One time setup

36 Using the metric system

40 Continuous improvement

41 What you need to know about the Festool templates

42 How to calculate drawer height for properly centered joints

43 Table of drawer heights for properly centered joints

43 Metric to approximate inch conversion

44 Meet the author

2 Getting The Most From The Festool VS-600 Jointing System

By: Jerry Work

Few things in invoke the image of quality more than well cut dovetails joining the sides of a drawer, box or cabinet. For thousands of years this simple, elegant joint has been employed by the finest craftsmen for its inherent strength as well as for its pleasing aesthetics. Watch a person who sees a fine piece of furniture for the first time. Their hands will invariably rub over the dovetail joints as though to confirm that this is truly a well crafted piece.

Anatomy of a breaking the surrounding Dovetail Joint .

There are several different types of joints that are all called “Dovetail Joints”. They get their name from a fan shaped male piece that looks a bit like the tail on a dove. That fan shaped male fits into a A dovetail joint requires at female recess of the same least one fan shaped male tail shape. The strength of the joint does and at least one female fan not rely on glue, nails or shaped recess. It may have . It comes from the two, three or many more fan interference fit of the male and shaped male tails and female fan shapes. You simply corresponding female recesses, cannot pull them apart but it must have at least one to without breaking the wood. be a joint at all.

Once in place the joint cannot be pulled apart without

3

If these are both cut with exactly the same slope on the sides and to the same depth the two pieces can slide

together to form a very strong, Before we start learning to use self-locking joint called a dovetail joints to build perfect “sliding dovetail” joint. drawers, boxes and cabinets far faster than you ever thought possible, let’s spend a I regularly use sliding few moments discussing how dovetails instead of dados to these different joints, all called join the two sides of a cabinet “dovetail joints,” differ one together to form the door or from another. drawer openings as in the picture above, or to hold All can be used to securely join shelves that tie the two sides two pieces of wood end to end These are most often cut with together. I also use it for or at right angles to one a bit with sloped sides fastening drawer guides to the another, but that is about (called a “dovetail cutter”) sides of a drawer opening, for where the similarities end and where the router is guided fastening the toe kick across the differences begin. past stationary work pieces in the bottom of a cabinet, to hold a straight line. Sometimes this the top to the sides, and for a The Sliding Dovetail is accomplished using a guide variety of situations when I Joint - The simplest joint rail (my favorite) and need two pieces joined at right called a dovetail joint is where sometimes by holding the angles to one another in a very the male fan shape is cut router stationary while the secure and self-squaring joint. laterally along an edge or an work pieces slide by in a end of one work piece and the straight line guided by a . female recess is grooved into the other. They also can be cut on jigs which hold the work piece stationary and slide the router past the work piece.

4

The pictures above and below show a side slat assembly for a large bookcase that is held together with sliding dovetails.

Once you start using sliding dovetails you will rarely revert to simple dados again.

5 The Half-Blind Dovetail Often, like with the VS-600, Joint - The second kind of both parts of the joint can be joint that is called a “dovetail cut simultaneously, and the joint” is where the female joints in two sides of a drawer recess is cut on the end of one or box can be set up and cut at work piece and only part way the same time. The manual for through the thickness of that the Festool VS-600 refers to work piece forming a socket this as simply a “dovetail into which the male fan shape joint”. We will talk a lot more cut in the other work piece is later about how to do these trapped. joints quickly and accurately. The female recess portion of the joint is normally cut with a straight router bit guided by a The Through Dovetail template where the sides of Joint - The third kind of each finger are angled at “dovetail” joint is where the exactly the same angle male and female parts of the designed into the dovetail joint are cut all the way router bit. through the thickness of each work piece. This is commonly The angle machined into the called a “through dovetail” template and the angle although the Festool VS-600 machined on the router bit manual refers to this as an must be exactly the same or “open dovetail tenon”. It is a the two halves of the joint Since the joint can only be seen far more complex and simply will not fit together. from the side where the fan confusing joint to machine shape is cut, it is most than either a sliding dovetail This is one reason I always commonly called a “half or a half blind dovetail. The recommend using ONLY blind” dovetail joint. These male fan shaped portion of the router bits manufactured by are most often cut by a joint is normally cut with a the same company that dovetail shaped router bit dovetail shaped router bit with produces the through dovetail guided by a template where the router guided by a template. the male fan shape is cut with template with straight sides on that work piece held vertically each finger of the template. Nothing can ruin your day and the female socket cut with faster than to be frustrated by that work piece held the fact that the angle actually horizontally. cut by an off brand router bit is slightly different from how it is marked, and that is slightly different from the angle on the fingers of the template. No matter how hard you try, you will never get a good fitting

6 joint out of a mismatched combination. Throughout this manual I will refer to the male and female The through dovetail can also parts of the joint trying to be a confusing joint to cut avoid the confusing tail and because when you look at the pin descriptions. work piece with the female recesses you can either see the Other joints also called recesses, or you may instead The male “dovetail” joints – There see the uncut portion between portion is cut using a template are a few other joints that also two recesses that are called the where the sides of the guide trap one work piece to another “pins”. If those uncut portions fingers are straight while the by a male with angled sides are between one side of the female portion is cut using a mating with a female recess outboard most recess and the template where the sides of the with the same angled sides. If edge of the work piece, they guide fingers are angled. the male and female portions are called “half pins”. It is are cut in the ends of two work hard, especially at first, to keep In Festool speak, the template pieces they can be joined flat, straight which work piece is for cutting the male fan shape end to end and are usually the male (most often called the is labeled as an SZO-14-S or called a “flat dovetail” joint. If “tail board”) and which is the SZO-20-S, while the template the female portion is cut into female (most often called the with the angled fingers for the ends of both work pieces “pin” board). cutting the female recesses is and a separate male piece is I’ll try to take a bit of the labeled as an SZO-14-Z or an machined with the fan shape confusion out of this when we SZO-20-Z. at each end, that joint is talk about how to cut perfect usually called a “butterfly” through dovetails using the It really doesn’t matter what dovetail joint. We will not be Festool VS-600. The Festool you call these two as long as discussing these flat or manual talks about the male you are clear that you will use butterfly dovetail joints in this fan shaped portion as the the S for cutting the fan manual. “dovetail” and the female shaped male “tails,” as shown recess or pin board as the in the picture above right, and Advantages - Besides the “tenons”, terminology I find the Z for cutting the female inherent strength of any of confusing myself. recesses separated by “pins.” these kinds of dovetail joints, another great advantage of a Fortunately, it is easy to see well machined dovetail joint is the difference by looking at the that they are inherently self- template used for these two aligning. The bottom of the portions of the joint. fan shaped male protrusion ends in flats which are exactly the same level as the surface into which the female grove or socket is cut in the mating side

of the joint. The flat on one

7 piece is held tight against the at all or it will be so loose as to the corner unused, gathering surface of the other thereby be nearly useless. dust. The owner tried to learn holding the two parts the steps and techniques perpendicular to one another Another part of the answer lies outlined in the manuals that on half-blind, through and in just how difficult it is to cut accompanied the or , sliding dovetails, and exactly these perfectly matching fan and may even have done so at end to end on flat dovetail or shapes when you do more one time. But, the next time butterfly joints. than one of each on each of the they tried to use the jig they two parts to the joint. Now the got confused and felt like they If your cuts are made with requirement for precision is had to start all over again from precision, when you assemble amplified since even if the scratch. Frustrated, they your piece it will be nearly male and female fan shapes tossed the jig into the corner perfectly just from the are exactly the same size and and there it sits today. dovetail joints themselves. same angle, if they are not also exactly the same distance In this manual I am going to So why are dovetail apart, the joint simply will not try to reverse this trend by go together no matter how showing you how to use the joints so intimidating hard you try. exceptionally well engineered for many? Festool VS-600 dovetail jig to Given the requirements for make perfect drawers, boxes Since these are self-aligning, perfection in cutting these and cabinets every time with self-squaring joints of extreme highly useful joints, there is little or no “relearning” strength, why is it that they are little wonder why the dovetail required. not regularly used by all joint is considered so difficult woodworkers as the preferred to cut properly and also why method of joining two work there have been so many pieces together? And, why is techniques, jigs and fixtures it that the term “dovetail joint” offered by different also can strike such fear and manufacturers to cut them. intimidation in so many woodworkers? Each requires the user to learn a specific, different set of steps One part of the answer is that and techniques. Often the for the joint to work well both steps and techniques are far the male and the female from intuitive and can involve portions of the joint have to be a rather long or steep learning cut with extreme precision. If curve. the angles and sizes of the male fan shapes and the Maybe that is why you can go corresponding female recesses into most any woodworking are not exactly the same the shop and you are likely to find joint will either not go together at least one and often two or more dovetail jigs stacked in

8 Start with the desired “drawer” to mean either a doesn’t. Just perfectly made in drawer, a box, or a cabinet the first place. outcome in mind carcass. A little later on I will

also cover what else you need A “perfect” drawer is also one Most manufacturers manuals, to do besides the dovetailed you can make day-in and day- including the Festool VS-600 side joints that differentiate out with beautifully cut half manual, tell you a lot about one from another. And, still blind dovetail corners in less how to set up and adjust their further on we will talk a bit than 5 minutes. Yes, that is jig but do little to tell you how about using the VS-600 to also right, five minutes from the to achieve the outcome you make slotted or box joints as time you have the properly want. Here we will start with well as dovetail joints. prepared stock in front of you the outcome you want – a to the time you are ready to perfect drawer, box or cabinet assemble. – and show how to use the VS-

600 to achieve that outcome Stock preparation and the quickly and easily every time. precise engineering of the VS-

600 base unit, template, guide In fact, by the time you finish bushing and cutter are the with this manual, I hope you keys to your perfect box in five will find the VS-600 is in use minutes every time. every day in your shop or studio just like it is in mine. But, before we start we need to When it becomes the best, understand how the system fastest and easiest way to works which we will do in the achieve your perfect drawer, next section. box or cabinet it will be the

“go-to” of choice for this purpose and, believe me, will gather no dust in your shop. A “perfect” drawer is one that is exactly the length, width and depth you want, is absolutely square, sits flat and Making a “perfect” invokes an image of fine drawer in less than craftsmanship from the minute five minutes you assemble it -

Let’s start with what constitutes a “perfect” drawer, No sanding to fit, no “make it box or cabinet. Since the side a bit bigger and cut it to fit joints on all three are the same, afterwards” and no “put a bit to save my typing and your of filler into the gaps to make reading, from this point it look like it fits” even when it onward I will use the term

9 How the VS-600 Every part of a VS-600 system is shown in the picture below. I have found that in most cases

System Works While it may look a bit the factory settings for in/out

intimidating, the pieces all on the templates and the The VS-600 is designed around relate to one another quite factory bit depth a base unit simply and you don’t need to recommendations for each

buy them all at the same time. template are right on and little adjustment is required. One or at most two test cuts is all you need to make.

When you get the fit you which will hold your properly want, keep the test pieces as prepared stock in exactly the your depth for all the right location while you make subsequent uses of that your cuts, a set of heavy, template/bit combination, machined metal templates perfect drawer after perfect drawer. which will guide your router to make the cuts in exactly the I strongly recommend the use right places, One of the beauties of the of Festool guide bushings and Festool VS-600 system is that cutters to be sure these match you only need to do your set the templates properly. I also up one time. And, all that recommend the use of the amounts to is (a) setting the excellent Festool routers. template in or out to get the

edges of the finished cut They are lighter in weight than perfectly flush with one most other routers to give you another and (b) setting the ease of control. They are far router bit depth to get the fit of more powerful than their the joint exactly as tight as you small size would suggest. I want it. a guide bushing which you have yet to bog one down no will attach to your router to matter what I was cutting. From that point on, you only exactly follow the contours of And, they offer excellent need to mount the bit in your each template, and a cutter chip/dust collection so you router, set the depth the same that is of the exact size and can concentrate on producing as on your test piece, and cut angles for which the template your perfect drawer in five away so long as the was designed. minutes, rather than worrying component parts are within about trying to work around the range each template is The templates mount on the the mess most other routers designed to handle. base unit. The guide bushing and jigs produce. and router bit mount on the router. See the sidebar on “One Time Setup” on page 32.

10 Decoding the Festool

Catalog The Base Unit - The VS-600

Festool, like many tool (item number 488-876) is the materials with multiple manufacturers who service a base unit. You need one of if you wish. world market, design their these no matter which/how around the metric many templates you also buy. The first time you look at their system. The numbers they use catalog or web site, the section are all in millimeters which I on the “VS-600 jointing will shorten in this manual to system,” as they call it, will “mm.” See “Using the Metric appear to be a bit intimidating. System” on page 36. Let’s decode it.

As that note suggests, you don’t have to think in the The templates are all sold metric system to gain all the separately. None come with advantages of measuring in the base unit and the base unit the metric system. cannot be used to cut any joint without at least one template. But, to decode the Festool The 600 refers to the maximum catalog you will need to at width of work piece that you least understand that one inch is a bit over 25 mm, and one can mount into the VS-600. mm is a bit less than .040.” 600mm is a bit less than 24” so you can work on very large Festool offers four different drawers, boxes and cabinet combinations of templates, carcasses. guide bushings and cutters for the VS-600 to allow you to cut Half-Blind Dovetail perfect half-blind and through Templates - There are two dovetails in stock of a range of half-blind dovetail templates. thicknesses. They are given model numbers beginning with the In addition they also offer two letters SZ followed by a different templates, guide number which refers to the bushings and cutters to allow diameter of cutter expressed in you to cut equally perfect box millimeters that template is joints in stock of different designed to use. widths, and even a doweling jig to allow you to joint two pieces of wood or man-made

11 simply look shallow and out of of 13.5mm set at a 15 degree scale. So, stay within a stock angle. width of 15 to 20mm with this template. The shank diameter is 8mm

which I find ideal. It is much Do NOT try to use any cutter The proper guide bushing stiffer than the ¼” shank bits other than the one specified. If (designed to fit only on Festool you might have used before, you do, your joints simply will routers) comes with each yet small enough to produce a not work. Each of these two template so you do not need to pleasing dovetail size and templates is designed to cut buy these separately. Festool geometry. A ½” to 8mm collet perfect half-blind dovetail calls guide bushings, “copy adapter is available from joints into stock that is within a rings”. Festool and others. specified range of thicknesses. Do NOT try to use stock of a You can use other routers and Template SZ-20 is designed to thickness outside of these guide bushings so long as the cut half-blind dovetail joints in ranges. If you do, your joints guide bushings have exactly stock from 21 to 28mm (26/32” simply will not work. the same outside diameter as to 1 3/32”). The same caveats their Festool counterparts. on stock thickness apply. Use Template SZ-14 shown below cutter 490-996 which is 20mm left is designed to cut half- You also need to buy the in overall diameter, has a blind dovetail joints in stock cutters separately. Festool 17mm long cutting height set from 15 to 20mm in thickness. calls their carbide tipped bits at 15 degrees. HW while the high speed steel This is about 9/16” to a bit bits are called HSS. I only use over 3/4”. If you try to cut the HW or carbide bits. I find half-blind dovetail joints in the Festool router bits to be stock outside this range, the among the best I own and use female recesses (sockets as them every day. They are very they are called) will either well machined, finely bottom out too close to the polished, sharp right out of the All of the cutters, guide front or back of the drawer box, and have large carbides bushings and alignment pins leaving a thin, weak area, or which seem to stay sharp used for all the Festool VS- the male fan shaped tails will longer than most bits. They 600 dovetail joints are shown be too short to be strong also are very well balanced above with their guide enough. and centered so your cuts are bushing centering . vibration free and “dead on” You can cut half-blind dovetail accurate in both size and The two groups on the left are joints in stock where the front angle. for half blind dovetails and the and back components are two on the right are for more than 20mm thick so long The right cutter to use with through dovetails. We will as the sides are no more than template SZ-14 is 490-992. cover the templates for 20mm. If you do, however, This has an overall diameter of through dovetails in that most will think the joints 14.3mm with a cutting height section.

12

All the rest of the templates and cutters are designed for either box joints or Don’t make this joints. We will cover these mistake later in the manual. Just don’t make the mistake I see For now, let’s concentrate first time users of dovetail jigs on building your perfect make all the time. They pull their drawer with half-blind new purchase out of the box, do a cursory glance through the jig dovetail joints in under manufacturers manual and start five minutes. butchering wood. They cut a few poor half-blind dovetail joints, These are the most commonly then several really poor through used dovetail joints for dovetail joints and maybe an ill- drawers and boxes and are fitting or two. When also quite useful for cabinet they see the mayhem they have carcasses. created, they usually give up in frustration. Stay with the half- Once you master half-blind blind dovetail joint until it dovetails and consistently becomes almost automatic for produce a perfect drawer in you. Then, and only then, branch under five minutes, then you out to also learn to cut the other can branch out to the other types of joints. types of joints as you wish.

13 A Perfect Drawer its length. It may look that way in the store but often will Using Half-Blind have some cupping, twist, Dovetail Joints warp or curve.

Earlier I said stock You can see it if you look at preparation, along with the the end of the board to see if it precise engineering of the is flat side to side or whether it Festool VS-600 templates, bows across its width guide bushings and cutters somewhere along the length. was the key to achieving the That bow up or down is called desired outcome of creating a “cupping.” The board often perfect drawer with half blind also will have some twist. This dovetails in under five is where the flat face of the minutes. board is not parallel along its entire length. Or, it may be I use primarily solid for Don’t try to use chip board or warped enough that all my furniture so will spend compressed board as they individual components are not some time outlining how to generally are too weak to work flat over their length. get properly prepped solid well. wood components. The only way to effectively MDF can be used but know take out cupping, twist or If you want to use man-made that the male fan shapes can be warp is with a . If you materials, stick to a good quite fragile until the piece is run a warped, twisted or grade of multi-ply assembled and glued up. cupped board through a like Baltic . That usually Once assembled with a good planer, the pinch rollers will comes in 5’ x 5’ sheets. The quality , MDF temporarily flatten the board plain old plywood makes for a strong drawer, box right under the planner knives. sold in 4’ x 8’ sizes has too few or cabinet carcass. Without The warp, cup or twist will plys and too many interior glue the joints in MDF are reappear again as it exits, voids to make for anything simply too weak to be useful. leaving you with a warped, approaching a perfect drawer. cupped or twisted board that Half blind dovetail joints cut in is simply thinner. plywood is usually solid wood are strong with or much better and can be used without glue. with some success. To prep solid wood you almost must have a jointer and a planer.

Seldom is the wood you buy pre-surfaced really straight, flat or of equal thickness over

14 Cutting the drawer components to the proper size

Height - Centered Dovetails Look Best – Start with the height of drawer you want.

All fixed template half blind dovetail jigs, including the Festool VS-600, are inherently

designed around drawers of a If you joint one face flat first, height that is an even you will take out the warp, increment of twice the finger cup or twist. Now, when you spacing. run it through the planer to get it the thickness you want, it will come out still flat.

Don’t worry too much if a board is flat but not straight. It is easy to cut the curve out of one edge and then cut/ the other edge to be straight and parallel to the first and of the width you want as shown in the before & after shots below. In the case of the SZ-14 template, the distance between each finger is exactly 22mm. If your dovetails are properly centered on the drawer side, when you look at the finished drawer from the side you will see an 11mm half pin at both the top and the bottom edges and all the other dovetails will be exactly 22mm apart. Hence, the set of dovetails will be centered over the height of the drawer.

15

This is the most pleasing Drawer height for So, the actual inside depth of arrangement to the eye and template SZ-14 = 44 x t your perfect drawer cut with also the strongest joint. the SZ-14 template will be

If your drawer height is not an 11mm plus one half of the even increment of twice the jig Drawer height for thickness of the drawer bottom finger spacing, you will still template SZ-20 = 64 x t less than the overall height of have an 11mm half pin at the your drawer. The distance top and either more or less where t = the number of tails from the bottom edge of the than that at the bottom edge of (and female recesses) showing drawer sides, front and back to the drawer. That unbalanced from the side. the underside of the drawer arrangement looks awkward bottom will be 11mm less one to most people and the lower See the “Table of Drawer half of the thickness of the pin can become so small as to Heights Which Will Result in drawer bottom -- nice and be weak and break off during Properly Centered Joints” on strong while still maximizing assembly or use. page 43 for these calculations inside depth for your prefect from one tail showing to the drawer. The easiest way to calculate maximum size drawer which the height of a drawer on can be built on the VS-600 Cutting the slot on a center which half blind dovetails will using these templates. line that is 11mm from the be properly centered is simply bottom edge will put the to multiply the template One more note on drawer drawer bottom slot (or as spacing (22mm for the SZ-14) height: The slot you will cut some might prefer to call it) times twice the number of the into the inside of the front, exactly in the center of the male fan shaped tails or female back and drawer sides to male fan shaped tails and recesses showing. If your receive the drawer bottom will female recesses so it will not drawer will show only one be centered on one half the show from the outside of the male fan shaped tail when template spacing up from the drawer and will be as strong viewed from the side, the bottom of the drawer as possible. drawer will have an 11mm components (11mm for the half pin at the top and bottom 22mm spacing on the SZ-14 So, pick a drawer height that and one 22mm female recess in and 16mm for the 32mm is an even increment of twice the middle so it will be 44mm spacing on the SZ-20). the template finger spacing, high (about 1 ¾”). This is 44mm (2 x 22mm) for the SZ-14 about as small as it is practical template & 64mm (2 x 32mm) to make a drawer and still for the SZ-20 template. Cut leave room for a bottom. all your flat stock to that width.

Thickness - The two sides must be the same thickness, which can be of any thickness within the range of thicknesses

16 available for each template (15 Side piece length = desired Now cut the half blind to 20mm for the SZ-14 front to back dimension – 2 dovetails at each corner template). The front and back times (thickness of F or B – can be of a different thickness depth of router bit) If you prepare your stock as

than the sides but the front indicated, the cutting of the and the back pieces need to half blind dovetail joints to each be the same thickness and make a perfect box in less than within the 15-20mm range. A five minutes every time is very pleasing drawer to the really simple. With the Festool eye, and also a very common VS-600 you only need to size, is one where front and mount the work pieces into the back are 19mm (about ¾”) and jig twice to make all eight the sides are 15mm (about parts of the dovetail joints on 9/16”). the four corners. That is If you want a drawer that because for half-blind dovetail The fastest, easiest thing is to measures 500mm (about 20”) joints made on the VS-600 you simply make all four drawer front to back using the SZ-14 can cut two different corners at components the same (which calls for a router bit the same time. And, you only thickness, but you do not have depth setting of 12mm) and need to set up and align the to. want to use front/back template once so there is little Length of the Front and components that are 20mm chance for error. Back Pieces - Cut the front thick, cut each side component and back pieces to be exactly to be 484mm long. the length you want for the finished width of your drawer. 484 = 500 – 2(20 – 12) or 484 = If your perfect drawer would 500 – 2(8) or 484 = 500 - 16 be 400mm wide (a bit under 16”), cut the front and back This is really easy to calculate pieces to that length. using the metric system but can be a bit confusing if you insist on staying with the base Length of the Side Pieces Once you have done your one eight “inch” system where you The length of each drawer side time set up procedure to adjust will have to add and subtract piece will be the desired the template to the VS-600, some fractions. overall depth front to back of mounting it and starting to your perfect drawer less the make your perfect drawer is See “Sidebar on Using the thickness of the front piece, simple and fast. Metric System” on page 36 of less the thickness of the back this manual for my take on piece plus twice the depth See the sidebar note on “One this question. setting for your router bit Time Setup” on page 32. which is 12mm for the SZ-14 and 15mm for the SZ-20. Mount the SZ-14 or SZ-20 template into the VS-600 base

17 unit with the in/out adjusting drawer. I write “f” or a “b” wheels at each end against the inside the triangle to indicate front edge of the VS-600. that to myself.

So, how do you know which piece goes where Loosen the rotary knobs on the and how they are two sides stops. Drop the oriented on the VS-600? template down and align the side stops to the inside of the Start by ignoring the drawings “D” shaped hole cut in each and piece numbering text on side of the template. page 21 of the Festool VS-600 manual. I will show you a much simpler method that you can far more easily remember. All of the cuts will take place with the INSIDE face of each Place the drawer components component facing out, away in front of you, standing from the VS-600, and with the upright just like they will be TOP edge against the side on your finished drawer with stops on the VS-600. The the front of the drawer facing Front and Back will be cut you. Take a moment to look at horizontally clamped under grain patterns and any defects the top bar. The sides to determine the inside and will be cut vertically clamped under the front clamp bar. outside faces for each

component and which edge You can’t go wrong if you should be the top of your Tighten the two rotary knobs always have the inside face drawer. When you like the to hold the side stops in place. away from the jig with the top arrangement, mark the Turn the side stop fingers so edge aligned with a side stop. INSIDE FACE of each SZ-14 or SZ-20 is facing The front and back of your component and mark the edge INWARD, towards the center drawer will always be cut that is to be the TOP. I do this of the VS-600. The jig is now horizontally clamped by the by drawing a triangle with the ready to use. top clamp bar. The sides will point up on the inside of each always be cut vertically component. Mark which is the clamped by the bar on the FRONT piece and which is the front of the VS-600. The order BACK piece of your perfect in which you make your cuts

18 is not important so long as the 600 with this template) and vertical work pieces are flush inside face is away from the slide it vertically under the with the top edge of the VS-600 and the top edge is front clamp and clamp it horizontal work pieces as against a side stop. lightly. shown in the picture to the left and clamp them down. I am in the habit of first raising Since the template pivots even the template all the way up to when clamped in place, it is Recheck to make sure get it out of the way. Now I easy to pivot it out of the way everything is nice and square slide the front piece while you line up the end of and securely clamped in place. horizontally into the upper the vertical piece to be exactly The horizontal work pieces clamp on the left side of the flush with the top of the that will become the front and VS-600 with its TOP edge horizontal piece that will back of your drawer should against the left side stop. become the front or back of butt tightly up against the your drawer. vertical pieces that will become the sides of your Now I place the router on top drawer. of the template and plunge the cutter to the exact depth of the test piece. That is all the router set-up you need to do.

The end of the vertical work

pieces (the sides) should be I then place the back piece exactly flush with the upward horizontally into the upper face of the horizontal work clamp on the right side of the Remove the router bit depth pieces (the front/back pieces). VS-600 with its top edge test piece from the clamp bar against the right side stop. on the front of the VS-600 and All pieces should have their Clamp those down. replace it with the two side INSIDE face away from the components. One will clamp VS-600 and their top edge Set the template on top of to the right side of the VS-600 aligned with a side stop. Pivot these two components snugly and one will clamp to the left the template down and into and clamp it in place. Then I side. Make sure the INSIDE place. Make the cuts. take the router bit depth gauge face is away from the VS-600 (the female component from pointing towards you with the Now simply rearrange the the test piece we made when TOP edge against the side work pieces to cut the other originally setting up the VS- stop. Use a flat piece of scrap two corners. As before, the to make sure the ends of these top and bottom are held under

19 the upper clamp bar with their wanted and will be square, bottom can slide in from the top edges against the side stop and the piece will be ready to back side and can be held in and the inside face is away receive the admiring looks place by a through a slot from the VS-600 and pointing from your customers, friends cut into the back edge of the up at you. The side pieces are or family who enjoy this bottom piece. mounted under the front hallmark of fine clamp bar with their top edge craftsmanship. against the side stops and inside faces pointing away Machine the Dado to from the VS-600 and facing Receive the Drawer you with their upper edge Bottom Before Assembly flush with the top (inside) face of the front/back components. I recommend making your Before you assemble your Make the second set of bottom 2mm smaller than the drawer, take a few moments to inside measurement of the cuts and you are done! machine the dado which will dado both side to side and hold the drawer bottom in front to back. That way the place. Center it up from the 1mm spacing all around will bottom edge of the drawer take up any shrinking or one-half of the template swelling of the drawer sides spacing (11mm in the case of due to normal seasonal the SZ-14 template which uses changes in humidity. If you a 22mm finger spacing and use a solid wood drawer 16mm for the SZ-20 which bottom, allow 2mm on each uses a 32mm finger spacing). edge across the grain since That way the dado will not wood moves far more across show from the outside of the its grain than with its grain. drawer. I nearly always use solid wood for the drawer bottom and like to keep it from rattling by putting a dollop of water- The reality is this all takes based contact adhesive or less time to do than to caulk in the middle of the describe. Practice a few times three trapped sides (and the and you will make a perfect back if it is also trapped). drawer with finely machined Neither contact adhesive nor half blind dovetail corners in caulk sets up solid so the less than five minutes, and you If you want the bottom to be components can still move will do it every time. removable, cut the bottom of relative to one another, but the BACK piece off at the they do prevent the bottom The drawer sides will come height of the top edge of the from rattling when in very dry out exactly the size you drawer bottom dado. Now the climatic conditions.

20

If your drawer components are all made from man-made materials which move either not at all or far less than solid woods, you can safely glue the drawer bottom in place if you wish.

21 Here is a quick the template spacing is spacing (11mm for the 22mm and for the SZ-20 SZ-14 and 16mm for the summary of the steps 32mm. SZ-20). to make your perfect half blind dovetailed • Cut the front and back • Cut the drawer bottom drawer using the component to exactly 2mm to 4mm smaller the width you want the than the opening from Festool VS-600 finished drawer to be. the bottom of the dados Cut the side both side to side and One time only for each components shorter front to back to allow template you will do a test cut than the depth you for expansion and to determine the proper router want your drawer to be contraction of the bit depth setting and the by 2 times the thickness components with template in/out setting to get of the front/back normal seasonal the fit you want. Save the test components less the changes in humidity. pieces to use as a router depth specified router bit Do not rigidly glue the gage for all subsequent uses of depth of cut (12mm for bottom in place. Let it that template. From then on: the SZ-14 and 15mm for in the dados. A the SZ-20). dollop of rubber cement • Prep your stock to be or soft caulk will flat, true and exactly the • Mark the top edge and prevent rattling. thickness you want. inside face of each The front and back component. • Brush glue onto the components must be long grain portions of the same thickness and • Cut the joints in any both sides of the within the range of the sequence, but always dovetail joints, assemble template you are using align the top edge and square it up. (15-20mm for the SZ-14 against the side stop and 21-28mm for the with the inside face You’re done! A SZ-20). The side away from the VS-600. perfect drawer with components can be a Always clamp the front different thickness so and back components half blind dovetail long as that is also horizontally under the joints in less than five within the range of the top clamp bar and the minutes, time after template you are using. side components vertically under the time. • Cut all components to a front clamp bar. width that is an even increment of twice the • Dado the for the half blind template drawer bottom centered spacing if you want up from the bottom properly centered edge of the drawer by dovetails. For the SZ-14 one half the template

22 Making Your Perfect To fit, the angle on the dovetail drawer. bit and the angle on the pin Drawer Using template fingers must be Through Dovetail exactly the same. Also, the Joints spacing must be exactly the same. Through dovetails are considerably more Fortunately, the superbly This drawer has the dovetail sophisticated and complicated engineered Festool VS-600 does most of the work for you shaped male pieces shown joints to cut than are half blind from the front, normally they once you prep your work dovetails. The male fan shape would show from the side. pieces as described above and has to be cut by a dovetail These are the outboard most determine the correct sizes to shaped router bit guided by a sides of the female recess at cut your component parts. template with straight fingers the top and the bottom of the

with the work piece held drawer no matter how many As discussed earlier, I strongly vertically. female recesses there are in the recommend the use of Festool drawer side. If you get an router bits and guide bushings equal sized half pin top and when cutting through bottom, you will automatically dovetails on this jig. have evenly spaced, centered

dovetails that will look good Length - Determining the and hold tight for generations. correct lengths for your perfect The trick is understanding the drawer sides, front and back is template spacing, the side easy. Just cut them to the offset and the maximum exact length you want for the diameter of the dovetail cutter outside width of the drawer The female recesses are cut used to cut the male fan and for its depth, front to back. with the work piece held shapes. vertically using a straight router bit guided by a Height - centered These male fan shapes or tails template with angled fingers. dovetails look best – are usually cut in the sides of the drawer using the template Calculating the correct height SZO-14-S or SZO-20-S. The for your drawer to make sure female recesses and pins are your dovetails are properly usually cut in the front and centered is a bit more back of the drawer using involved. template SZO-14-Z or SZO-20- Z. You want half pins at the upper and lower sides of your

23 pieces, you need to make sure the front and back. From the they are within the thickness sides it will look like a simple range of the SZO-14 (10mm to box joint. 14mm) or the SZO-20 (14mm to 25mm). Be sure the front You will always cut the male and back pieces are the SAME fan shaped tail pieces held thickness and the side pieces vertically under the front are the SAME thickness. The clamp bar with the OUTSIDE front/back can be a different face pointing out away from thickness than the sides. the VS-600. Work pieces set to cut the female recesses in the “pin Make your cuts board”.

Now you are ready to cut. For strength you want the male Cut the Male Fan Shaped fan shape tails to be cut on the Tails (normally in the sides of the drawer and the pieces that will be the female recesses to be cut in the sides of your drawer) – front and back work pieces.

I am in the habit of cutting the Once you get the hang of male fan shaped tail pieces through dovetails don’t be Work pieces set to cut the first. To do so, mount the afraid of experimenting by male fan shapes in the “tail straight fingered template reversing these to get a board” SZO-14-S or SZO-20-S on the different look to your joints. VS-600. It is self aligning and The female recesses cut with needs no adjustment. Lower it the angled template will down and align the side stops always be held vertically to the opening in the template under the front clamp bar with just as you did before with the the OUTSIDE face pointing half blind templates. Be sure out away from the VS-600. In to turn the SZO-14 or SZO-20 side stop fingers inwards all cases the top edge of the In the traditional trough drawer components will be towards the center of the VS- dovetail the characteristic fan against the side stops as you 600 ON BOTH SIDES of the or tail shape shows only from make your cuts. The order or template. Mount the correct the side of the drawer. From sequence does not matter. guide bushing and the correct the front it looks like a simple dovetail shaped cutter in the box joint. If you reverse these router. and put the male fan shaped tails on the front and back Place scrap pieces that are at work pieces, the characteristic least 5mm THICKER than the dovetail shape will show from pieces which will have the

25 female recesses cut in them receive the female recesses. end flush with the top of the (usually the front and back Since the scrap is at least 5mm scrap piece. components) horizontally thicker, this will allow your under the top clamp bar router bit to miss the You are finished with the male against the side stops and snug aluminum bed of the VS-600 as fan shaped tail components. them down. Be sure they are you make your cuts. wider than the pieces you intend to cut the male fan or Note that the proper depth of tail into. These scrap pieces cut is the thickness of the piece will hold the male work piece into which this piece will high enough that the bottom of mate. the dovetail shaped router bit will not hit the base of the VS- In the picture below, the router 600 and they will help prevent is zeroed to the top of the tear out on what will become work piece. Now set the the inside of your drawer. proper depth, plunge and make the cuts in both pieces.

Realign the work pieces by rotating them side-to-side and cut the male fan or dovetail shapes on the other end.

Align the top edge of the pieces which will have the male fan or tail shape cut in them (usually the side pieces) with the TOP face of your scrap piece, outside face pointing out away from the VS-600 and the top edge against the side stop.

Set Router Bit Depth of

Cut – With the template . lowered onto the scrap pieces, Be sure the OUTSIDE face place the router on the top of points away from the VS-600, the template. Set your router the top edge of your drawer is depth of cut to be exactly the against the side stop, and the width of the pieces which will

26 Cut the Female Recesses The very first time you use or Pins (normally in the either the SZO-14-Z or SZO- front & back pieces of 20-Z you will make a test cut to set the proper in/out setting your drawer)– on the two depth setting

wheels on either end of the Remove the SZO-14-S or SZO- template. After that you only 20-S and mount the SZO-14-Z need to mount the template, or SZO-20-Z template with the align your work pieces and in/out adjustment wheels on make the cuts. each end against the bed of the Drop the template on top of

VS-600. the scrap pieces and clamp it in place. Place the router on top of the template and set the depth of cut to be exactly the thickness of the pieces into which you just cut the male fan shaped tails.

Make your cuts following the angled sides of the template Fit the proper guide bushing fingers. Be sure to also route Align the side stops with the and straight router bit into the out the area between the inside of the “D”shaped hole router. As you did for the angled sides of each template stamped into each end of the male tail cuts, mount a scrap finger. template and lock them down. piece at least 5mm THICKER than the router bit depth of cut horizontally under the top clamp bar so you do not hit the body of the VS-600 while cutting the female recesses.

Mount the work pieces under the front clamp bar with the

OUTSIDE facing away from the VS-600, the top of the Note that the proper depth of drawer against the side stops, cut is the thickness of the piece and the ends flush with the into which this piece will top edge of the scrap pieces. mate.

Reset the work pieces to cut

the other two sides of the joint and you are done.

27

A perfect drawer with through dovetails in under fifteen minutes.

Because you have to use two different templates, two different guide bushings, two different router bits and do two set-ups to make through dovetail joints, it will take about fifteen minutes per drawer instead of the five minutes per drawer required for half blind dovetail joints.

In both cases your drawer will be “perfect” right out of the VS-600 joining system. It will be exactly the length, width and depth you want it to be, will be absolutely square, sit flat and invoke an image of fine craftsmanship from the minute you assemble it.

No sanding to fit, no “make it a bit bigger and cut it to fit afterwards” and no “put a bit of filler into the gaps to make it look like it fits” even when it doesn’t.

28 Perfect Finger Joints wide. The joint will look the The proper height of the box to same from either side. If you have centered fingers is any Are Also Easy and like the look of finger joints, even increment of twice the Fast they can be cut very quickly template spacing. and accurately every time. A is simply a series Two corners can be cut with Festool sells two different of male fingers and female each set up (so long as the finger joint templates, FZ-6 recesses of the same size and pieces are less than 300mm and FZ-10. The numbers refer spacing cut all the way across wide) and only one template, to both the size in mm of the the ends of the work piece. By one guide bushing and one straight router bit used to cutting these so the male cutter are required for all the make the cuts and also to the fingers on one piece fit into the cuts. side spacing. The template female recesses on the other a spacing is twice the diameter strong corner joint with a The only set-up required is of the router bit so calculating relatively large gluing area can setting the depth of cut made the height of a box with be established quite quickly. by the straight router bit to be centered fingers is quite easy. Some, including Festool, also equal to the thickness of the It is any even increment of call this a “box” joint because work pieces. twice the template spacing, ie: it is very easy to automate for 12, 24, 36, etc. for the FZ-6 and rapid assembly of functional Prep your stock just as you did 20, 40, 60, etc. for FZ-10. boxes. for the dovetail joints. You want stock that is uniform in Width and Length – With thickness, flat, square, of the finger joints the fingers go all size you want and within the the way through each piece so thickness range of the template simply cut the front, back, and you are using. side work pieces to exactly the lengths you want for your Centering the Fingers - As finished box. with dovetail joints, the best looking finger joints are when Set up is similar to what you the fingers are centered over did for through dovetails. the height of the box. You will Mount scrap pieces under the have one half finger at the top top clamp bar that are at least of the box and one half finger 5mm THICKER than your at the bottom of the box. work pieces to allow the router Avoid boxes with less than or bit to pass above the bed of the more than half a finger at the VS-600 when you make your On the VS-600, finger or box bottom as these tend to be cuts. joints of two sizes can be quite weak as well as quickly cut in work pieces awkward looking. All four work pieces will be from 6mm to 28mm in mounted vertically under the thickness and up to 600mm front clamp bar. Two work

29 pieces will be clamped on top clamp bar and flush with the number of whole fingers on of each other with their top of a scrap piece that is at each side. On one side there OUTSIDE faces TOGETHER least 5mm thicker than the will be a half finger at the top and what will be the TOP edge router bit depth of cut, rotate and on the other side a half of the box against each of the the template down and place finger at the bottom. two side stops. The top edge the router on top of the of these pieces will be flush template. Set the depth of cut Which you prefer is a matter of with the top of the scrap pieces to be equal to the thickness of taste. I like the properly and up against the bottom of the work pieces. centered finger joints the best. the template. Make the cuts. If the thickness of your work pieces is greater than the diameter of the router bit, make the cuts in multiple passes with each pass cutting no more than the diameter of the router bit.

Rearrange the work pieces Where this gets a bit tricky is under the front clamp bar that one piece will stop against stacked with the OUTSIDE the side stop finger while the faces together and the TOP other will stop against the against the side stops. round portion outboard from the side stop finger. Make the cuts and you are done. A perfect box with finger joints in less than five minutes!

The concept of centering a box joint is a bit different from centering dovetail joints. A properly centered box or finger joint will show a certain number of whole fingers on one side with one fewer than In the pictures above I have that number of whole fingers removed the scrap piece from plus two half fingers on the behind the two work pieces to other side. make it easier to see. An unbalanced, yet still Once the four work pieces are considered centered by some, mounted under the front finger joint will show the same

30 Conclusion

At the beginning of this manual we talked about how the dovetail joint is recognized the world over as one of the hallmarks of fine craftsmanship. We also talked a bit about how difficult many find it is to cut perfect dovetail joints or to get a dovetailed drawer, box or cabinet carcass just the size you want it in the first place. And, we touched on why so very many dovetail jigs sit gathering dust in the corner because they can be far from intuitive to set up and use properly when you only use them once in a while.

I hope that you now have far more confidence that you, too, can make a perfect drawer with half blind dovetails (or finger joints) in less than five minutes and with through dovetail joints in under fifteen minutes using the well engineered Festool VS-600 jointing system. Once this becomes your preferred means of creating perfect drawers, boxes and cabinet carcasses you will be amazed at how often you find yourself doing so. Day in, day out there simply is no better way I know of to add value and longevity to your furniture projects.

Whether you make your living doing so, as I do, or whether you build furniture for family and friends just because you love to, adding a Festool VS-600 jointing system to your shop or studio will prove to be one of the best investments you can make in working faster, better and more efficiently.

Enjoy!

Jerry

31 One-Time Set-Up

All four of the Festool VS-600 dovetail templates require a one time set-up to make sure the in/out adjustment wheels are set to cut a perfectly flush joint and to establish a router Loosen the holding screw to Next, move the two side stops depth setting that will provide turn the wheel while the rotary to fit the inside of the “D” the tightness of fit you want. knob that holds the template is shaped opening stamped into You only need to do this the loose enough that the template the template. Turn the side first time you use a particular can slide in and out. When stop so the fingers matching template. After that, the you have the in/out the template face inward, template will clamp in place adjustment wheel at BOTH toward the center on both ends with the correct in/out setting sides of the template set to the of the VS-600. and, if you save the test pieces, same zero mark, tighten the you can quickly set the correct holding screws. Mount one scrap piece bit depth. horizontally under the top

clamp bar and another This one time set-up is fast and vertically under the front easy to do since you really clamp bar. Be sure each piece don’t care what length and is within the thickness range width the work pieces are or specified for the template you how thick they are so long as are adjusting. Also, make sure they are within the range for each piece is against the side which each template is Now push the template stop and the end of the designed. For the two half towards the VS-600 so the cam vertically mounted piece is blind dovetail templates, SZ-14 shape on the under side of the flush with the top of the and SZ-20, just mount the black in/out adjustment wheel horizontally mounted piece. template with the cam shaped is against the front edge of the The pivot action of the underside of the black in/out VS-600 and tighten the rotary templates makes this easy to adjustment wheel against the knobs which fasten the do if you hold a scrap piece on front edge of the VS-600. Start template to the VS-600. top of the horizontal work with the wheel set to the zero piece while you push the position. vertical work piece up against it.

32 If you use some other brand of adjusting wheel to the same router be sure you can set the mark in the + direction. Note depth of cut from a bit zeroed that the well engineered VS- on top of the work piece. Do 600 is calibrated so each mark not try to set the bit depth of represents an 0.1mm cut with the router on the movement. If your edge bench as it will not be correct stands proud by 0.2mm, move and your joints will be way off. the wheels two marks and Position the template on top of tighten them down. If the these two and clamp it down. Once the router bit depth is sides go in too far, move both set, make the cuts. Remove wheels in the – direction by Set your router depth of cut to the pieces and try the fit. the proper amount. the factory specified 12mm for Usually the depth setting will the SZ-14 and 15mm for the produce a properly tight fit, It is a good idea to do one SZ-20. Festool routers are easy but if it is off a bit lower the bit more test cut if you needed to to adjust by zeroing the router to make it tighter and raise the adjust either the router bit bit on top of the horizontal bit to loosen the joint fit. depth setting or the template work piece while the router is in/out setting. You only need in cutting position on top of to do this once and that the template. Then you can template will forever be set to simply move the depth produce your prefect drawer indicator to the 12mm or no matter what length, width 15mm mark, plunge the router or thickness of work pieces and you are ready to cut. you use (so long as the thickness is within the range Be careful here. Note that this specified for each template is NOT 12mm from the base of and you continue to use the the router, it is 12mm lower same router bit). than the bit when it is positioned on top of the When you have the fit you horizontal work piece with the want, save the pieces to use as router sitting in cutting a router depth of cut gauge for position on top of the all subsequent uses of this template. Check how flush the joint is template. when driven all the way home. If the vertical piece (what will The “right” fit is a matter of normally be the side of your personal taste. I like the joint drawer) stands proud of the to go together with only a light edge of the horizontal piece tapping with my hand or a (which normally will be the . That will provide a front or back of your drawer), good bonding surface for the then loosen the two holding glue and still show a tight, screws and turn each in/out artful joint. If the joint is

33 overly tight and requires proud from the end of your heavy blows to get it together drawer front/back (the piece then the glue will either get you cut with the angled finger scraped off when you template), loosen the securing assemble, or will get trapped screws and turn the two in the bottom of the female in/out adjustment wheels to recesses and lock the joint create a perfectly flush joint. open, or you will break something during assembly. If the ends of one or the other While many of my colleagues of the two pieces protrude will disagree with me on this beyond the outside edge of the point, with today’s glues I joint, reduce the depth of cut think it is better to error on the setting until they are both side of being too loose than too exactly flush. Since you have tight for half blind dovetails. Be sure you place a scrap piece to adjust the depth of cut for under the top clamp bar that is both templates and the in/out The one time adjustment for at least 5mm thicker than your on one, plan on doing a couple the SZO-14 and SZO-20 horizontally mounted test of test cuts. through dovetail template sets work piece to avoid cutting is very much the same. You into the VS-600! Remember, you are only going will, however, have to cut the to do this once for each two test pieces separately. The As before, once you make your through dovetail template set template with the straight test cuts put the two pieces so take your time and do it fingers will cut the male fan together and observe the fit. right. shaped tails using the specified dovetail cutter and the template with the angled fingers will cut the female recesses and surrounding pins with the specified straight cutter.

Once you have a correct fitting joint the template in/out setting will be correct for all further use of that template.

Save BOTH test pieces to use If the edge of what would in setting the correct router bit normally be your drawer side depth whenever you use this (the piece cut with the straight template set in the future. fingered template) stands

34 You are done with set up and your templates are all ready to use at a moment’s notice. Just mount the template making sure the cam on the bottom of the black in/out adjustment wheels is against the VS-600 when you tighten the two rotary knobs to secure the template in place. Position your work pieces under the clamps as outlined in this manual, set the router bit depth using the test pieces you saved and you are “good to go.”

From this point forward, you will cut perfect half- blind dovetailed drawers in under five minutes and through-dovetailed drawers in under fifteen minutes.

Cut the work pieces to the proper size, mount them as indicated and make perfect joints every time.

35 My Take On Using the door to be 19 3/8” wide. The rail and stile pieces are 2 5/8” wide by ¾” thick and all the Metric System the groves are 3/8” deep. You Most of the tools we use every want to know how long to cut day were designed for a world the top rail piece. Lets see, it market. Most everywhere but will be 19 3/8” less 5 1/4” (the in the US the metric system is width of the two stiles on The easiest way is to buy an employed for weights and either side) plus ¾” for the inexpensive tape from a big measures. So, it is no surprise tenons on each end. Think box store that shows both, like that many tool manufacturers you can do that one in your the one in the picture. design their tools around the head every time without error? metric system and then Do your thinking in the inch convert them to show inch Now try the same thing using system and measure using the scales for the US market. the metric system. The door is metric system. A couple of 500mm wide. Rails and stile weeks later you will find While few of us in the USA pieces are 50mm wide by yourself thinking in the metric grew up with the metric 20mm thick with 10mm system more and more, and system, and certainly do not groves. Now the calculation is liking it far better. think in metric length terms, 500 less 100 plus 20. Easy to learning to measure using the do that one in your head I splurged and also bought a metric system is far easier than without making a mistake, couple of rigid steel metric using the base 8 “inch” system isn’t it? rules with a matt finish that I for building furniture. There, really like. They are easy to everything is a fraction of an From my experience the best read in any light and “dead even multiple of 8; one eighth, thing you can do to improve on” accurate. One is 150mm one sixteenth, one thirty the accuracy, quality and long (about 6”) that lives in my second, etc. While we have speed of building your apron pocket. It’s great for all learned to add and subtract woodworking projects is to those shorter measurements odd fractions over the years, spend the couple of weeks it like setting the fence to blade the process is still very time takes to convert to using the distance on my large band consuming and error prone. metric system for your where you can put the end up measurements. You don’t against the fence and read in On the other hand, measuring need to learn to think or mm the exact dimension to the using the base 10 metric visualize in the metric system, inside tooth on the carbide system is very straight just use it for your blade. The other rule is forward. You never deal with measurements. 500mm long (around 18”) that fractions, only whole numbers. is always nearby on the layout The process is much faster and bench. far less error prone. As an A cheap metric/inch digital example, lets say you want to caliper rounds out the build a rail, stile and panel door for a project. You want

36 measuring tools I use every day.

The Festool VS-600 jointing system and their routers are all designed around the metric system. While you can convert back and forth, you don’t need to and doing so just introduces error and frustration. In this manual I am using the metric units of measure as those are the markings on the Festool VS- 600 and routers. It is not important that you can visualize the length of say, 300mm, only that you know it is twice 150mm or ten times as much as 30mm. It is all relative.

37 Continuous the template by unscrewing dovetails, two sizes of through two wing nuts which hold the dovetails, two sizes of box Improvement template in place. The side joints and three sizes of dowel

stops were fixed in place and joints. These multiple sizes Two of the things I like most were simply barrel-headed and types cover joinery in about the products coming machine screws threaded into work pieces from 6mm to from companies with a strong holes tapped into the top and 28mm thick, a range that engineering tradition is that front edges of the VS-500. The covers the vast majority of their products reflect a systems adjustment for moving the furniture making operations. approach where multiple template in or out to achieve They replaced the quirky wing components all work the correct joint fit was just a nut template holder of the VS- seamlessly together to achieve threaded collar on the same 500 with an elegant pivoting the desired outcome and they stud used to hold the template template carrier to which you seem to have a fetish for to the fixture. Not very can quickly and accurately continuous improvement. elegant, not very flexible, but affix whichever template you Both are evident in the Festool certainly precise and very need. VS-600 and in their routers. repeatable to use once

properly set up. The VS-600 joinery system replaced the original VS-500. The OF-1010 router replaced the OF-1000. The photographs show the differences, some subtle some major. The photos also show the careful attention to systems design rather than Since it pivots to clear the individual tool or jig design. work pieces without removing the template, it is easy to load Take the two jointing systems, and square up the work pieces for example. The VS-500 was When Festool designed the repeatedly, time after time about as simple and reliable as VS-600 (on my dovetail work with little room for error. The a template based dovetail jig station above) to replace the adjustment for joint depth is a can get. There were only three VS-500 (on the bench to the well engineered eccentric templates available: one for right) they did not simply wheel on each end of the cutting half blind dovetail make a few cosmetic or templates requiring such joints, one for cutting simple incremental changes to the old adjustment capability. The box joints and one for unit, they started with a clean two wheels have index doweling. Each template sheet of paper, learning well markings to make it easy to set would only service work from the limitations and use them to exactly the same joint pieces of a limited range of frustrations inherent in the VS- depth on both ends of the thicknesses. Every time you 500. template. No more rotating needed to set work pieces into threaded collars by guess. You the VS-500 you had to remove They designed the VS-600 to set up each template only once cut two sizes of half blind and it will produce joints of

38 exactly the right depth for all precise and faster to use VS- than the corresponding subsequent use of that 600. Nice generation-to- dovetail cutter so you can now template. generation continuous easily place or remove the improvement. But, they did cutter with the base fully not stop there. extended away from the router body. The router to the left in Festool also looked to the the picture above shows the routers and guide bushings new VS-600 guide bushing and which would be used with the cutter while the router to the VS-600. On the VS-500 the right shows the old VS-500. guide bushing had a smaller Both of these set-ups cut

They designed adjustable inside diameter than the exactly the same shape and rather than stationary side dovetail router bit. So, to size of half blind dovetail, the stops so each template can mount a dovetail router bit 14mm series. have a different side set back with the guide bushing in to properly match the place, you had to fully plunge Festool also took another geometry of that template. the router base, insert the important continuous Setting the proper side stop dovetail cutter from the improvement step. They depth is done easily each time bottom side, and then machined a collar into the you change templates. somehow manage to fit one guide bushings used with hand into the limited space dovetail router bits which fully between the bottom of the traps the fingers on the router body and the top of the template so it is not possible to plunged base to depress the inadvertently lift or tilt the lock and also fit the router while moving it into other hand into that same limited space to tighten or loosen the collet nut. It could be done, but it was at best awkward.

The clamp bars on the VS-600 are not only 100mm longer allowing for a wider combination of work pieces, they also feature a center clamp which more securely and out of the fingers while holds the work pieces in place. forming the male fan shaped dovetail portion of the joint, a The not very elegant, not very nice touch that all template flexible, but very precise VS- based router jig manufacturers 500 was replaced by a very For the VS-600 they should emulate. All of us who elegant, very flexible, equally redesigned the guide bushings have cut a zillion drawers on with an inside diameter larger templates without this very

39 important feature have ruined I use for hand held more than a few when a applications. momentary lapse of concentration resulted in In truth, since buying my first lifting or tilting the router. Festool router (the OF-1000 you see pictured) I have not Simply put, the VS-600 is in all touched any other brand for ways a vastly superior joinery hand held use. The light system than the VS-500 it weight, ability to control and replaced. This is continuous plunge with one hand, the improvement at its best. guide rail system, built in dust collection and other features The OF-1000 and OF-1010 are simply superior to routers also show attention to anything else on the market detail and a penchant for from my perspective as a one continuous improvement. person furniture maker. While they are in the same power range and intended for the same kinds of applications, detail changes are evident.

The power (wattage) is up a bit in the OF-1010 over the OF- 1000, but the electronic speed control on both makes that hard for me to feel in every day use.

The power cord is removable on the OF-1010 and the speed Now with the addition of the control dial moved to the back OF-1010 shown in most of the where it can easily be seen and pictures in this manual, the adjusted. midsized OF-1400 with .25”, 8mm and .5” collets and the The base appears unchanged large OF-2000 production so all the same great router Festool has covered the attachments and fixtures fit field. It would be hard to either. The plunge, lock, and imagine a routing situation in depth setting mechanisms which you would not appear to be the same so both naturally reach for your exhibit a superior feeling of Festool router first. control over any other routers

40

What You Need to Know About the Festool Templates

Joint Template Thickness Template Side Router Orientation One Time Type Range Spacing Length Depth While Setup? of Cut Cutting Half SZ-14 15 – 20 22 DDL - 2 x 12 Inside Out Yes Blind (th -12) Half SZ-20 21-28 32 DDL - 2 x 15 Inside Out Yes Blind (th-15) Through SZO-14 10-14 28 DDL TMP Outside Yes DT Out Through SZO-20 14-25 40 DDL TMP Outside Yes DT Out Finger FZ-6 6-10 12 DDL TMP Outside No Joint Out Finger FZ-10 10-28 20 DDL TMP Outside No Joint Out

Front and back work pieces must always be the same thickness and within the thickness range specified above. Cut them to be as long as the overall desired drawer width.

Sides must always be the same thickness and within the thickness range specified above. Sides can be a different thickness than the front and back work pieces, usually thinner.

Center the dado for the drawer bottom one half of the template spacing up from the bottom edge of the drawer. Make the dado one half as deep as the thinnest of the work pieces.

Cut the bottom 2mm less than the measurement from dado bottom to dado bottom front to back and side to side. Hold in place only by a dollop of rubber cement or caulk in dado in the center of each work piece. Do not glue firmly in place as the sides, front and back will expand and contract with normal seasonal changes in humidity. th = thickness of work piece

DDL = Desired Drawer Length front to back.

TMP = Thickness of Mating Piece. If cutting the drawer sides, set the router depth while on top of the template and zeroed to the work piece to cut the thickness of the front/back work pieces.

41

Meet the Author the commerce followed the Then, I design the piece for railroad and Kerby faded aesthetics taking design from prominence. queues from many periods and styles and bring them During it’s heyday as the into a modern decorating county seat for Josephine idiom. At that point a set of County, the Masons decided standards for sizing all the to build what was for the component parts and joints time to be one of the takes over. grandest buildings right in the center of town, the corner These standards allow me to of Sixth and Main. Today, easily calculate the sizes of Main Street is US-199, the all the component parts by Redwood Highway that knowing only the overall connects the I-5 at Grants dimensions of the piece. Pass with US-101 at Crescent Long ago I found that using City, CA. My wife and I metric measurements made would hardly call our 5,000 these calculations far easier square foot two story and far less error prone. building “grand,” but it is a perfect setting for my studio See the sidebar on “Using on the first floor and our loft the Metric System.” Hi, I’m Jerry Work. style living quarters on the second. I work almost exclusively Welcome to my studio. I with solid woods so I can build fine furniture in the The studio reflects both my resaw and book match all of 1907 Masonic Temple former background in the panels, even those like building in historic Kerby, technology management and drawer dust blocks that sit Oregon. Nestled along the my fetish for precision and inside the drawer dividers. Redwood Highway a scant standards in my furniture 20 miles from the California making. In consultation border in Oregon’s great with the client, I first fully southwest, Kerby was once engineer a piece for function the center of commerce for a so I will know how the large region of northern owner will interact with it, California and southern how the doors will hinge, Oregon. When the railroads latch and swing, how the bypassed Kerby for a drawers will slide and stop, passable route through the and how all the other mountains near what today functional aspects of the is Grants Pass, OR, like the piece will work. story of the American west,

44 design, and precision manufacturing standards before I agreed to write manuals such as this one for Festool.

Simply put, their tools provide a high return on investment for me as they allow me to work faster, more consistently and to tighter production tolerances, all critical aspects which allow me to sell my pieces at prices far below Most cabinets, like the black To cut a matched set of what I would have to charge walnut and burl mirrored, stopped sliding if I worked in more bathroom vanity shown dovetails for the dividers traditional ways. above, are built to what I call and drawer guides on a a 20 x 50 x 10mm or 20 x 65 x chest with multiple drawers Better value for my customer 10mm standard. That means can be a challenge if not and higher margins for me, a that all the rails and stiles done with great precision. true win-win situation. and the drawer, shelf and bottom divider components Thanks to Festool Multi My studio is organized are 20mm thick by either Function Tables and rail around what I do the most 50mm or 65mm wide and guided routers, this and then I let form follow the sliding dovetail joints previously complicated function. In my work, the and the slots for panels are operation can be done easily things I do more than any 10mm deep. I seldom use and repeatably. others are to sand, finish, dados, finding sliding assemble and polish. So, the dovetails to be vastly As you look at the pictures very best spot in the studio is superior as they are self of my studio you will see a devoted to those tasks. This locking, self aligning and self number of excellent Festool work station is a large solid squaring. hand power tools and wood topped table with Festool Multi-Function tables heavy welded which greatly simplify tube legs with large leveler achieving the accuracy feet. The top is perfectly flat required for the way I build and square. fine furniture. I purchased most of these myself and became quite impressed with the level of systems engineering, intelligent

45 The one that is always mounted on top ready for (300mm J/P, 300mm sliding immediate use is the Festool with scoring unit, VS-600. It is simply the spindle shaper and slot fastest, most accurate and ,) a 24” band saw easiest to use to build perfect which nearly always wears a drawers, boxes and case one inch carbide blade, a carcasses. for fine work and a 16” open end wide belt To one side is a Festool Under the sanding, polishing . multi-function table on and assembly station is a which most assemblies are Festool dust collector that held, squared, and made can easily be attached to the plumb in one way or Festool routers while another. On the other side is dovetailing and edge the dovetailing station which routing, to the Festool houses the complete Festool while sanding, to the VS-600 jointing system you Festool while cutting saw in the pictures and to the plate jointer while accompanying this manual, cutting the slots for those an earlier generation Festool joints. A pair of Festool VS-500 joining system, and and a set of excellent Around the edges are the two other dovetailing Festool chucks, bits, and drills, sanders and other systems from different drivers are at hand on the power and hand tools one manufacturers. wall behind this work would expect. The wood station. ready for use is stored on racks around the edges of Each one of these Festool the studio. products displaced other well known, high-end brands because they were simply superior tools for my use and they make more money for me day in and day out than the tools I used Between these different before. A nice bonus is that dovetailing systems I can cut they last far longer and are just about any kind of more pleasing to use as well. dovetail or other joint required for the design and Down the middle of the aesthetics of the piece. studio are the major stock

prep and cutting tools. They include a European style

46 A large Festool style table It is hard to keep many (made from one standard pieces on hand as spec built MFT plus two additional top pieces tend to sell quickly. plates and a pair of two meter side rails) sitting on I hope you have enjoyed this cast iron legs sits flanking manual on how to get the the combination machine most out of the excellent and the support table for the Festool VS-600 jointing band saw. system and this brief tour of my studio. This unit replaced the traditional European style If you are ever in the area, that I previously please stop by for a visit. I used. I still make and sell would enjoy showing you traditional European style around and answering any for people who questions you might have really want them, but, for the about the Festool products I kind of work I do, the large use every day. Festool style work table just can’t be beat. The precisely machined and accurately placed 20mm holes across the whole surface are ideal mounting points for a whole variety of clamps, jigs and fixtures, both those sold by Festool and those I make myself. Seldom a day goes by that both the Festool work surfaces are not in use.

To the front of the studio is a small gallery where a few pieces are always on display.

47