99% of Beginners Need These 5 Woodworking Jigs!

these are the must-have jigs every

woodworker should have in their shop in

my opinion some of these are so stupid

simple two pieces of plywood a couple

holes let’s

go first on the list has to be the

Crosscut sled the most accurate jig for

my shop cutting 90° Cuts is this cross

cut sled I use it all the time this is a

very simple jig to make this is my

iteration has handles on it it’s called

a safer Crosscut sled first thing you’re

going to do is cut too 3 and 1/2 in

pieces and glue those together this is

3/4 in plywood that you’re using make

sure it’s flat straight plywood a decent

grade of plywood is recommended here but

you can find those at your local home

store it’s usually called sanded Birch

or something like that now once you get

those two pieces glued up you’re going

to leave those to the side and you’re

going to work on the base the base is

literally whatever size tabletop you

have on your table saw so for me I made

mine to fit the saw stop but you can

make these for the job site saws as well

just depends on your tabletop size just

make it close to that tabletop size it

should be good to go from there you’re

just going to cut out a couple of strips

that fit in the te- slots of your table

saw so most of them are about 3/4 in

wide but you want to make sure those fit

it’s best to use hardwood here or the

uhmw plastic that you can buy online as

well I use hardwood for mine all you

have to do is set those in your taable

saw slots put a little CA glue or fast

drying glue and then set your ply wood

on top of it that’s going to match or

marry those two together and from there

you can pre-drill and screw those

Runners into the Bas to secure it just

make sure you don’t use screws that are

too long so it doesn’t break the top

once you have those attached you’re just

going to cut a slot raise the blade up

through there and cut a slot in this

plywood now don’t rip all the way to

each end or you just cut two pieces of

plywood in half and you don’t have a

sled you just got two pieces of plywood

before I attached the fence I took a

chamfer bit and I went ahead and put a

small chamfer on the bottom that way on

the bottom inside that way that you

don’t get any wood duster chips that

clock up the area there I just use a

frame and square to kind of get this

close we’re fixing to square this up

using the 5 cut method but to get it

close that’s really all you need to do

just get it close on the right side I

went ahead and put a screw in to attach

this permanently but on the left side

I’m just using a quick clamp to hold it

in place once you get it pretty close

using the clamp just went ahead and

attached that with the screw now on my

system after I had the fence done and

the slot cut I went ahead and removed

this fence before I got it perfectly

square and I cut these dovetail slots in

there what’s that’s going to do is let

me use these dovetail clamps that way I

will be able to hold small parts as well

as have a miter fence that I can add to

this sled using the dovetail Hardware

you want to put these dovet tail grooves

in before you attach the fence so that

you can get them to the right spot

that’s why it’s important to Mark where

the fence was before you take it off on

this sled I added the mounts for the

handles and then I cut off any excess

from the back that I didn’t think was

necessary it’s going to reduce the

weight and it’s just going to make it a

little more usable then I went ahead and

attached this Back Fence that’s going to

give it a place to hold the two pieces

together when you cut the thing in half

and what’s holding this together is The

Back Fence and the fence closest to you

that way you don’t just have two pieces

of plywood flopping around now I’m going

to use the five cut method to get this

fence as Square as humanly possible in

my workshop anyway all you do here is

you’re taking a piece of scrap wood

that’s 10 or 12 Ines square-ish and then

you’re just going to start making cuts

and you’re going to rotate it a quarter

turn every cut for four cuts on the

fifth cut when you rotated that quarter

turn you’re going to basically cut a

slice off of this piece of wood you’ll

measure both ends and see how far out of

square you are and there’s a 5 cup

method calculator that I’ll drop in the

description that tells you your

tolerance and which way you need to move

things in this instance mine was 02 in

out so I use a fer gauge to move this 02

and that dialed it right in do the five

cup method again just to double check

things and once it’s as close as you

think you’ll ever need it it’s good it’s

good once I got this one died in it was

0.7 of an inch square that’s close

enough for me from there I’m just going

to use screws on the bottom side to lock

this in place to ensure that it never

moves now all left to complete this was

to mount the handles as well as put in

the TR trck on top of the fence standard

T trck standard 3/4 in wide slot this

gives me a place to use a stop block now

once this is built I literally never

have to build it again like it’s just

I’ve had this for well over a year maybe

a couple years and it’s just an

essential part of the wood shop that I

think every woodworker should have in

their Shop link below to the full build

video if you want to build one for

yourself as well as plans available for

this

project next on the list I think every

wood shops that have especially if you

don’t have a jointer or if you’re

building tapered legs is this it’s just

a small piece of plywood this is one of

the simplest jigs you’re going to build

again I’m using the matchfit system

because it works so well and because I

use it on my Crosscut sled I can use it

on this and it just makes everything

much easier and more cost effective to

keep using the same system this is again

this is 3/4 in plywood you can literally

build all of these jigs out of the same

sheet of plywood cut this about 3 four

5T long whatever you want this one’s 3T

long this works well for my table saw

all you do is take your dovet tail bit

and route down this length of this about

2 inches from the end and then from

there you’ll just divide out five of

these dovet tail grooves to go across

the grain this allows you to Joint the

edges of boards and cut tapers if you

need to do that and it’s using the match

fit system so everything’s nice and

secure in there you want to be careful

not let the clamp stick out the edge of

this because of the way it rides close

to that blade you don’t want to hit the

blade with one of those clamps it’ll

damage your blade but under normal

circumstances just using it as a jointer

which most people will do just Edge

jointing boards this works awesome I

didn’t put a runner on the bottom of

mine to run down the slot I just let it

ride against the ring knife basically

every time I’ve never had any issues

with that you can do the same thing or

if you want it to run on that Runner you

can do it just like we did the Crosscut

sled and install a runner on the bottom

to run in your t-

slide the next jig I think you should

make especially if you have a miter saw

and you cut small parts is a miter saw

sled not even really a sled it’s more of

a faux table to set on top of your miter

saw what this does does is give you zero

clearance in the back as well as the

front so you can cut those small parts

safer and cleaner because it’s zero

clearance you’re getting less tear out

there all you have to do is measure the

width and the depth at 90° and then cut

a piece of plywood and/ or MDF depending

on what you want to use you can use same

plywood we’re using for the other Jigs

and cut that to size from there I cut

two small strips and glued them under

the back side touching the miter saw on

each side and that’s going to hold that

in place left and right from there I cut

a fence that’s about 3 in tall and just

see glued that to the back to

temporarily stick it in place next you

want to set the depth setting so that it

does not cut all the way through your

jig because you don’t want to cut again

if you cut this in half then you just

have two pieces setting side by side so

I set my depth setting to cut about an e

inch deep and just made that cut now you

can do 45s as well if you do a lot of 45

Cuts but if you just do 90° cuts for

small parts then I wouldn’t even cut the

45s what that’s going to do is give you

a zero clearance and it gives you an

exact spot where that blade is cutting

every single single time so it’s much

easier to line up your cuts and you’ll

get the same repetitive cut every time

making things more accurate and for

small parts this is where this is

specifically needed because if you’re

trying to cut small parts on a MIT saw

if you’ve ever tried to you know that

the fences Don’t Come Close Enough

together so when you try to cut that

small AP it has a tendency to try to

roll back with the blade I’ve done this

and it scared me it literally broke my

thumb doing it because of the kickback

it’s just dangerous and unnecessary when

you can build something so simple in

about five or 10 minutes this just keeps

everything nice and safe and then if you

pair that with a million dooll stick to

hold those things down this is a great

way to cut those small parts not a lot

of people have a handsaw to be able to

cut these accurately square and to

length every time so this is one of the

better methods I found of course you

could also do this on the cross cut sled

cutting very small parts but if you’re

using the mitol lot this will be a handy

jig for

you before we get to this handy little

Jewel let me tell you about the planer

sled now if you have a planer and you

have have a board that’s Twisted this is

the best way I found to get the twist

out of that board again very simple 3/4

in piece of plywood as wide as your

planer is so this instance mine’s 13 in

wide I’ve got a board that’s about 12 in

or so wide doesn’t have to be exact just

close and then you’re just going to glue

and screw a little strip on one end to

keep that from basically keep the planer

from pulling the board off of your sled

the only thing you need to make sure

here is that that plywood is nice and

straight and flat once you have that

done all you have to do is put your

board on there shim it up so that it’s

not rocking once you have it shimmed

you’re going to run that through the

planer make sure you run the cleat side

in other words the board you put on the

end first because that planer is wan to

pull that board that way and just run it

through until you have the same surface

all the way across this is going to

flatten that one side from there you’re

just going to flip the board over start

running that through until the other

side is parallel to the bottom side you

got two parallel sides and you remove

the Twist from that board with a very

very simple jig that anyone can make

let show you this jig but I got one

bonus for you if you stick around now

this is for the router table this is one

of the safest best ways I’ve ever found

to cut across the grain or cut slots or

anything like that in your wood this jig

idea was given to me from my friend Mike

at Tay tools.com I highly recommend you

check him out you’re going to take a

piece of plywood and cut it 10 in square

this is 10 in by 10 in then you just

need a piece of plywood that’s 2 and 1/2

in tall 11 in long I drill two one half

in holes in each Corner That’s The Jig

now if you’re using the router table and

you’re trying to cut basically a narrow

piece cut a Groove across that in this

instance I was trying to cut a dovetail

Groove across the grain or across the

width of the board this board’s only

about 3 or 4 in wide if you tried to do

that without this jig there’s no support

for it so there’s no way to hold that

perfectly Square now with this jig

you’re going to put it up against the

fence of your router table set that

distance that you’re going to want to

cut that Groove away from the end and

then this gives that support it’s going

to do two things one it’s going to keep

it from rocking and two it’s going to

keep it from tearing out when you finish

that cut because if you don’t have

anything back there supporting it a lot

of times you’ll get blowout or tear out

there this is one of the simplest jigs

to make your router table much much

safer now there’s a thin rip jig for the

table saw that I’ve recommended multiple

times this is one of the handiest jigs

you can have especially if you’re

cutting very thin strips and where this

comes in handy for me is I’m I’m putting

trim on say like my miter station or

even this workbench and I need to cut

thin strips to go around certain things

this is really really handy to have it

cuts very accurate it’s very easy to use

and it’s not very expensive I’ll drop a

link in description below to all these

builds for step-by-step guides on how to

build these jigs as well as plans

available for the ones that I have I

made some awesome featherboard jigs you

can check out right there click in the

Box to get you the big old virtual fist

bump or if you want to watch a cross cut

sled build go ahead and check that out

right there