Clarke CDJ2 Universal Dowelling Jig Set

Brilliant bit of kit. Have used on two DIY projects (a new fire surround and a shadow box coffee table), and it's been simple to use and accurate. If you need to drill consistently accurate and aligned dowel holes this is indispensable.

Unbelievably useless as shipped. The upper six guide holes were all milled to an acceptable tolerance but the lower three (the clamp side) were all completely the wrong size and as sloppy as anything. The 8mm one looks like it might even have an inner bush missing. Either the quality control is abysmal or perhaps this product has been out before and someone has mullered the lower guide holes before sending it back. It was all sealed up within the box as new though.Needless to say that I've returned it to Amazon for refund as it is not fit for purpose and not of merchantable quality. You can see the slop in the 8mm bush from the angle the drill bits make against each other in the photos (it's about 7 degrees of total possible error) and, having not realised this when first trying it out, I ended up with about 7mm out of square over just 230mm of distance. I'll dismantle it, glue the dowels in all the holes, saw them flush and put new ones in a few centimetres along, using the Wolfcraft Dowelmaster I bought a few weeks ago but believed wasn't accurate enough. Dowelmaster is difficult to keep perfectly straight as it doesn't have the clamps that this does, but least the bushes are the right size for the drill bits so it's accurate when you hold it correctly.The Clarke jig lines up the holes perfectly along each piece, and I'd probably buy this style of doweling jig again as long as it is from a shop where I can check the precision milling of the bushes before buying it. Overall, it's a case of buy cheap, buy twice (or thrice in my case as the Dowelmaster isn't perfect either). I don't often get bad stuff from Amazon to be fair, whether it's fulfilled by them or not.

I bought this as I was working on a free standing shelf project need to joint panels with dowel. Mostly I use panel to corner application. Setting up is relatively easy. However as a caution use a piece of scrap wood as cushion as the clamp from the jig will sent the wood (pine in this case).When drilling on surface no issue there nice touch that it comes with depth stopping to mount on drill bit even the hex key for this purpose.HOWEVER, when drilling on the thin section 18mm board in this case. Tried both 6mm and 8mm hole but leading to damage of the panel face. As there is no adjustment to center the hole. The instruction said choose one closest to center line as possible. Due to this I rate this a 3 star. O think there are other jigs within the price range maybe better option (still to try.)Hope this helps.

The build quality is good and solid. However the product I received must have been returned by a previous purchaser who had used it as the guide holes had wood dust in them - it was dirty. Otherwise it seemed ok so I decided to keep it rather than go through the hassle of returning the product (I live in the countryside so returns are not too easy). My disappointment is that I contacted the supplier by email to explain the situation, including a photo of the dirty drill guides but they didn’t even bother to reply far less apologise.

Unless you have very specific thickness wood, it is rather difficult to align the holes correctly in the way the instructions say, I find. And accuracy is everything when joining boards with dowels, I'm afraid. It is not impossible to use, but in no ways is it a "great" product. In order to use it more accurately some thinkwork needs to be done as well as manual positioning (not using the simple "board on top of a board" approach as the tool instructions claim.Better jig sets exist.

Great idea behind this item but really need two to make things easier

References (A, B, C, etc) are to Clarke's own instructions.The clamp block (B) has a small clamp (D) that does not fit snugly into the backplate of the clamp block. It wobbles about. Nor does it engage lefty and right in the small recess in the clamp block. Moreover, the small clamp (D) is not drilled at at right angles resulting in the clamp meeting the workpiece at an angle.When tightening up this angle forces the work piece away from the back of the clamp block.Further, the nuts holding the spreading cups on both large (C) and small clamps (D) meet the work piece before the cups. The retaining nuts are too proud.

Haven’t used them yet, but I should work well