Adapted from Tips & Tricks by Ken Johnson (DocWheeler).
What Is A Carving Jig?
A carving jig is a constructed piece that holds your carving material in place while carving.
A carving jig should:
- Hold the material to be carved firmly in position and under the rollers.
- Have a bottom board that has parallel sides and a smooth bottom for the brass tracking sensor.
- Have a uniform top surface for the compression rollers to grab upon.
Why Would I Use A Carving Jig?
A carving jig is used for many reasons, such as:
- Board too thin to run through CarveWright by itself
- Board is too narrow to run through CarveWright by itself
- Irregular shaped board
- Stay under rollers without wasting 7″
- Repeatable project
Jig Terms
We should get familiar with a few terms we will be using to describe jig construction.
Carrier Board – This is simply a board that is placed under the carving material to run along the belts and tracking roller.
Rails – These are side pieces that either add width, help hold carving material in place, or maintain roller support.
Filler Pieces – The 7′ rule dictates that we should maintain a 3.5″ margin on either end of our project boards, but if we don’t want to waste this extra wood, these 3.5″ pieces could be filled with filler pieces.
Sled – A sled is simply a Carrier Board with filler pieces and Rails mounted to the sides and flush with the bottom of the Carrier Board, or on top of the Carrier Board. This is different from a scanning sled. Find information about scanning sleds here.
Examples of Jig Plans
Purchase the plans for this Universal Carrier Jig from the CarveWright Pattern Depot.
Examples Of Other Jigs
