Shelving Jig

For a few years I have been using a homemade jig to drill the holes for shelf pins. That method worked well but the holes eventually wore out a little after several projects. The jig that I made was made of ¾” melamine which was durable but bulky when trying to move around and clamp in position. This did not give me an option to index the jig consistently. Since the jig was ¾” thick and made of wood sometimes I would miss a hole or two and not notice until I removed the jig. At this point it took everything I had to try and make sure that the hole that I missed was drilled where it needed to be. I had a few projects coming up where I was going to need to drill lots of shelf holes. At this point I wanted to make sure that I had consistency in my holes so that the shelves were level with no wobbling from front to back or side to side. I decided to purchase the JIG IT shelving Jig from Rockler.

I have used the Jig on a few projects now and have found it to be very useful and accurate in drilling shelf holes. Using the jig in combination with the self centering bit provided I was able to accurately drill many holes quickly. One of the features that I really enjoy is the ability to index the jig in a shelf hole when moving the jig up or down to drill more holes. The jig also gives you the ability to drill holes at two different distances from the edge. The jig is light weight and easy to clamp to the project which makes it easy to use. The template is clear so that you can see the holes being drilled and work piece you are drilling into and make sure that you do not miss drilling any of the holes. Even if you do miss a hole it is no big deal with this jig because you can index the jig in one of the other holes with a shelf pin and be confident the hole is where it needs to be for your project.

If you are thinking about building a bookcase or shelf I would highly recommend that you purchase this jig for your project. You will not be disappointed with the end result you get. If you are able to get this jig on sale you can’t beat the price.