
Make dovetails as if you owned a CNC wood milling machine, using this solid, well-designed tool!
Make accurate, tight-fitting dovetails with a heavy-duty router.
Work faster.
Cut a mortise and tenon in minutes.
Work smarter.
Cut dovetails, even on compound angles and make stronger connections with ease. Inch Scales and Block or Sliding fences FOR EASY SET-UP, WITH EVERY SYSTEM
Work safer.
Router locks onto the guide plate, preventing kick-back if you hit a knot. MORE Safety: TOP-MOUNTED DUST DEFLECTOR, WITH EVERY SYSTEM!
SAFETY NOTE:
LIGNATOOL features two, now three very important safety features that no other competitive product ever even dreamt of.
1. The Lignatool milling bit is built not with 12mm, but with a 20 mm shank, (bigger than 3/4"!), which is an absolute must to withstand rated 24,000 rpm that most routers run at. It fastens straight onto router shaft end. No adapter required.
2. When milling into any wood, especially knotty material, it is possible for kick-back to knock an unsecured router off its path. At worst, you may be injured. If you're lucky, you only damage the bit, the template, or the piece you are working on.
This is NOT a problem with the LIGNATOOL. Lignatool LOCKS THE ROUTER SECURELY and SAFELY into a guide plate. The guide plate easily leads the router in any direction around the template until the tenon or mortise is completed.
3. Lignatool sovetail kits include a top-mounted vertical dust deflector, OPTIONAL: Horizontal shield.
How to mill a Dovetail Mortise and Tenon
1. Mount tenon template with clamps or wood screws
2. Adjust the milling depth on the router with the setting gauge, on the tenon template ONLY.
3. Set tenon length with set levers on fence. Position router into guide plate with a 90° rotation
4. Mill the tenon, with the router securely locked into guide plate
The tenon is done.
Now mill the mortise »
5. Define the length of the mortise, adjust the mortise template scale with set levers on fence.
6. Fasten mortise template with clamps or wood screws
7. Position router into guide plate with a 90° rotation
8. Mill the mortise, with the router securely locked into guide plate
9. Done! With a slight tenon-to-mortise overlap that is pounded downward for a secure, tight fit. Simple, fast and precise, a superb wood-to-wood connection.
What you can do with the Lignatool template system - Project Examples:
1. Cutting a compound wood-to-wood connection
2. Cutting joists for a floor system in just 3 days.
This is from a TimberTools customer. With the templates and a heavy-duty router, he fitted floor joists by cutting dovetails with the templates.
He thought it would take him several WEEKS, but he finished his multi-story floor system in just 3 DAYS.
Note the "thumbs up" in the last picture.




3. Below: Examples of work by Lignatool customers.

4. Examples of joinery possible with the Lignatool







A Close-up Look
The sliding track in the base plate, from which the fence is adjusted, defining the dovetail length.
Angle and height adjustable fence - allows you to cut compound angles repeatedly. The small bottom lever locks the angle adjustment plate, which serves also as the fence for the adjustment of the length of the dovetail. The large lever on the top is the locking lever for the dovetail height fence, which slides up and down in the sliding track of the base plate.
Side fence - Sliding side fence, mounted on the adjustable stop fence, used in repeated work where the position relative to the side of the timber is the same from one dovetail to the next. It can be mounted on left or right.
What you can do with Lignatool Dovetail Mortise and Tenon Templates
Make tight dovetail joints without gaps.
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For visible connections or exterior use
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Eliminate sqeaks in floor joists.
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Join hip or valley rafters.
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Make complicated connections where only steel would normally do.
Make 15 connections / hour
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Easily produce 15 connections per hour by using LignaTool's smart clamping accessories.
Requires heavy-duty router 2000 Watts or higher
Use with almost any cross section of wood
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Mill cross sections from 2" x 2 ” to 8" x 14” with the same template.
Cut wet timber.
Rout in any direction from any side, left or right.
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The system permits you to allow for quality and grain direction of the wood for the cleanest tear-free milling.
Repeat clamping quickly with additional side fence
Cut compound angles repeatedly using angle adjustable fence.
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Movable in 2 directions to 51°, important when cutting rafter/purlins
Adjust fence in infinite increments.
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Tenon height can be set at any position, which is important for compound angles.
Mill to different depths.
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Change ball-bearing collar rings to achieve different mill depths, important when joining dimensional lumber. (Ask for more information)
Mill at different milling angles.
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Use 8° or 15° router mill bits
Use reversible, quick-change replaceable blades.
Use anywhere: in the workshop or on site.
Four Dovetail Shapes, Four Pitches to match timber width
Regardless which pitch you need for your first job, you can buy the other base plates by themselves later, without buying a whole other kit. The other components of the kit will work with all the base plates.
Exception: LT 180 template is of larger overall size.

Regardless of which version you buy, you can always add individual components later as you need them.
Other Parts and Accessories Available Separately
Upgrade your Lignatool. In addition to the parts listed and priced in our store below, the following items can be purchased separately. Please contact us directly to order:
Side fence for repeatable side positioning - can be mounted on left or right.
Clip on dust shield
Depth setting gauge
Router guide with router base plate
Compatible Heavy-Duty Routers
Lignatool requires a heavy-duty router. We have tested Lignatool with the following routers and have found them compatible. Save $100 when you buy a Scheer router together with the Lignatool Dovetail Mortise and Tenon Templates.
CUSTOMER NOTE:
Often we get asked whether their heaviest-duty "XYZ" router make will work with the Lignatool system. We can state categorically it will not. Only if you already own one of the 4 makes we mention in our pages, can you be assured they have the initial power to force through 1” deep material, in one pass. Only the Scheer and Mafell routers have the sustaining power to keep working continually.
Therefore if you plan on using the Lignatool system often, it pays to consider the sustainability of the router at 1" cutting depth. The others are "Commercial" duty routers who have the initial power, but do not have the sustaining power.
We will include a router plate to match one of these routers (Mafell LO65, Festool 2300, Scheer HM25, Makita 2301). When ordering, please specify the make of your router.
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Festool OF 2000 Router (110V)
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Festool OF 2200 Router
(Contact your dealer to purchase)
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