Every wood shop has its tools. But, sometimes the tools that you buy still won't do the job you need them to do. For that reason, building jigs is often the only solution. A jig is anything you build that will make a process work successfully. Usually, it is a way to hold a piece of wood while it is being shaped, either by hand or by machine. Jigs come in all shapes and sizes, and they tend to be one woodworker's design. But, one can often look through print or online resources and get great ideas from others to help solve a problem. I find that if I build a jig, taking my time to think it through, design it carefully, and build it well and accurately, it can often serve for many years and well beyond the original use for which it was intended. Let me show you some jigs that I have built for various jobs. These are by no means all the jigs I have made!      (click on images to enlarge) I often build a prototype of something, and even jigs can have prototypes. This is a project I am playing with, a sashimono meditation [...]