If we’ve learned one thing with our chicken coop adventures, it’s that jigs are important–no, required. A jig, or a form, or whatever you want to call it, is something you create which makes creating other things easier (like a machine tool–a tool that creates other tools). We’ve created jigs that help us to create perfect right angles. Jigs for making cutting biscuits in miters easier. Devices that hold wood in place for cutting. And so on. These are tools we make ourselves which make making so much easier. Since we want to sell our coops, it’s critical that we be able to assemble them as quickly as possible. That requires jigs.

Here’s an example of something that’s not quite a jig, but that saves time in my shop. It’s a simple device.

I use it to hold longer pieces of lumber, when I’m cutting stuff with my miter saw. Here’s a wider view:

It allows me to handle an 8′ piece of lumber without having it sag off the ends of my saw. You can buy commercial stuff, but mine was cheap–and it clamps to my bench, so I can take it off when not cutting longs stuff. That metal rod was something from an old printer! I said it was cheap.

At the time I was cutting 2x4s for my saw horses, which I now use to hold my router table (perfectly!). Here are the legs during the assembly process:

Why buy saw horses when you can make them? Mine took me a few hours to make, and taught me more about how to use my tools. Plus, they are solid, so I can kick the crap out of them. More than I can say about most plastic stuff!