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PORTER-CABLE Dovetail Jig, Deluxe, 12-Inch (4212)

4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 407 ratings

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Color Multi
Brand PORTER-CABLE
Size One Size
Material Blend
Item Weight 25 Pounds

About this item

  • 12IN DELUXE DOVETAIL JIG
  • 12IN DELUXE DOVETAIL JIG
  • 12IN DELUXE DOVETAIL JIG
  • 12IN DELUXE DOVETAIL JIG
  • 12IN DELUXE DOVETAIL JIG
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Customer ratings by feature

Accuracy
4.3 4.3
Easy to use
3.9 3.9
Instruction quality
3.7 3.7

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PORTER-CABLE Dovetail Jig, Deluxe, 12-Inch (4212)
PORTER-CABLE Dovetail Jig, Deluxe, 12-Inch (4212)
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PriceCurrently unavailable.$134.97$132.79$399.00$769.00
Delivery
Get it as soon as Sunday, Mar 31
Get it as soon as Sunday, Mar 31
Get it Apr 4 - 8
Get it Mar 29 - Apr 1
Customer Ratings
Accuracy
4.3
4.7
4.4
4.7
Easy to use
3.9
4.6
4.3
4.2
Sold By
Peachtree Woodworking Supply Inc
Amazon.com
Rockler Woodworking and Hardware
Rockler Woodworking and Hardware
material
Blend, Blend, Blend, Blend, Blend
Aluminum
Blend, Blend, Blend, Blend, Blend
Aluminum
Aluminum
style
Dovetail Jig Only
Classic
Modern
Modern
Modern
target species
Wood
Dovetail
Dovetail
Dovetail
number of pieces
1
1
1
1
1
weight
25 pounds
1 pounds
14.15 pounds
22.07 pounds

Product information

Technical Details

Additional Information

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PORTER-CABLE Dovetail Jig, Deluxe, 12-Inch (4212)


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Product Description

Product Description

PORTER CABLE 4212 12IN DELUXE DOVETAIL JIG

Amazon.com



Ideal for woodworking, furniture and cabinet making, the Porter Cable 4212 12-inch dovetail jig kit enables cutting a wide variety of joinery for drawers, boxes, and furniture. This package includes a template 4211 for half-blind, rabbeted half-blind and sliding dovetails and the 4213 template for through dovetails and box joints.



Durable, single-piece steel base design requires no assembly (view larger).

Able to accommodate stock from 1/4 to 1-1/8 inches thick, this jig's heavy-duty cam-type clamps with sandpaper-backed locking bars provide a firm grip of wood. On-board instructions provide clear user guidance for the various applications and machined aluminum templates provide superior cutting accuracy and long-term durability. Its router bit depth gauge allows users to set bit depths without measuring and its durable, single-piece steel base design requires no assembly and allows clamping or bolting directly to the work bench.

Warranty

This Porter-Cable tool is backed by three-year limited warranty covering any defects due to faulty materials or workmanship (from the date of purchase). It's also covered by Porter-Cable's one-year free service contract, where Porter-Cable will maintain the tool and replace worn parts caused by normal use--for free.

What's in the Box

Porter-Cable 4212 dovetail jig combination kit with jig base; two templates (4211 and 4213); two router bits (43776PC and 43743PC); two template guides ( 42040 and 42046); two lock nuts; wrench; operating instructions





Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
407 global ratings

Customers say

Customers like the quality, value, appearance and performance of the fishing hook. For example, they mention it's well made, produces attractive and professional looking joints and that it'll make the job easy. That said, opinions are mixed on ease of use and tightness.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

102 customers mention100 positive2 negative

Customers are satisfied with the quality of the fishing hook. They mention that it is a well-made unit, solid, and excellent. The jig makes the job easy and came out great. Some say that the instructions are not great, but the jive is fairly easy to set up and produces fair to excellent results. Overall, most are happy with their purchase and recommend it to others.

"...PS. Worked great with Ply wood, a few fractures here and there, but simply sandwiching the vertically hanging piece with sacrificial piece prevents..." Read more

"...in general, good instructions.... not great instructions, and very good repeatability. I hope to make this useful to me in the future." Read more

"...A nice touch is a built into template stop for setting the router bit depth, you set it up once and it makes adjusting router depth very easier next..." Read more

"...As always Amazon was very speedy in shipping.The jig itself is killer. I skimmed the manual the night I got it...." Read more

44 customers mention44 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the value of the fishing hook. They say it is a good product at a reasonable price, and complete, requiring no additional purchases. Customers also mention that it is well made and useful.

"...So, we have reasonable price, very good quality in general, good instructions.... not great instructions, and very good repeatability...." Read more

"...I really love the 4212. It is complete and you have to buy absolutely nothing...." Read more

"...With a bit of practice it's easy to use and accurate. Well worth the money...." Read more

"...same as one of the $500 units, but for the price, I think it is a very good deal, particularly if you compare it to others in the "under $150 range"." Read more

29 customers mention26 positive3 negative

Customers like the appearance of the dovetail cutter. They mention that it produces extremely attractive and solid joints, has good design, and quality. It's a great tool to make professional looking joints, and produces a very tight, beautiful join. Customers also appreciate the nicely designed assist to set the depth of the cutter, which works. They say that the drawers they make came out real nice.

"...bits and the template guides they give you in the pack, produces extremely attractive and solid joints...." Read more

"...I did use a fronter board to prevent tear out and got a very nice looking joint out of it...." Read more

"...- but I do know that it will cut a basic dovetail that looks great in literally a few seconds, once it's been set up properly, and that's good..." Read more

"...This PC jig is well designed and easier to use than most on the market, but don't think you will be able to make perfect dovetails on the first try..." Read more

16 customers mention16 positive0 negative

Customers like the performance of the dovetail joints. They say it's simple, quick, and relatively easy to set up. Customers also say it is a great time saver, and a real value. They mention that it took them about 30 minutes to read, set-up, and cut their first dove tail tails and pins. They also say that the learning curve is short, and making repeated cuts goes really quickly.

"...up and alignment functions, cutting/fitting dovetail joints is simple, quick, and relatively easy...." Read more

"...basic dovetails (full, half-blind, or dado) this thing is a major time-saver and produces a very tight, beautiful join...." Read more

"...In any event, the learning curve is short...." Read more

"...settings and alignments were very easy, accurate and accomplished in about 30 seconds each...." Read more

11 customers mention8 positive3 negative

Customers like the depth settings of the fishing hook. They say the bit depth adjustment guide is very helpful, and the adjustments are simple but precise. They also say it makes adjusting router depth very easy the next time they use the jig. Some say the adjusting settings and alignments are very easy, accurate, and accomplished in about 30 seconds each. The settings stay set, and are a pleasure to use.

"...and variable dovetail spacing, have good dust collection, hold settings well, are pleasure to use, but they take much more room and really are..." Read more

"...This along with the bit depth adjustment guide is very helpful...." Read more

"...Depth settings and alignments were very easy, accurate and accomplished in about 30 seconds each...." Read more

"...I will say that I find the bit depth gauge to be a little cheesy, just being the plastic top of a thumbscrew, but when the time comes that it gets..." Read more

9 customers mention9 positive0 negative

Customers are satisfied with the accuracy of the woodworking tool. They mention that it's easy to use, and produces accurate joints time after time. The offset guides work well at aligning the boards.

"...With a bit of practice it's easy to use and accurate. Well worth the money...." Read more

"...The offset guides work well at aligning the boards...." Read more

"...Once set up, it makes accurate joints time after time...." Read more

"I am impressed with the dove tail jig. It is robust and a precise tool. Once it is figured out, it is amazing...." Read more

134 customers mention85 positive49 negative

Customers are mixed about the ease of use of the fishing hook. Some mention that the manual is clear and concise, making it easy to learn to use it. However, others say that the instructions are poor, hard to follow, and fuzzy. They also mention that it's not easy at first and takes a lot of practice.

"...It's not perfect, but it's so simple, so useful, and does such a good job, it's hard to get upset at minor flaws...." Read more

"...So, we have reasonable price, very good quality in general, good instructions.... not great instructions, and very good repeatability...." Read more

"...And fence is a pain to set up (and it marries the jig to one particular router)...." Read more

"...Very simple and easy to use. All in all this jig is not in the same league as the Leigh but it doesn't cost $700 either...." Read more

28 customers mention11 positive17 negative

Customers are mixed about the tightness of the fishing hook. Some mention that their first dovetail joint was very snug and well fit, while others say that the box joints aren't as snug as they thought they would be. They also say that they have issues with alignment and the manufacturing tolerances are too loose to make this a precision product.

"...It was a little tight, so I looked at the router bit depth instructions printed on the jig and it advised to slightly raise the bit and try again...." Read more

"...* Super easy. My first dovetail joint was very snug, clean, (see the images), well fit successful and it took me about 20 minutes to understand the..." Read more

"...Also, it's difficult to tell how evenly you adjust both sides (right and left) since they're not tracked to slide together.--..." Read more

"...The bit adjustment stops are a little flimsy and you have to be careful and not to flex them, but they do work well if you are careful...." Read more

Not "perfect", but dang it makes nice dovetails.
5 Stars
Not "perfect", but dang it makes nice dovetails.
In building a large workshop / workbench setup for my...workshop...my design called for 19 drawers of various sizes. I elected to use 1/2" Baltic birch plywood for the drawer sides (some of them are very deep and solid was cost prohibitive), and because I was intending to build this to actually last an perhaps even improve the value of my house, I decided I wanted to dovetail them. Oh how neat it would be to learn to make dovetails by hand, then realizing I had almost 80 joints to make...I scrapped that idea and looked for a jig.Other jigs I've looked at are either really cheaply made, and end up with horrendously looking joints that are either too loose, too tight, messed up, don't fit etc. -OR- they're super crazy expensive and are for professional furniture builders to make their joints look all artistic. So I arrived here...I bought the Porter Cable dovetail jig based on it's consistently and overwhelmingly positive reviews here and other places around the internet. I took a chance, and dang, this jig is incredible. I've cranked out 16 half-blind dovetail joints so far (photo of a few of them), and a LOT of practice joints while dialing in exactly how tight I wanted them to fit. If you're on the fence about this one, this jig makes dovetailing about as simple as it gets. Now with my process understood and underway, I can get through about drawer's worth of joints in ~15 minutes including setup.Pros:* Robust build (for the most part): Everything feels solid, except for the little bolts that the clamp pressure knobs ride on. Luckily these are a common hex head bolt, in case they get bent from trying to apply to much clamping force.* The templates are very high quality machined surfaces, and leave almost no wiggle when the correct template adapter is fit in there. My dovetail joints can be "need-a-hammer" tight if I want them to be.* On that...when the joints are too tight, there are little reminders on the side that help you remember what to do to adjust the jig to loosen them up...without needing to bust out the instruction manual.* Quality joints. This thing, along with the bits and the template guides they give you in the pack, produces extremely attractive and solid joints. Test fitting can sometimes be a one-way street. Good luck getting them apart. If you add glue, well the wood will break before the joint does.Non-pro Tip: Have a deadblow hammer on hand, because sometimes despite your best efforts and setup, the joints will need a little convincing to go together :)* Super easy. My first dovetail joint was very snug, clean, (see the images), well fit successful and it took me about 20 minutes to understand the process before I had tested out a few things and was into making my first drawer. Just take your time, work on one drawer at time and one dovetail joint at a time, and MARK YOUR PIECES BEFORE STARTING because it can get a little confusing.Cons:* The instructions...oh gosh what a mess. But then again being an engineer myself, it IS pretty tough to write simple instructions on a relatively complex setup, so I can understand this (a little). As an alternative, just watch a couple YouTube videos on this and you'll be set.* The adjustable bit depth knobs are plastic and unless the bits are dropped in/out perfectly vertically, these will get cut up very fast (mine already are). I suppose if these were metal it would dull the bit, but there soft plastic seems like the wrong choice as the reference surface won't last long. Also, on this, the design doesn't leave much vertical space to fit a wrench in there to adjust the backup nut, a little extra would help.Conclusion:For what I paid for this jig, (~$150) this is a no-brainer. It's not perfect, but it's so simple, so useful, and does such a good job, it's hard to get upset at minor flaws.PS. Worked great with Ply wood, a few fractures here and there, but simply sandwiching the vertically hanging piece with sacrificial piece prevents tear outs from becoming a big issue.
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Top reviews from the United States

Reviewed in the United States on March 28, 2016
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5.0 out of 5 stars Not "perfect", but dang it makes nice dovetails.
Reviewed in the United States on March 28, 2016
In building a large workshop / workbench setup for my...workshop...my design called for 19 drawers of various sizes. I elected to use 1/2" Baltic birch plywood for the drawer sides (some of them are very deep and solid was cost prohibitive), and because I was intending to build this to actually last an perhaps even improve the value of my house, I decided I wanted to dovetail them. Oh how neat it would be to learn to make dovetails by hand, then realizing I had almost 80 joints to make...I scrapped that idea and looked for a jig.

Other jigs I've looked at are either really cheaply made, and end up with horrendously looking joints that are either too loose, too tight, messed up, don't fit etc. -OR- they're super crazy expensive and are for professional furniture builders to make their joints look all artistic. So I arrived here...

I bought the Porter Cable dovetail jig based on it's consistently and overwhelmingly positive reviews here and other places around the internet. I took a chance, and dang, this jig is incredible. I've cranked out 16 half-blind dovetail joints so far (photo of a few of them), and a LOT of practice joints while dialing in exactly how tight I wanted them to fit. If you're on the fence about this one, this jig makes dovetailing about as simple as it gets. Now with my process understood and underway, I can get through about drawer's worth of joints in ~15 minutes including setup.

Pros:
* Robust build (for the most part): Everything feels solid, except for the little bolts that the clamp pressure knobs ride on. Luckily these are a common hex head bolt, in case they get bent from trying to apply to much clamping force.
* The templates are very high quality machined surfaces, and leave almost no wiggle when the correct template adapter is fit in there. My dovetail joints can be "need-a-hammer" tight if I want them to be.
* On that...when the joints are too tight, there are little reminders on the side that help you remember what to do to adjust the jig to loosen them up...without needing to bust out the instruction manual.
* Quality joints. This thing, along with the bits and the template guides they give you in the pack, produces extremely attractive and solid joints. Test fitting can sometimes be a one-way street. Good luck getting them apart. If you add glue, well the wood will break before the joint does.

Non-pro Tip: Have a deadblow hammer on hand, because sometimes despite your best efforts and setup, the joints will need a little convincing to go together :)

* Super easy. My first dovetail joint was very snug, clean, (see the images), well fit successful and it took me about 20 minutes to understand the process before I had tested out a few things and was into making my first drawer. Just take your time, work on one drawer at time and one dovetail joint at a time, and MARK YOUR PIECES BEFORE STARTING because it can get a little confusing.

Cons:
* The instructions...oh gosh what a mess. But then again being an engineer myself, it IS pretty tough to write simple instructions on a relatively complex setup, so I can understand this (a little). As an alternative, just watch a couple YouTube videos on this and you'll be set.
* The adjustable bit depth knobs are plastic and unless the bits are dropped in/out perfectly vertically, these will get cut up very fast (mine already are). I suppose if these were metal it would dull the bit, but there soft plastic seems like the wrong choice as the reference surface won't last long. Also, on this, the design doesn't leave much vertical space to fit a wrench in there to adjust the backup nut, a little extra would help.

Conclusion:
For what I paid for this jig, (~$150) this is a no-brainer. It's not perfect, but it's so simple, so useful, and does such a good job, it's hard to get upset at minor flaws.

PS. Worked great with Ply wood, a few fractures here and there, but simply sandwiching the vertically hanging piece with sacrificial piece prevents tear outs from becoming a big issue.
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31 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on June 6, 2011
3 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on October 13, 2015
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4.0 out of 5 stars A Very Good Tool
Reviewed in the United States on October 13, 2015
I needed to build a few pieces of furniture with multiple draws and wanted to do it right and join drawer fronts to drawer sides by way of half blind dovetails. Already owning a router it seemed natural to go the dovetail router jig route. So here I went on a journey of researching and trying dovetail jigs.

To make a long story short – there are, basically, 3 varieties on the market now. The least expensive jigs all look and work the same (and all are built in China) and follow “Woodstock International” design where tails and pins are cut in one pass, dovetail template is attached to the drawer front clamp and router front to back movement is limited by the fence against which router base rides. You can buy a jig like that at Harbor Freight, at Rockler and in many places online. Manufacturing tolerances and quality control vary greatly and all those jigs have two major design flaws. Template, being attached to horizontal clamp moves front to end ever so slightly when drawer front is clamped down, this throws joint depth settings off every time. And fence is a pain to set up (and it marries the jig to one particular router). One can waste tons of scrap and spend a day to set such jug up and still get sub par joints at the end. On another end of the spectrum are most expensive jigs, they cost from $500 and up, allow for multiple templates and variable dovetail spacing, have good dust collection, hold settings well, are pleasure to use, but they take much more room and really are geared towards high volume production environment. Also, what hobbyist has that much money to spend on just one infrequently used tool anyway? Porter – Cable 4200 series dovetail jigs nicely fit somewhere in the middle.

I bought 4212 jig just because I wanted an ability to make through dovetails in the future but everything in this review applies to 4210 (one template short) and 4216 (one extra template). I ordered my jig from Amazon, received it quickly, it was packaged well (note that some parts are shipped UNDER the Styrofoam so be thorough when unpacking). It did not require assembly, just some initial setup and adjustments. Front and side drawer parts are easier to align here then when using above mentioned cheap jigs due to the fact that side and top stops are one stepped piece. A nice touch is a built into template stop for setting the router bit depth, you set it up once and it makes adjusting router depth very easier next time you use the jig. The template has a clear visible mark to help align it with drawer parts. Front to back router movement is limited by template, - so no fence to fiddle with. Everything is high quality and seems was built to last. Router bits and template bushings are included with the jig making it a complete package, which is a plus.

I noticed one troubling fact, though, – when clamping vertically drawer side the drawer side top tilts a bit which causes its top to move 1/64 to 1/32 of an inch which could affect the result joint. I first added a support under the jig front so that drawer side bottom rests on it to prevent tilting, then I decided to move the vertical clamp ½ of an inch up. I did not tap drilled ¼ inch holes for bolts on which clamp are secured – I used spring washers and nuts. That solved the problem of drawer sides tilting completely even when clamping short scraps for testing the cut.

I also figured out a way to use Rockler dovetail jig dust collection attachment. It required taking dust attachment brush off, cutting the plastic tabs on the brush sides off, gluing the brush permanently to the attachment top, cutting squares from the upper sides of dust attachment to allow for jig template handles to clear and drilling holes so that dust attachment could be mounted on the front clamp bolts under the front clamp. I replaced front clamp bolts with longer ones (5 and ½ inches), replaced small sandpaper strip on the dust attachment with a larger sandpaper sheet and had to buy spacers to install under template handles so that they could clear the attachment (“Everbilt 3/8 in x ½ in Steel Spacers” – part 369 974 from Home Depot). As you can see in the pictures it all fit well and works very effectively removing I would say 80% of wooden chips. If only Porter – Cable started making their own dust collector, I am sure this accessory would be in very high demand. So at the end I made the drawers and now I have a finely tuned dovetail jig for many future projects.

Thank you, Porter – Cable!
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43 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Terry E
5.0 out of 5 stars Worth every penny
Reviewed in Canada on April 2, 2016
3 people found this helpful
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Chris
5.0 out of 5 stars Quality jig for clean dovetails
Reviewed in Canada on August 2, 2018
One person found this helpful
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cs
4.0 out of 5 stars easy to set up work pieces
Reviewed in Canada on March 18, 2016
Mirjam
1.0 out of 5 stars Worst customer support ever!
Reviewed in Canada on September 18, 2018
7 people found this helpful
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AJ
5.0 out of 5 stars Quick and easy dovetails and box joints.
Reviewed in Canada on June 17, 2015
5 people found this helpful
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