I am passionate about buying well-designed quality tools that will last a lifetime. The Carver’s Jig by Kelton Industries is a perfect example of such a tool. 

I bought this carver’s jig around five years ago and have progressively used it more and more as more of my work has included carved or textured elements.

First impressions

The first impression you get with this carver’s jig (as for all the Kelton’s tools) is how solidly it is made. Weighing in at a little over 5 kg you get an idea of its solid construction.

Construction and function

The key component of the Kelton carver’s jig is the very solidly made ball joint that gives the piece you’re working on an ability to be repositioned with the release of a single knob. 

This ball joint is attached directly to a solid hexagon-shaped bar which can be held in your vice, the banjo of your lathe or in its own base accessory. This is the second key point that I really love about this carver’s jig: how easily I can attach it to different parts of my workbench and, most importantly, then adjust the height of the jig to accommodate different sized pieces I’m working on. Having the work at the right height makes a massive difference to how comfortable you are after an hour of carving. 

With these adjustments, it gives you an amazing range of movement in both the angle of the work and also the height. 

With its solid construction, when you lock it in place that’s exactly where it stays which is an absolute must as the last thing you want when you are using hand chisels or power carving is to have the piece vibrate under you, or flex every time you strike the chisel with the mallet. 

You’ll see in some of the photos that I have attached the mounting base to a piece of timber which just speeds up the ability to clamp it in place where I want it and then also remove it from my workbench when not in use.

Negative point?

If I’m looking for negative points, the only one I can find would be that the grub screw that holds the different inserts in place occasionally works loose and needs to be re-tightened. (I ended up fixing this with a little “Loctite”). That’s really it, it’s seriously hard to fault the design of this carver’s jig.

The only other negative I have heard about it is that it can be hard to get hold of. But, if you’re serious about your carving and quality tools, I would recommend you contact your local woodworking/woodturning supplier to see if they can get hold of one for you.

More info

For more details have a look at their website 

https://www.kelton.co.nz/Kelton%20Carvers%20Jig.html