You could spend years perfecting the perfect dovetail joint or spend seconds with the best pocket hole jig and get the same result. Woodworking purists might not like them, but pocket holes are a brilliant way to achieve a strong, reliable join between two boards.
Clamping
One of the most important aspects of woodworking is making sure that your workpiece is properly secured with a separate clamp. Trying to use a pocket jig without clamping it properly to a work surface is difficult, and more importantly, dangerous.
The best pocket hole jig sets like the Kreg K4 come with a quick-release locking clamp that can be fine-tuned to hold the workpiece securely and squarely without much effort needed. Other jig sets can be secured with squeeze clamps or F clamps, but make sure you don’t cover up the all-important dust ports.
Drilling
Pocket hole drill bits aren’t like normal drill bits – in fact they look like they’re far too big for the task until you get a bit closer. The tip of the drill is stepped to create a narrow opening for the screw tip to fit in, while the bulk of the drill needs to be wide enough for the entire screw to pass through.
Pocket holes are great because they create a strong bond between two bits of wood, but they don’t work unless the hole you drill is at a precise depth, or you’d just drill straight through. To avoid this, you attach a collet to the drill bit at a certain depth according to the thickness of the board. What makes the Kreg pocket hole drill bits the best in the business is the etched markings for set depths of wood- it’s simple things like that that make them the best pocket hole jig sets you can buy.
Fasteners
In the same way that pocket hole jigs are specifically designed to let you drill at a precise angle, the fixings included with them are specially designed to pull the joints tight without tearing through the wood.
Unlike most woodworking screws that are self-countersinking, you don’t want the head of the screw to chew through the end of the pocket you’ve drilled, so it’s better to use a pan head style screw that acts like a washer to avoid tearing through. Most of the best pocket hole jig brands produce their own proprietary pocket hole screws designed to work with pocket holes specifically.
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