Pocket Hole Joinery with the Kreg Jig

Pocket hole joinery isn't new. The speed and reliability of the technique have made it a favorite in furniture manufacturing and cabinet shops for decades. But for the small shop and weekend woodworker, pocket hole joinery took a giant leap forward in 1990, when Craig Sommerfield brought out the first commercially available model of his remarkable Kreg Jig. Since its introduction, the Kreg Jig has lead the way in affordable, easy to use pocket hole joinery systems. 

Today there's a whole range of  Kreg Jig packages, from ultra-affordable kits with just the most important features to the most complete system you're likely to find anywhere - the Kreg K3 Master System. And Rockler Woodworking and Hardware makes it easy to find just the tool you're looking for with our broad selection of  Kreg pocket hole joinery systems, accessories and supplies.

What is pocket hole joinery?

Pocket hole joinery is a very simple process - it involves nothing more than drilling an angled clearance hole and counterbore into a piece of wood and joining it to another piece of wood with a screw. The bottom of the counterbore (the "pocket hole") sits about 1/2'' back from the edge being joined and provides room for the head of the screw. The clearance hole aims the screw at a sharp angle so that it can take a solid hold the adjoining material without popping up through the surface of the wood.

Easy enough - but how do you consistently and accurately drill a counterbore and pilot hole at such a steep angle? Craig Sommerfield's simple solution was to design a jig with metal drill guides pre-set to the best angle and entry point for a pocket hole, and to make it quick and easy to get the jig positioned and clamped onto a workpiece in just the right spot. With the jig in place, a stepped drill bit drills the counter bore and pilot hole in one shot.  With the self-tapping screws the system uses, there's no need to drill a pilot hole. Pocket hole joinery with the Kreg system a fast and simple 2-step process: drill a hole, and screw the parts together.

The real beauty of the Kreg pocket hole joinery system is that it allows you to securely and permanently join materials without the precision milling operations required by other techniques.  Traditional joinery methods usually involve milling both parts of the joint - cutting a mortise and a tenon, for example.  Apart from adding an extra step, that almost always means both parts have to be cut with extreme accuracy so they'll line up properly when the joint is assembled.  With the Kreg system, there's no complicated set-up, measuring, or dry-fitting joints.  In short, if you can operate a drill, you can make a perfect pocket hole joint in a matter of minutes.

What About Strength?

The steel self-tapping screws the Kreg system uses are much stronger than the wood fasteners they replace – dowels, tenons, biscuits, etc. Along with that, the self tapping screws exert a tremendous amount of clamping pressure, drawing the surfaces of the wood into the “intimate contact” that adhesive manufacturers say is among the most important factors in producing a solid glue joint.  Finally, the highly compressed screws stay in the workpiece permanently; it’s like being able to leave your project clamped solidly together - forever. The superior strength of a pocket hole joint has actually been proven.  Independent testing found that a pocket screw joint failed at 707 pounds when subjected to a shear load while a comparable mortise and tenon joint failed at 453 pounds – meaning that the pocket screw joint was approximately 35% stronger.