If you're a keen woodworker then you've probably made your share of cabinets and similar types of projects. It can be very satisfying, you enjoy the woodworking part, and maybe you even designed the piece yourself. Then when it's finished you get the satisfaction of having something useful in the home or workshop and you might even get the pleasure of friends and family admiring your work and complimenting you.
So what's the biggest drawback to all this fun? For me it has to be making joints, good strong accurate joints can be a pleasure to look at but a pain in the neck to make. Now I can do a lot of good work by eye, if I think it looks right then it usually is. What can I say, it's a gift.
But when it comes to working out the dimensions for all these joints that's a different story. I can use a tape measure or a rule but just don't mention math, it gives me the heebee jeebies. I know all about measure twice cut once to make sure things right but I can break out in a sweat when it comes to doing the math for the joints on a set of frame doors.
And don't forget the joy of gluing and clamping up the joints, I usually wish I'd got at least one extra arm. It doesn't matter if you're using mortise and tennon joints or dowel joints, they can be tricky to get right.
This is where the pocket hole jig comes to the rescue, it makes the job so easy it's nothing short of incredible. You don't need to do any difficult math to get your wood joints accurate you dot need an octopus for an assistant or a dozen assorted clamps to hold the joint while the glue dries, you don't even need glue!
All you need is your pieces of timber cut to the correct size, and wee can all manage that, your pocket hole jig, the special drill bits that come with it and the right screws. That's it, it's so simple. You just put your piece of wood in the jig fit the special drill bit into your drill and away you go, the hole you drill will make a pilot hole for the screw and a larger hole to enable you to tighten the screw, then you simply screw the pieces of wood together, no glue needed and yet you get a strong tight joint And you can conceal the screw from sight by fitting wood plugs into the pocket holes.
The amount of time saved by using a pocket hole jig will really surprise you, you'll have time to make even more projects. If you think you need one of these great jigs for your workshop then check out my review of the Kreg Jig K3 Master System.
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