Build Fast, Strong and Easy!
If you are into woodworking or doing projects around the home you will inevitably need to fasten two pieces of wood together. There are a lot of ways to join wood – choices can range from glue to nails to complex joinery. Each offers trade-offs on strength, speed, ease of use, skills and tool requirements.
Let’s focus on a way to create strong, professional quality joints: pocket holes. Professional furniture makers have used pocket hole joinery for years. And for good reason – it’s a simple way to achieve a strong, permanent joining of two pieces of wood. But pocket hole joinery isn’t just for cabinet making. It is one of the best methods for joining any two pieces of wood where a strong joint with no visible fasteners on one surface is the order of business.
So exactly what is a pocket hole? It is simply a hole drilled at an angle that forms a “pocket” for the screw to drive into. What makes it work is the design of the jig. It guides the drill bit into the wood at a precise angle to produce a carefully engineered hole to house the screw head. After the pocket hole is drilled, a specially designed case-hardened screw with a self-drilling tip is used. The screws hold fast and will not split the wood even in hardwoods.
Advantages:
- Reliable, strong joints.
- Fast – no exacting, complicated cuts. You just drill the pocket holes, align your parts and drive the screws home.
- Strong – the self tapping screws exert a tremendous amount of clamping pressure and the screws stay in the piece permanently; it’s like being able to leave your project clamped solidly together – forever.
- Each joint is assembled separately so you only need to use one clamp to complete a project.
- No waiting! No need to wait for the glue to dry before continuing on with your project. Once you drive the screws, the joint is permanently assembled.
There are many uses for pocket hole joints: cabinets, edge-joining (without bar clamps), tables, chairs, picture frames, stairs, decks, countertop edging and more. Ever try to clamp a curve? Pocket hole joinery makes it easy to assemble odd-angled parts and gives curved forms extra rigidity.
If your project involves joining two pieces of wood together, give pocket hole joinery some consideration. Once you realize how fast, strong, and simple pocket hole joinery is, you’ll wonder how you ever got along without it!
It’s easy! Drill. Drive. Done.
