Shoutout to the guy at the lumber yard who convinced me to try a pocket hole jig

I used to spend hours on complicated miter joints for simple furniture, but after one frustrating Saturday trying to fix a wobbly bookshelf, I tried his method. Has anyone else found a 'cheat' tool that actually saved a project?

3 comments

3 Comments

davis.dakota2mo ago

Wait, isn't a pocket hole jig more for joining boards face to face or edge to face? For a bookshelf, those miter joints are usually for the corners of the frame. I love my Kreg jig too, but I still use mitered corners or simple butt joints with glue and clamps for boxy stuff like that. The pocket holes are awesome for attaching face frames or putting on tabletops without seeing screws.

wendyc5310d ago

Yeah, I feel you on that. It's like sometimes you just want a project to stop wobbling and get the job done, not worry about if it's gonna win a fine woodworking award. I've definitely been there with a few pieces of furniture where I just said screw it and threw pocket screws in where nobody could see them. Fixing a wobbly shelf is a pain, and if it makes it solid who cares if it's not the fanciest joint. At the end of the day, it's holding up books, not going in a museum.

richardh442mo ago

That's a fair point from @davis.dakota about pocket holes being for different joins. I read a forum post once where a builder said the real cheat is just using the right fastener for the job, even if it feels like a shortcut. For that wobbly bookshelf, maybe pocket screws added some needed reinforcement from the back. Sometimes a project just needs to be solid more than it needs perfect joinery.