Am I the only one who used to think pocket hole jigs were just for quick fixes?

I was building a set of maple drawers for a client in Denver last month and used my Kreg jig to reinforce the back panel joints, and it held up better than my traditional dados after three weeks of testing.

2 comments

2 Comments

leo23820d ago

Wasn't there a Fine Woodworking article a while back that tested joint strength? I remember it said pocket screws in hard maple, like you used, can actually outperform some traditional joints because the screw pulls everything super tight. Your test with the drawers seems to prove that point!

julia84319d ago

Exactly, and it's funny how often the "new way" gets laughed at until it's proven to work better. I see this all the time with tools and methods, not just in woodworking. People get attached to the old, "proper" way of doing things and dismiss anything that seems like a shortcut. But sometimes that shortcut is just a smarter use of modern materials! It's like when everyone insisted glue alone was weak until stress tests showed some glue joints are stronger than the wood itself. The proof is in the pulling, and if those drawers hold up, that's all that matters.