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Beginner's Guide to Pocket Joinery
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Feb 22, 2024
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0:00
So in this video, I want to introduce you to pocket joinery, or otherwise known as pocket screws
0:06
and it's a method of joining pieces of wood, something like this
0:13
So it's really a method of joining butt-joined pieces of wood together
0:20
So in the same way that the dowel joint connects pieces of wood like this
0:25
pocket screws do the same thing. They can do other jobs too, but they're mostly useful for this kind of joint
0:33
And they're quite simple, they're quite fast. I would say that pocket joinery is the most modern of woodworking joints
0:41
because it was invented not too long ago by a company called Kreg
0:46
and they still do the best job on pocket joinery accessories and tools and jigs and things like that
0:54
So in a nutshell, a pocket joint is connected with screws
1:05
but the screws are driven into a pocket, a shallow angled pocket
1:11
So it allows you to drive the screw from this face, extending out this end of the piece of wood, and then biting into the adjoining piece, like this
1:22
So it really all comes down to being able to drill that all-important
1:29
very shallow angled hole where you want it to go. And the only way you're going to do that is with some kind of a jig to guide the drill bit
1:39
Now this is the drill bit that is used with the Kreg system, any kind of pocket joinery actually
1:46
And you'll see it's got a fairly large body for most of it
1:52
and then a small section here. And the idea is that it's going to create a hole that has a shoulder in it
1:59
So a shoulder is the ledge of wood that will be formed
2:04
where this part of the drill bit transitions to that part. And into this hole, we will drive a screw like this one
2:13
This is a special screw, especially meant for pocket hole work, and it's going to rest against the shoulder
2:19
So it's going to easily slip into the larger hole, but then the edge of the head is going to hit the shoulder of wood
2:26
created where the big part of the bit meets the little part of the bit
2:30
And that's what's going to pull this joint together. There's no way we could ever drill the hole we need to drill without some sort of a guide
2:40
something that's going to hold the bit at the right angle consistently as it goes down
2:46
This is the cheapest and simplest pocket hole drilling jig you'll ever find
2:51
That's why I'm demonstrating it here. I have some more complicated ones, including a benchtop model
2:56
that can really do a lot of pocket holes quickly. But you don't need that
3:02
This is inexpensive, simple to use, and it's what I'm going to be showing you here
3:07
So just to help you understand things a little bit better, a joint like this, I think, should really have two pocket screws
3:15
And the drilling that happens only happens in the piece of wood that the screws enter
3:23
We do not drill any holes into the piece of wood that it's going to be joining to
3:28
The screws will dig their own hole. And so we don't need to drill there
3:33
All we need to do is to drill into this piece of wood, and this guide will make sure it all happens properly
3:43
So as I said, this is the simplest. It's not particularly fast, but it does the job
3:50
And we need to anchor this jig. So we're going to anchor it this way
4:01
I find it works quite well to line up the edge of the jig with the edge of the piece of wood
4:06
and the end of the jig with the end of the piece of wood. So we're firm now
4:11
We're ready to go. I'll chuck the drill bit into the drill
4:21
and drill our first hole. Now this collar is very important because it makes sure that we don't drill too far
4:29
We want sufficient wood where the shoulder starts towards the end of the piece of wood
4:37
to give enough strength for that screw to rest on. So if we drilled too far, if this collar was misadjusted, say further up the shank
4:46
we could drill too far and maybe even make the big hole all the way through, instead of having part of the hole this smaller diameter
4:54
So that's an adjustment you don't need to change very often once you've gotten it right
4:58
And we just stick this in here, crank up the drill, and that's it for this side
5:21
And we'll just repeat the process over here. Oops. So that's it
5:56
Now that does not look very pretty, does it? That's why whenever you're working with pocket screws
6:03
you need to remember to orient the back of the pieces of wood you're working with
6:10
for drilling like this. Craig does have some angled plugs that you could put in here
6:17
I'm going to show you those in a minute. I still don't think they look very very good
6:21
so I only ever use pocket screws where no trace of them is going to be seen anywhere
6:28
They're not particularly strong either, pocket screws, but they are fast and convenient, and sometimes you don't need insane amounts of strength
6:38
So that's where I generally use pocket screws. I was kind of prejudiced against them at first
6:42
It just seemed like some sort of newfangled gimmicky kind of thing
6:47
Definitely not traditional, you know, definitely not the old way they used to do it right
6:54
But I eventually did see some uses for pocket screws, and now I use them fairly regularly for certain applications
7:01
So I think you should consider them too. We've got the start of what we're doing, but we don't have a completed joint yet
7:07
Because what has to happen now is we have to connect it to another piece of wood
7:14
and we have to drive the screws. And if I just try to do that here on the workbench, I can assure you that's not going to work
7:22
There's going to be movement. There's going to be wonkiness. The joint is not going to be flush, perfectly flush here
7:31
There's going to be a little bit of a mismatch. So the second part of the process involves locking down the joint in some way
7:39
And that's where this device comes in. It's just a kind of a vice grip plier that's fastened to a base
7:48
And the idea here is that we line things up. We get things just the way we want them
8:02
I need to make it a little bit tighter. There
8:17
Now, flush here, flush here. Of course, it's also flush on the bottom because these two pieces of wood are the same thickness
8:26
All I need to do now is to chuck in a screwdriver bit and drive the screws home
8:37
Now, I need to tell you something right now before I continue. This is a pocket screw, and you don't want to use regular deck screws
8:45
The head isn't the right shape. The screw thread profile isn't ideal, except if you get genuine pocket screws
8:55
And that's what these are. This is a coarse thread. And let's just compare it to another one
9:04
A fine thread. So you can really see the difference there. The fine thread is recommended for hardwood
9:11
We're using white pine here, so we're going to go with the coarse thread
9:18
It's pretty easy, actually, to overdrive these. Which means to tighten them up so much that the threads start to chew up the wood
9:28
And the screw can't really grab onto the wood anymore. So you want the pocket joint to be, the pocket screws, to be as tight as necessary
9:37
but not overly tight. Because you're going to start losing joint strength after that
9:41
So if you come around here for a minute and just, you just take a look
9:47
It's really quite easy to see what's going on here. So you can see that the big hole here, and then there's that shoulder I was telling you about
10:00
That shoulder was created by the fact that this drill bit is kind of unusual
10:05
And that we have the big part transitioning to the little part. So right now, I'm just going to be driving one of these screws into the little hole
10:14
And that's it. Did you see how that other side of the wood moved a little bit
10:21
It kind of pulled in tighter? Because this clamp holds the wood down with a lot of force, so it's flush here
10:29
And it's not going to get out of alignment on the side. But this clamp does nothing to pull the joint in tightly
10:38
That's where the screws come in. You often see the pocket joint being pulled a little bit tighter as the screws driven home
10:47
There, did it again. That's basically it. Let's see how we did
10:57
Okay, there's a little bit of dirt here. It's picked up some dirt from the base there
11:03
But that's a nice tight joint. I mean, it's not going to get out of alignment. From the base there
11:07
But that's a nice tight joint. I mean, that dark line there, that's not a gap
11:11
That's just some dirt. A few metal filings here, I think. A joint like this would be assembled and then sanded as a unit
11:21
So all of these little bits of dirt and things would be removed. But look at here, a nice tight joint
11:28
And surprisingly strong. I could break that with my hands. I'm sure I could. But where pocket screws shine, you just don't need a whole lot of strength
11:37
It's basically a fast, doesn't need any glue. Doesn't look great from the back, but that's okay
11:45
Because everywhere you use these, like for instance, pre-assembling a face frame
11:50
Imagine a four-sided frame like this that forms the front of the cabinet
11:56
Perfect for pocket screws. Door and window trim, another great example. When I install door and window trim, especially stuff I make myself
12:06
I make the frames into a complete unit. Four-sided frame. Joined and even finished before it goes up
12:15
It's a lot faster. You get perfectly tight joints and they never come apart
12:20
So if you're looking to expand your joinery capabilities, you know, one of the first options is one that I've explained to you before
12:29
Dowel joinery is relatively inexpensive to get into and very wide applicability
12:36
This is very inexpensive to get into. Even less expensive than dowel joints
12:42
Very wide applicability, but just not quite the strength. So you won't go wrong getting a little jig like this and giving things a try
12:51
Just before I finish up, I want to talk to you about the need for organization
12:56
It's a very, very important part of being a decent woodworker. So at this stage in your woodworking career
13:04
you probably don't have a lot of stuff and maybe you haven't even thought about
13:07
the need for organization. But the thing about woodworking is there's really almost no end of tools you can get
13:15
Big and small. And it's the small side of things that I want to talk to you about now
13:20
There are many tools and accessories in the world of woodworking that need a lot of little bits and pieces
13:30
Pocket joinery is just one example. And that's why I strongly recommend you make organization part of how you develop as a woodworker
13:39
So this is my box. It's reserved for pocket hole stuff. And here you can see all the little doodads
13:49
Remember I told you there were some plugs that you can get for plugging up those angled holes
13:55
Well, here you've got some. This is a plastic version. It's not meant to be finished or anything
14:00
It just kind of goes over and covers it and looks nice. The wooden one you'd sand flush and finish along with the rest of the project
14:10
Some more drill bits. Some screws. Some holders and things under here
14:17
We've got some more of those special vise grips. My point here though is just to alert you to the fact
14:26
or probably remind you is a better word, that you can have all the tools in the world
14:31
but unless you know exactly where all the accessories are, and you can put your fingers on them
14:37
and you know reliably whether, oh it's time to buy some more of that stuff
14:41
or I really should get this accessory, you need to have a place to keep things
14:46
And boxes like this have proven to me to be very worthwhile
14:50
So consider that. That when you're buying a tool, it's not just a matter of whether you have the money to buy it
14:57
and also whether you need the tool, but do you have a home for it in your workspace
15:02
Especially do you have a home for the little accessories? Nuts, bolts, little fixtures, consumable items
15:10
Keep that in mind as you build your woodworking collection and your skills
15:15
and before you know it you'll be a great woodworker who knows exactly where all their great stuff is
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