Great tips Colin, as usual. I'm in the UK and a few years ago I bought an Axminster UJK Pocket Hole Jig Kit, in addition I got their Alignment Clamp which holds the two pieces of wood in perfect symmetry for screwing. I have used this jig and clamp on many of my projects, and subsequently bought their single hole jig to add to my kit. As a 69 year-old lady I find pocket holes help me to continue with the hobby I love, as do many of your tips and tricks. Keep them coming please.

I could not have found this at a better time. I have built things on an off using pocket hole joinery and I have fallen victim to not clamping every time. The project I am currently working on is a bookcase, where clean lines is a must! I am totally building that clamping jig! Great info!!!

With the Kreg jig, paint over the calibration marks with liquid paper/white out, then wipe over the surface with mineral turps/paint thinners. This leaves clear, very legible white marks.It's quick and easy, I did mine years ago, and it's still good. Further, I don't fasten my jig down, I just sit it on the bench, and even long pieces are OK - the pockets don't need to be perpendicular to the edge, and for hidden pocket holes the spacings are approximate only. Laziness is wonderful if done properly.

Like the jig with the toggle clamps, I'll have to build one. I wish I had that jig when I assembled all my face frames.

I've always thought of pocket hole screws as holding it untill the glue dries. I never thought to remove them to use again! Thanks for the tip.

Another thing I learned through trial and error is that if you're using an impact driver, start it on the lower setting and when the screw bites in, flip it to the higher setting. It really made a difference when assembling a melamine box

Thanks again Colin - your woodworking tips are invaluable and delivered fast and sharp.

Thank you Colin, appreciated all these tips.

Thanks for the tips, just ordered a kregs k4. Awesome watch by the way!

when i bought my k 4 jig i too bought several of those clamps. you are so correct about them being somewhat useless. every now and then ill use them for some different use but they were not cheap and a waste of money.

Just starting to do this and your video helps me refresh important steps

Some Good Tips I will use for sure ! Thx’s for Sharing

Your clamping Jig is wonderful! Thanks!

As always...get info! I do love my Kreg Jig & these were great tips. Thank you for taking the time to make your videos!

Colin, I've been watching several of your videos & you offer GREAT information! Thank you very much! You make it easy to get back into woodworking. You have a new subscriber!

Great vid! My Kreg K5 has been sitting there. Opened, but never used. After seeing this vid you put out? I am going to build my Tormek T8 stand out of 2/4's with the jig. Thanks very much!

pocket hole jig is a great idea. i love the gap for the dust.

thanks collin good video i watch all your videos

I`ve been using pockets for 5 or 6 years still these tips help me, keep em coming

Whenever I see that you have a video I watch it. You are a great instructor/teacher. I am wanting to learn about woodworking so having the privilege of watching and learning from your videos is a blessing. I am planning on making bi-fold closet doors with my husband and the instructions call for pocket holes. I have saved this video to a playlist. Thank you so much for making this video.

I'm just watching your videos now and you have some great tips! Thank you! Wanted to comment to say that the clamp you have at 5:20 can be used for clamping the jig to the end of a workbench if there is not a large lip or overhang.There is a little semi-circle on the front of the jig, and the clamp fits in there.

I have never met this man but I like what he does. And watching him do it. Sincerely L H

This video i s full of great tips. The jig you made on 7:00 is very interesting! Thank you so much for this great video

Great tips Colin, thank you from Tennessee.

Thank you for this video. The wing nut on the clamping arm was a good idea. I enjoy and learn from your videos.

Thanks again for taking time and posting these tutorials.

I use my pocket hole jig all the time, but I use corner clamps to hold my pieces together before screwing them together. It works the best! Especially, on cabinet faces and cabinet boxed.

Another tip - before trying to put the boards together, run the screw into the pocket hole so it pops out any remaining wood at the bottom of the pocket hole, then clean it up. This stops any tendency to 'bridge' caused by the waste getting in the gap and also helps the screw get a clean entry into the cross piece.

Another great tip, thanks for sharing Colin, your a pleasure to listen to

Great tips and well explained. Cheers 👍🏼😊

Thanks for sharing. I think you will find that 3/4" ply is in fact 19mm. With most of the world now using the metric system, it makes sense that ply is sized for the metric system.

Pocket screws are the woodworking Gods gift to woodworkers.

This is awesome and so helpful!

This is a great video as I enter my wood working gig

Some good tips there Colin thanks. Those pocket hole jigs are expensive but amazing tools for joinery

That’s a great video with lots of great tips

Colin, I set up a similar situation with my pocket hole jig. I found that the base of the jig is 1 inch thick. I attached the jig to a piece of 3/4" plywood like yours and for the extensions I used a piece of scrap 5/4 board (stair tread which is 1 inch) cut into 2 lengths about 12 inches long. Then I attached a piece of plywood under each extension, and screwed the extension to the base. Works like a charm. As for your 90° clamping jig, that would be great for face frames for cabinets or maybe even picture frames. Thanks for sharing!

I have rearranged my schedule for today so I can go make an assembly jig. This would have helped in many previous projects. Thanks for this one.

Great Tips again Colin. Very much apreciated. Thank You. All the best from North London U.K.

Thanks for well informed technics

Very useful tips, thanks for sharing.

We love you Colin 👏🏻👏🏻🇬🇧🇬🇧

Useful video. I'd never have thought of using pocket holes to temporarily clamp wood for glueing. Thank you.

Thanks, I enjoy your videos. I haven't checked it out myself yet but I saw the other day that a 2x4 is the same level as the platform on a Kreg jig, that would give level support.

Great tips Colin. If you want to know what is and how to make "pocket hole super joints, toe nailing pocket hole joints, or cross dowel pocket hole joints" are, I have a play list ("pocket hole joinery") of all that and more on my channel. these joints make pocket hole joinery much stronger. Keep up the great shop tip videos. I'm a big (and long time) fan of your channel.

Colin - thanks for sharing good tips

Awesome tips! Thank you!

Great tips, thank you.

Thank you Colin! Was not aware that the glue is the the main deal not the screws, thank you!

Thank you for the video, very informative. Keep them coming. Thanks for sharing!!

Great Tips again Colin !!! I watch every one you do and really enjoy them :) Keep up the GREAT WORK. !

I made a wooden pice for the vice to which my pocket hole jig is screwed. I attached rare earth magnets into the wood and these hold my pocket hole drill bit and screw bit so they are always handy.

That jig with the toggle clamps is a good idea, mate. 👍

The flat panel jig with toggle clamps can be improved by having a 4" (100mm) gap in the corner. Then you can also use it to make 'T' joints as well as 'L' joints without changing anything around. I've been using one made that way for several years, the base panel is made from melamine covered chipboard so I can use it for glued joints and any glue squeeze out just pops off when its dried.

Pocket hole joinery is indispensable!

Lots of good stuff. Thanks mate.

Awesome video. I could watch your videos all day long. 👍👍

I believe the Kreg pocket hole jig settings account for the smaller dimension width of the lumber

Great set of tips Colin, thank you.

Thanks for the tips! I have had trouble with using pocket holes to clamp boards together on the short sides to make a bench top. I was using an impact driver and it would snug up just a little too much and introduced some cup to my bench top. I've learnt from that but it was an annoying thing to learn after the glue had gone off

Wow, i never thought to take the screws back out. Do you do that for everything or only if you're gonna run it thru a saw again?

For a general tip. Porter cable mskes a self adjusting pocket hole system. very good and close to same price as Kreg.

Colin that Kreg clamp is basically most useful when using the one or two hole jigs. It’s purpose is to hold the small jigs in place. The two hole jig in fact has a mounting pad for this clamp. Check out Kreg’s instructions.

Good video ! Lots of good tips.

I really like your videos Colin. They are very informative. What I do when I use 3/4 inch plywood in my Kreg jig is adjust the collar on the drill bit instead of the preset 5/8 since you might lose strength in the depth of the screw.

Lightly hammer a golf tee into the "mistake" screw hole, break off and sand flush. It's as good as new.

@woodworkweb Thank you Colin... I’ve heretofore not ever used pocket holes for anything because I have always made everything with joinery and glue. I guess maybe I was of the idea that, I don’t really need to do it and there’s skill building in even building shop projects and jigs with the same Dado/Rabbet/Mortise/Tenon/Box/Dovetails that I use in finished projects/gifts/nicer shop projects like tool chests/tool wall cabinets. BUT: I’ve done enough of that now with jigs/shop gear and I really think I’d like to reclaim that time by turning out jigs/gear faster. Also thinking that maybe by using pocket hole joinery on jigs, that I can modify/refit them easier which saves on material and time both. I’ll still not be building furniture with them, but I just ordered the KMS5 System and I think your videos on pocket hole joinery were what pushed me to pull the trigger. You don’t shame or talk condescendingly of purists or those of use who have a blend of machine/hand tool shops. I’m probably 85-15% handtool to machine; only really using machines where they save time that can be better spent cutting/designing joinery. So jointer/planer are the machines that use up 12 of that 15%. Thanks a bunch brother and Semper Fidelis, Shannon

Great tips. Thanks for sharing.

Great video! I seriously may have to go back and find previous projects to take the screws back out of! Lol Does anyone NOT glue their joints?

Awesome video very informative. New subscriber

Thank you sir!

Love this tip: Take out the pocket hole screws and re-use them, they're not serving any purpose anyway once the joint is glued. Cheers!

You are the man 👍🏼

Great, Greetings from Germany Kerim

Fabulous explanations....it’s all in the details. Cheers

I love your watch, where did you get it? is it wood or made to look like wood? when I am attaching tow boards together, not at an angle but side to side, how do I set my jig? how long of screws do I use?

The pocket hole clamping jig you displayed in your video with to smaller clamps was helpful. As I found the spring loaded clamp that came with my Kreg system is not very practical. For all applications when joining the timber together especially when the timber is different thicknesses. Thanks again for your tip regarding successful clamping of pocket hope joinery. Martin.

One tip you didn't mention was the wing nut for thickness adjustment on the clamp.

Not being a joinery guy, I often wonder why we need the pocket hole screws in the first pace if you are going to take them out anyway..why not just clamp it properly and let it dry? Is this just a step so you don't have to wait for glue? Thanks for the video - as always, great!

One thing I would add is to routinely check that the Kreg jig is holding it's height setting. Mine tends to slip often....and if you aren't paying attention than you will end up making the holes to deep and your screws will stick out the other side of the mating pieces when you go to put them together. So as you are making the pocket holes, make sure you constantly make sure the height adjustment is not slipping to a lower setting. Might save you ruining some wood.

Great and very informative as usual. Thanks collin

I never used the clamp the way you do, I always use the clamp to clamp the work pieces onto a bench etc.. Anyway, great video as usual.

G'day Collin. I wanted to ask you about when you have a board clamped to another board in a T and screwing it down. Like the one where you were describing the glue being stronger than the screws. I was trying to do this on melamine, very slippery stuff I know, to make a mold and I was clamping the pieces down and was finding the boards were trying to wander around when the screws were put in. Any advice on how to combat this? I tried clamping down plastic squares as well clamping the boards but at the end of the day I was still clamping one piece of melamine to another in a tee fashion and the bloody stuff tries to slide everywhere with the coefficient of friction melamine has. Any advice will be greatfully received as I will have to make many of these molds over time.

I like your clamp board. I have one similar except that the base is 3/4" MDF and I have routed slots in it where I put T-Track. I don't have the De-Sta-Co clamps where you do, but I really like that idea...thanks. One comment on that, Seems like the one is actually to close to the corner, and might be tough to get your driver past it? Anywho, thanks for the video.

hi Colin, great video again. Could you do a video on getting broken screws out of the woodwork? Or did I just miss that one?

Good tips, but you seem to be stuck on the clamp only being used "in the air" so to speak, which is problematic. I have used these clamps quite successfuly though, as long as you're clamping the joints down on the edge of your work bench, or any flat surface. Kreg makes a variety of clamps of different sizes and configurations (although, somewhat pricey), for several applications, maybe you could do a future video on those.

Do you have a video that illustrates how you built the assembly jig? Though it looks straightforward to build, but I'm curious on the way you elevated the wood so the sawdust would not gather on the edges. Thanks in advance.

Very useful tips.... Thanks for sharing.....

A way I have found a good way to fill OOPS holes. I use wood skewer sticks like you would use on your BBQ work great

Very useful tips. Thanks.

I have subscribed, i find your video’s very informative. Thank you sir. 👍🏼👏🏼👏🏼🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧

Whenever you need something built fast and able to be disassembled: use pocket holes. Whenever you need more precision, strength and beauty: use joints and glue. Is that a good way of thinking as a woodworker?

Thanks,my english is not well,i'm from chile.But your explanations are so clear.

Could you post a link for the push/pull clamps you used in the 90 degree jig? Whether Amazon or what ever place you obtained them.

Thanks

Awesome better quality is the way to go

Awesome tips..

I use threaded inserts in my work bench near the center, but on the edge. I drilled the holes out in the unit to clearance for 1/4-20's and placed the inserts into the work bench so all I have to do is run the screws into the inserts and I'm ready to go. I use a couple of pc's of wood on either side of the jig that are the same height as the jig for support of long pc's. I drill a lot of pocket holes and this system seams to work great.

Great video

Colin, what is the reason for using pocket holes for two pieces that could be glued? Thanks for your video, always fun and useful!