1/2" material and my experiments

[John Barr]

I want to make some 1/2" drawers and I've watched all the youtube videos and read many threads on using 1/2" material with pocket holes. It is not only controversial as to whether you should even use 1/2" stock with pocket holes but there are so many differing opinions on what size and type of screw. So I thought I'd find out myself. I spent about 2 hours experimenting with 1/2" stock and deciding which kreg jig and screw gives the best result including strength and the screw head below the surface. Incidentally 1/2" plywood here is just under 1/2" or 12mm.

Instead of using K5's stop collar block I used Australian 10 cent pieces and I'm sure USA has a similar width coin. I tried the micro pocket guide and the normal one. I also used pan head screws, normal washer head screws, 6 and 7 gauge, fine and coarse.

My findings

1. The normal guide doesn't work. Tried the 1/2" and 5/8 settings with 1" fine and coarse thread pan head screws. Tried using one and two 10 cent pieces. Kept getting the screw above the surface. It also wasn't strong enough

2. The micro pocket guide works best. With 3/4", 6 gauge fine screws (as recommended by the manual) and one ten cent piece for the stop collar I got a good result but strength was barely acceptable but it would be easy to plug.

3. My best result was with the micro pocket guide, 1" coarse thread pan head screws and I found 3 coins gave the best stop collar setting. This gave the best balance between strength and having the screw head just below the surface and I mean just. In actual fact I found just above the 3 coins worked best for the stop collar but with exactly 1/2" material it would work perfectly.

Conclusion

While you might get away with the normal guide, the micro guide and 1" coarse screws, work the best with 1/2" or just below 1/2" stock. You just have to experiment with the stop collar setting. This is crucial if you want the screw head below the surface.