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I purchased the kreg jig yesterday and have been learning to use it on some scraps of pine. (3/4 inch thick. I believe the jig is set up properly, but the 1 1/4 inch screws are not holding. The joined boards can easily be pulled apart by hand. I tried joining two scraps of hemlock with much better results. I also have been having problems with the pine on the joined board splitting.

Can two 3/4 inch thick pine boards be successfully joined with pocket screws? What might I be doing wrong?

Thanks in advance everyone.

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NO. I always cut my pieces so that I am screwing into edge grain. screws strip out more easily in end grain. if you must screw into end grain, be very careful when tightening down not to strip, suggest if possible to change to edge grain.


robert schlicht said:
are you screwing into the end grain on the second piece of pine?
After reading the posts and replies and drawing from my own early experiences with the Kreg Jig, I have to agree that the screws are being over torqued (over driven) into the soft pine causing the screw holes to be stripped and the ends of the receiving board to split.
Pine should be no problem. I suspect that the stop collar on your bit may be set to allow it to penetrate too deeply. Check it & try again. Good luck!
Hi, Richard.

I have used every length of screw, in coarse and fine, across a wide range of materials. I join oak, pine, maple, Western red
cedar, cypress, hemlock, Douglas fir, and both hard and soft plywoods. Sir, I am telling you, beyond any doubt, with thousands
of screws behind me, that this is an almost foolproof system.
Others may be comfortable with reduced torque settings on their drivers, or alternative techniques, but I use an 18 volt Milwaukee
impact driver, capable of 116 FOOT pounds of torque, and have not once stripped a screw. I run the screw in, feathering the
trigger, and it's reliably simply to know when to stop.
Let's say you're running into rock maple, well, the driver is going to rattle all the way in, but, the instant you reach the 'sweet spot'
of torque, the drivers chatter will change a tiny bit in sound, and you instantly stop. You don't offer more little burps to be sure
you're there. Let's say it's Western red cedar, or pine. The driver is not going to rattle much, if at all, and the run-in time is
much faster with the less dense wood. But again, as soon as the first tension is felt, you stop. Now!
The auger point has done all the work for you. Watch how fast the screw is disappearing into the wood, and this wiil clue you
in to the density of the wood. Connect this in your brain to the likely moment that screw has hit bottom, knowing that the flat
washer is now compressing the joint, and stop.
The videos and infomercial are quite truthful. They tell you, and this can't be overstated, that the edges of the wood MUST
be square and parallel. Any accurate little square will confirm this. Don't simply trust what comes from the lumber store,
confirm for yourselt.
The system is as useful and versatile and directly simple to use as in the advertisements. My projects are not simple things
where failure of the joint is no big deal. If I am going to put my hand to building anything, I want it to stay put, period.
Don't give up. Get ahold of some scrap, get the feel on a bunch of test joints of various thicknesses and densities, and you
will become perfect very quickly.

Good Luck,
Art
good to read everyones tips thanks.
good luck with the work Richard.
Hello from central TN. I have used the Kreg on two projects and have been very pleased. I did have a problem like Richard when I first got started. I had an ah ha moment watching one of the basic videos. I was using the drill depth gage wrong. I was taking the gage to the tip of the drill rather than to the wider drill section. I was always about a 1/4 inch short and that caused a big problem. Once I started getting it set to the right spot it worked great. I am remodeling bathrooms in an old house we just moved into. The vanities are my next project.

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