Sean's Rules on Kreg Tool Woodworking

[Sean]

I have been meaning to add this for a while - kind of my lessons learned on using Kreg tools.  It is also on the blog area, where I will add more about why/how I came up with the rules.  I have also been meaning to add pictures of projects, but when I tend to get free time, I am building!

Any comments encouraged, esp with #4, which I believe to be true (but can be corrected!)

Sean


1.    If you can buy it, don't build it

2.    Start small and keep on building

3.    If the project is twice as large as your last, the sawdust increases four fold

4.    With shelves, it is not the strength of the screw that holds up the weight, but the friction of the joint.  Make sure it is flush and tight.

5.    Don't forget that Kreg screws can be used without pocket holes

6.    It is often easier to assemble upside down

7.    Build something your family likes or needs and you can keep on building

8.    If you design for remote assembly/disassembly, you can build larger than door openings and take it when you move

9.    With new wood, start with the lowest torque setting on your drill.  Keep going up until the joint has no gap/is flush.  

10.    Be careful with softwood - if you miss the pocket hole, the screw will still go through, but will break the surface on the other side

[Hugh Clare]

Ref. #1........Are you sure you're on the right forum? I find the opposite to be true.

[Kim C]

I agree with all but #1 and #6.
I refuse to buy anything anymore... even from high-end furniture stores. If it is not sawdust it is veneer over poplar.
and
Upon attempting to assemble something upside down I ruined a perfectly good pair of contacts and passed out from the blood rushing to my head. (LOL... little woodworking humor there)

[Sean]

Ha ha! Perhaps poorly worded ... I meant start assembling from the top and work down. I was putting together some CD shelves that had the pocket holes underneath when it dawned on me that if I put the top onto the two sides, turned it upside down, and then keep adding shelves until I got to the bottom that it was a whole lot easier than the other way around.

Perhaps obvious, but pre-Kreg, I had always assembled bottom up.

As for #1, if all you can buy is veneer over poplar and you want solid wood, then you actually agree with me - you are building what you cannot buy! I on the other hand am doing a lot of projects with glue colored with sawdust (ie, MDF), but I am not trying to make the shelves I can buy in a box at Walmart, I am doing custom designs that fit an area in the house, etc.

Perhaps I should have called this Sean's Newbie Rules ...

Thanks for the comment!

Sean