Pocket holes are a very useful joinery technique in woodworking. Hole are drilled at an angle, usually 15 degrees, into a workpiece and then joined to a second workpiece with self-tapping screws. There are special pocket hole jigs you can buy and they use special drill bits, specialty screws, and special angled dowels for finishing off the holes.
But what if you don’t have a “pocket hole jig system” and you still want to make pocket holes with common tools and fasteners?
In this Cactus! Workshop video, Carlos shows you how he made a simple pocket hole jig that uses regular countersink wood screws. He made the jig out of little more than a chunk of MDF and a length of rod. One drawback to this jig design is that you need to drill in from both sides of the workpieces using two different-sized bits (to get around the specialty pocket hole bit that has two different cutting diameters on the same bit). But, as Carlos points out, you usually have access to both sides of your workpieces.
In this video, Dave Stanton shows you how he makes pocket holes in large outdoor decking lumber with a jig of any kind.
There are dozens of other techniques for creating pocket hole jigs in your shop and for making pocket holes with a jig of any kind. Do a search on YouTube to scoop up a bunch more.
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