The Kreg Jig

The Kreg Jig is a great tool and one of the easiest ways to join wood together. The version I currently own is very basic. It is the Kreg Jr system and I purchased it because it was the cheeper version of the jig and I couldn't afford the bench top unit.

I was turned onto this product a while back when I thought it would be awesome to be able to make my own cabinets and furniture. As I researched making cabinets and furniture I learned about how intricate the process is and that there are a lot of tools and techniques involved if you want to make a quality product. My head stopped spinning when I came across the process for using pocket joinery to make cabinets and furniture. It was much more straightforward and required significantly less tools. For more details on pocket joinery check out Rockler's article on the Kreg system. Pocket Hole Joinery

After researching the in's and out's of pocket joinery I soon realized that I wasn't about to jump into cabinetry and start making cabinets for my kitchen. I needed to practice my use of pocket joinery on small projects and then move my way up into making larger pieces. To tell you the truth, this was another point where I realized the importance of knowing how to make accurate measurements and marks because when it comes to making cabinets and furniture you need to be precise with your cuts or else your shit gets really fubared, you end up wasting money, and your wife yells at you.

To be absolutely honest with you I still have not ventured back to the days where I thought I could make my own cabinetry. What I have done though is been able to learn how to use pocket hole joinery with the Kreg Jig as part of multiple other projects. The main benefit of pocket hole joinery is that it is such a versatile system for fastening wood together. It creates a simple and tight joint and can be used for almost  any project. One of my favorite uses of the Jig was to connect two old windows to closet framing in my spare bedroom. You can see a full write up here, but below are a few quick pictures. 

What I have realized over the past year is that I did a good thing by purchasing the Kreg Jr system first. Originally I was a little dissatisfied because I thought I was at a disadvantage because the model I purchased did not mount to a bench and I had to use too many clamps to get the pocket holes in my pieces. Today I love having the Kreg Jr. system because I use it for everything and in many cases I would not have realized the versatility of this tool if I had purchased the bench mounted unit.