Tried pocket hole screws on mitered corners and my frame came out looking like a pretzel

I was building a jewelry box for my sister in law last weekend and thought hey, pocket holes would be a quick way to join those mitered corners on the face frame. Big mistake. The bit blew out the back on the first two pieces and the screws pushed everything out of square by like a quarter inch. Had to scrap three pieces of maple and start over with plain old glue and clamps. Lesson learned: pocket holes are for butt joints, not miters unless you really know what you're doing. Anyone else have a technique they tried once and immediately regretted?

3 comments

3 Comments

tyler617d ago

Nah the pocket holes aren't the main issue there honestly. If you're blowing out the back on miters it means your bit depth is wrong or you're not clamping a scrap piece behind it. I've done that exact pretzel thing before though. The real trick with miters and pocket screws is you gotta cut the miter first then put the pocket hole on the face side not the miter edge. Also pre drill your screw holes on miters every time or the screw will walk and push everything crooked. Glue and clamps is still the better move for fine stuff though.

alexw7516d ago

Yeah @tyler6 honestly that's just life right, you fix one thing and something else pops up.

rileynelson16d ago

Oh man, you're totally right, I used to blame the tool but this makes way more sense.