How it Works

Pocket Hole Joinery in its simplest terms is drilling a hole at an angle into one workpiece and then joining it to a second workpiece with a self-tapping screw. This technique was actually invented by the Egyptians as they clamped two workpieces together and then bored a hole at an angle from one workpiece into the second workpiece. They then inserted a dowel with some glue and cut it off flush with the surface. This technique continued to evolve over the years into two main joinery methods, doweling and more recently, pocket hole joinery. The modern pocket hole joint grew in popularity with the creation of the self-tapping screw in the 1980’s which eliminated the need to drill into the second workpiece altogether.

Why is pocket hole joinery so popular? Mainly because of its speed, strength and simplicity. Speed comes from the fact that the self-tapping screw eliminates the need to pre-drill the mating workpiece, which avoids many alignment problems caused by having to layout and drill for aligning fasteners as with dowel, biscuit, and mortise and tenon joints. Secondly, the self-tapping screw also serves as an internal clamp, which eliminates clamping the joint as the glue dries. This saves the investment in various clamping devices, the time and frustration of clamping, as well as the problems associated with pulling the assembly out of square with clamping pressure.

The strength of a pocket hole joint can be explained with two simple statements. First, a mechanical screw has physical properties that make it stronger than a biscuit, dowel, or tenon. Secondly, the amount of constant clamping force placed on the joint line by driving the screw combined with today’s glue technology makes for an incredibly strong wood-to-wood bond.