Home made pocket hole plugs

[Mike Mathieu]

Hi everyone
l love using pocket hole screws. They are quick, easy to use and make a strong connection. The down side is that you normally can't use them for exposed work mostly because they are kind of ugly.
Well on the latest project that I'm working on (custom closets) there are a few places that I have to use them in an exposed area so I had to figure out a way to make plugs (out of Jatoba) to fill in those ugly holes. Here is what I came up with.
I start by turning a 3/8" dowel out of 1/2" scrap. I use a 3/8" open end wrench as a reference to get the dowel to uniform size.
http://i712.photobucket.com/albums/ww126/wdkits1/pocketholeplugs001.jpg?t=1250895571

Next step is to drill a pocket hole in a scrap piece of wood and insert a screw( to drive out the cut plug).
http://i712.photobucket.com/albums/ww126/wdkits1/pocketholeplugs002.jpg?t=1250895652

Insert the dowel into the pocket hole until it bottoms out against the screw head.
http://i712.photobucket.com/albums/ww126/wdkits1/pocketholeplugs003.jpg?t=1250895725

Set the fence on the bandsaw to just clear the edge of the dowel jig and saw off the dowel.
http://i712.photobucket.com/albums/ww126/wdkits1/pocketholeplugs004.jpg?t=1250895792

I use a belt sander to sand the plug flush with the jig and pop it out with the exposed screw.
http://i712.photobucket.com/albums/ww126/wdkits1/pocketholeplugs006.jpg?t=1250895835

Here is the installed plug in place on the bottom shelf of the cabinet.
http://i712.photobucket.com/albums/ww126/wdkits1/pocketholeplugs005.jpg?t=1250896003

Hope some of you can use this little tid-bit of info.

[Bob Vallaster]

Very clever.
Thanks for the tip.

BobV

[Rob Haskell]

Useful tip, thanks Rob