Kreg -- K4 or K3?

[Tom Henderson2]

Good morning everyone.

I will likely need a Kreg pocket-hole jig in the near future. Both K4 and K3 are available. Is there a strong reason to buy one over the other? They seem to be pretty comparable...

Thanks in advance.

-Tom

[Greg Hines, MD]

I have a K3, and love it. The big difference from my perspective is the handle position. I think it is easier to have it up front, but somebody may prefer it behind the workpiece like the K4. The K3 kits that I have seen also include the face clamp, and you definitely need that. Probably two, actually.

Doc

[Rick Potter]

I'm with Gregg. The handle in front is the only reason I bought mine, since I already had an original. Picture yourself sliding a cabinet side along the jig to drill every six inches. It is almost 24" high, and your arm must go over it to reach the handle.....every six inches. Literally a pain. It also has a built in spring to take slight differences in thickness, which is really handy.

If you only build narrow stuff like face frames with it, either one is fine.

Rick Potter

[Tom Matthews]

I have the K4 and while it works fine, I wish I had sprung for the K3. I ended up buying a face clamp anyway after trying some other methods to clamp up, but nothing is as easy as the face clamp. The material side stop would also be nice to have, although I'll probably end up rigging something up myself rather than buy the Kreg version.

The handle in the back hasn't been a problem for me yet, but I've only used it to build some face frames so far.

[Rick Prosser]

K3 - handle in the front is more convenient. Face clamp is great.

[Kirk Simmons]

+1 for the K3.

[Scott Vantine]

+ one for the K3! The handle was a no brainer for me! I want the handle right in front of me so that I can quickly lock the workpiece into it!

[Randal Stevenson]

Also k3. I am not sure if the K4 has the dust collection, since to me, it appears to be more of a portable benchtop (clamp to work surface) design, then the shop jig design.

[Mike Heidrick]

I use my K3 when I use the jig. Front handle is nice.

You could add a pneumatic cylinder and foot pedal to the K4 though.

[Van Huskey]

Put me in the K3 camp as well.

[Paul Page]

Do these ever go on sale?

Paul

[Tom Matthews]

Also k3. I am not sure if the K4 has the dust collection, since to me, it appears to be more of a portable benchtop (clamp to work surface) design, then the shop jig design.
Mine came with the dust collection attachment as a "special bonus" and it looks like they all come with them now.

Paul, the jigs are all typically the same price (sometimes you can catch the accessories on sale), probably the best way to get one of the jigs on sale is to wait for a 25% off sale at Rockler and go that route.

[Pat Keefe]

K3 for me as well. I only brought it last week and had the first "experimentation" this morning. Easy to use, once one relised he was using 16mm (5/8") instead of 19mm (3/4") melamine:rolleyes:

I found that the Right Angle clamp is worth it's weight in Platinum, as I could not see how to hold the box any other way. It's pay for itself when I build the 3 new cabinets for the new shed.

[Lex Boegen]

I purchased the K3 recently at a woodworking show. The front-mounted clamp and the shop vac connection are what sold me on it. I had previously purchased the "mini" jig, and liked it very much, so the K3 was a no-brainer for me. There are a bunch of videos on how to use it on YouTube, if you're interested.

[Tom Henderson2]

Thanks for your thoughts and comments everyone.

-TH