Blackjack Pocket Hole Jig

[Jerry Golick]

Greetings,

I have a couple of projects coming up which lend themselves to pocket hole joinery. I was all set to pick up the Kreg system, when a visit to my local tool store discovered a competitive system called the Blackjack Pocket Hole Jig.

What I liked about the Blackjack was that it seemed to be much better suited to handling variable widths of material from about 1/2 up to 6/4, where the Kreg seems to be pre-set for 3/4 (although I know you can use spacers to get around that issue). It was also about 70% of the cost of the Kreg system.

Information on the Internet seems to be lacking, so I thought I'd ask if anyone has encountered this product yet.

As a side note, I see that Kreg will be releasing a new set of components next month called K3, which will handle variable width material. Does anyone know anything about it?

Thanks very much.

[Jeff Sudmeier]

Jerry,

I have never heard of the blackjack. However, I have the Kreg pro kit and I love it. If the blackjack is better than the Kreg, it would really be the cats meow!

[Stephen C Streetman]

Might want to check this one. The Blackjack looks almost identical but is a bit more expensive. I've had the psi for around a year but only used it 8-10 times. Has performed great for me.
http://www.pennstateind.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=PHJIG2&Category_Code=
Steve

[Jerry Golick]

Steve,

I think the difference in price might have more to do with US-CDN exchange rate than anything else, although even factoring that in, the PSI unit seems a fair bit less expensive.

From what I can see the units look identical, except for the colour. Thanks for the feedback.

[Michael Ballent]

As a side note, I see that Kreg will be releasing a new set of components next month called K3, which will handle variable width material. Does anyone know anything about it?

Thanks very much.

I have never heard of the Blackjack either, but I am really interested in the new K3. I was just about to get the K2000 Pro Pack since everyone has been raving about it and went to the Kreg home page to find out that they were coming out with a newer, more improved version... :eek: So I decided that my project can wait a spell before that version comes out. If you notice that there is some sort of conversion kit that will be coming out, so if you want to take the $$$ hit then you could buy the K2 and then get the upgrade kit down the road... I just do not want to spend the ~80 bucks for the upgrade kit so I will just wait

[Jerry Golick]

Hi Michael,

I was also trying to compare/contrast the K2 Pro and the new K3 Master. On the one hand, the K2 seems to come with more "stuff". You get multiple jigs, extensions, etc. The K3 seems to be a leaner kit. OTOH - the K3 will work with variable width material which seems like a plus to me. Of course, the Penn State variant of the blackjack (URL above) can also do this.

At $64 for the Penn State I think I may be willing to take the chance on a non-Kreg variant. I'm going to call the tomorrow to make sure I can use the jig on longer pieces and if it can, I'll order it.