Ever Break Off Pocket Hole Screws Assembling a Piece

[George Bokros]

I was assembling an unseen substructure piece and I broke off three pocket hole screws. How to recover?? The only way I see is to make new pieces. Disappointing for sure.

Anyone else have this kind of luck?

[Matt Day]

Nope.

Kreg screws? Drill/Driver or Impact? Hardwood, Softwood, ply? Course or fine or combo thread?

If you're breaking screws I can only guess you're tightening them too much, or possibly got a bad batch of screws.

[Jim Riseborough]

redrill, should be hidden anyway right?

[George Bokros]

Nope.

Kreg screws? Drill/Driver or Impact? Hardwood, Softwood, ply? Course or fine or combo thread?

If you're breaking screws I can only guess you're tightening them too much, or possibly got a bad batch of screws.

Kreg screws, drill/driver - 14 volt Milwaukee, White oak. fine thread screws

Just bought the screws yesterday at Woodcraft. They are the new bight screws as opposed to the darker colored ones I purchased long time ago. Needed 1 1/2" for 1" thick material.

[George Bokros]

redrill, should be hidden anyway right?


Would be difficult to drill them out of part "B".

[Cary Falk]

I have never broke one. I strip them out more than anything. I use both a drill and impact.

[John TenEyck]

I just broke three in a row driving them into white ash with my 18V impact driver. Switched to my 12V driver and broke no more. I left the broken off ones where they were, drilled another hole with a twist drill through the pocket hole at a slight angle to clear the busted end of the screw, and drove another screw. Looks perfect.

John

[Mike Circo]

Working extremely dense hardwoods, I always plan to wax the screws first.
I have a tub of old wax and just stick the screws about to be used into the wax. Then when I grab one, its ready to go.
I cannot tell you how many times I've snapped off multiple screws in a project (most recent was hickory) but when I remembered to wax them I had no problems.

Just be sure you don't over wax and have it squeeze out onto the surface. Of if it does, clean off with mineral spirits.

[George Bokros]

Never had to wax pocket hole screws but usually wax all other screws when using red oak. Thanks for reminding me. I will drill a pilot hole and wax the screws.

[Gail Ludwig]

I wax my screws and always use a hand racheting screwdriver when putting in pocket screws. I tried using my impact driver, but felt like I didn't have enough control over the speed and torque of the screws. I like to "feel" the screws going in and snugging up to the adjoining piece. I lose that touch with the impact driver.

[Ralph Okonieski]

I've broken one or two, but not on the same project. I still believe it was my fault tightening too tight using (12v) impact driver. I used Kreg brand screws. Not sure the wood but suspect I was using white oak.

[Brian Henderson]

I can't remember ever breaking any Kreg screws regardless of the wood I'm driving into. Of course, I don't get ridiculous tightening them, I keep the torque relativele low on my driver and they seat fine and, at least so far, have not broken.

[Dan Hahr]

If I can break a screw driving into any kind of hardwood I don't use them. I will either strip out the hole or strip out the head but I've never broken one of the Quickscrews brand that I use. I test them by driving them into solid oak, no pilot hole. But I'm just starting a new box of 1000, so with my luck they will start snapping.

Dan

[Ole Anderson]

Didn't the older brownish Kreg screws have a coating that helped with this issue, kind of like wax? I liked their look better when left exposed as I often use the truss head screws in non-pocket situations. Disappointed they are not available any more.

[George Bokros]

I pre-drilled the hole in piece "B" and waxed the screws and no problems.

[Charles Lent]

Pocket hole screws are tough, but don't survive impact drivers. I prefer using an electric screwdriver. It's a little slower, but you can feel when the screw head bottoms out. Get yourself one of the single pocket hole guides and clamp it adjacent to your broken screw pocket hole and drill a new hole. Then install the screw (with wax) using a screwdriver or electric screwdriver. I keep one of these single wide Kreg drill guides handy for adding pocket holes during assembly when I find that I have forgotten one, or when something goes wrong, requiring a new pocket hole where the big pocket hole guide cannot be used. I hate the sight of pocket holes, but like the quick assembly that is possible by using them, so I only use them where the completed project assembly makes them invisible (underneath, inside and hidden, etc.

Charley

[J.R. Rutter]

I use an aircraft bit to predrill very hard woods that will put a lot of torque on the screws otherwise, like jatoba and hickory. Basically it is a 6" long twist bit and lets you glue, clamp, then drill down through the pocket hole into the adjoining part. I also use it to redrill if a screw breaks, like John mentioned above.

[Edwin Santos]

I pre-drilled the hole in piece "B" and waxed the screws and no problems.

Hi, could you elaborate on what you mean by pre-drilling the hole in piece "B"?

I thought the method of using the Kreg jig or even Ritter machines was to drill the pocket hole into piece "A" and come close but not pierce through the back. Then assemble the joint, clamped or not, and drive the screw all the way through piece A and into piece B.

In your case, did you clamp together your pieces and then follow the first pocket hole into piece B with a drill bit?

I have a Kreg jig. It has it's purposes but I've never been that fond of it. A lot of clamping seems to make things better, but I'm interested in what you in my search for a better experience with this thing.

Thanks

[George Bokros]

I clamped the the two pieces together and drilled through the pocket hole into the second piece (Piece "B") then drove the screw.

[lowell holmes]

No I have not. I would expect wood fibers to give way first.

Maybe your screws are at fault.

[Paul Wolf]

I've been using these (http://www.cshardware.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=Dri-lube+square+round+washer+head) since Kreg stopped selling their dri-lube pocket screws. These appear to be very, very similar if not the identical item and I've have had good luck using them. Disclaimer: I have no relationship with the company other than being a satisfied customer.

[George Bokros]

Guess we have come upon the reason for my problem. The new Kreg screws are different, they are not dry pre-lubed. Guess for all new screws we will need to use beeswax.

[Dan Hahr]

Predrilling, waxing, can't use your impact driver.....

I thought the point of pocket screws was to speed things up.

Seriously, try some new screws before you go to all that extra trouble.

Dan