pocket hole problem

[Rob Blaustein]

Quick question (while my wife yells at me that we're late for dinner)--I had a problem today with stripping out while driving Kreg pocket hole screws. I'm butt joining two pieces of 3/4 inch poplar and using the 1 1/4 inch fine threaded screws. Is poplar considered a soft wood and should I be using the coarse screws. That's what I'll try tomorrow, but I thought I'd ask if that was the way to go, or if others had similar problems. Thanks, and happy new year to all.
-Rob

[Bartee Lamar]

I use coarse on Poplar. No problem.

[Fred Voorhees]

I've just recently added face frames to two corner hutches constructed of poplar and I used 1 1/4" course screws and had no problem.

[Chris Rosenberger]

Poplar is a soft hardwood.

[Mark Rios]

Poplar is a soft hardwood.


According to the book,"Woodworking with Wood" by kram soir, Poplar is a hard softwood.:D

[Dale Thompson]

Rob,
If I ever have a question about "hard" vs. "soft" wood, I just turn down the clutch setting on the driver and increase it until the head of the screw is below the surface of the wood. Remember that the glue is going to be your primary source of strength. :)

If you are using the Kreig Jig, I've noticed that their drill bit settings are a bit conservative. I usually have to back off the stop-collar just a little to make sure that the "shank hole" portion of the bit penetrates the drilled piece. If that is not the case, you will probably strip out your screws no matter how you approach the problem. :( ;) :) Good luck!

Dale T.

[Rob Blaustein]

OK, coarse it is--I'll try them in the morning.

Do people generally use glue with their pocket holes? I thought Kreg says they are optional. I also figured that gluing end grain in a butt joint didn't have too much holding power and that most of the strength came from the pocket screws and not the glue.

[Steve Clardy]

I glue all my face frames, etc, with pocket screws.

[Jay T. Marlin]

Try the course screws. I use them for poplar, softwood, plywood, and MDF joints. Don't use em on normal hardwoods though as the woods will tend to split.

[John Miliunas]

Rob, unless I'm building something with pocket screws, which I plan on to disassemble, I skip the glue, but that's rare. Otherwise, like the others have said, glue and screw! :D :cool:

[Tom Drake]

Use the course scrfews and glue.

[Frank Pellow]

Only this week I started to use the Kreg pocket hole gizmo that I got for Christmas in 2004. I figured that the best way to learn was to build some of the futniture in this book (http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=52737&cat=1,46096,46111) by Danny Proulx. Danny certainly recommends using glue as well as screws. And, so far, in my limited experience, it appears to me the the joints are better becuase of the glue.

[Rob Johnson]

For face frames, I use the KREG <!--StartFragment --> 1-1/2", #7 Fine, Washer-Head screws in harwood (Oak)... They give more holding power due to the fact that they are 1/4" longer than the recommended 1-1/4" screws for this process...

You might try using for sure the KREG 1-1/4", #8 Coarse, Washer-Head screws and I would even go so far as to use 1-1/2", #8 Coarse, Washer-Head screws in Poplar... I recommend making a test piece to be sure it doesn't split or point through...

This face frame was made using 1-1/2", #7 Fine, Washer-Head screws...

<!--StartFragment -->

[Russ Massery]

They do make a screw just for poplar it's double lead thread (course & fine in one).They call them Hi-Lo screws. I've just used course in the past. Also backed down on the clutch on my drill to prevent from stripping them.

[Mark Singer]

Rob,
Make sure your depth of drilling with the collar is correct. There is a setting for each thickness...also check the set up...3/4 gets no riser....1/2" gets a small riser....1 1/2" the jig is raised on a pedistal in the kit...

[Rob Blaustein]

Coarse plus glue seems to be working better. Mark, I think it's set up properly (no riser or spacer). I could back off on the depth collar a bit so that the screw penetrates a little further, but I'll probably leave it as is. Thanks everyone for the advice.