Pocket Holes in place of sliding dovetail

[Chris Lindell]

Looking to build a portable podium for my church and would like to make it quickly, so I'd like to use pocket holes, but am not sure about their strength. Anybody seen or used pocket holes on the legs like in the drawing? It's a 1.5" square cut down to an octagon, the top is 16" by 28".
I'm also contemplating going to a hexagon and only three feet since they also want to use it outside.

Thanks in advance!

Chris

[glenn bradley]

My gut tells me that the 2 or 3 inches of post that all four legs attach to may become structurally weak with pocket screws entering on every face. Just a feeling. I would test it with some scrap.

If you have a router table, sliding DT's can be pretty quick. Then again; 4 dovetails into a 1.5" square with material already removed . . . Is it something like this? What is your material?

[Chris Lindell]

Yup, that's what I was thinking, or go to a tripod to reduce legs and leave more wood down there? The reason I'm going 1.5" square is because the existing one is a 2x2 nailed between two pieces of plywood and they like the size of the post - it allows them to pick it up with one hand. Maybe if I took up turning I could make something much better for the post, but I don't have that much shop time. A 3 year old son and 3 week old son kinda keep my wife and myself rather busy. Any alternative ideas or better methods, are greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Edit: Forgot to mention I'm using maple - my supplier calls it "long leaf maple".

[Michael Schwartz]

if you want something fast threaded rod and epoxy would probably be much stronger than the pocket screws.

If your confident I would really suggest just trying the sliding dovetail, otherwise a floating tennon is very fast and also strong. All it requires you to do is to reference a mortise off both flat faces.

[Chris Lindell]

Michael - Do you think there would be enough material left in the bottom to do 4 feet into that 1.5" square? Confidence is never my problem. Ask my wife and she'll tell you there's an overabundance of it. I'll try any project after a bunch of study and asking questions of those who know more than I do.

[Chris Lindell]

Here's another version I whipped up a few minutes ago, making a 3x3 base that tapers down to the 1.5x1.5 for the main post. I think this will be a lot easier to put dovetails in.