I am making two nightstands. The legs are made of 3/4x2" cherry and the aprons are 3/4"x1.5". The aprons have 2 pocket screws in either end.
When I screw the aprons into the legs so that it is into the 3/4" thickness, the legs split. I tried clamping them first so they can't split, but they do as soon as I take the clamp off.
I made one already. I got glue into the split and clamped it tight. It held together, so I guess it is fixed, but I would prefer to avoid the split. Any suggestions? I expect a pilot hole would help, but am not sure how that would work. You blunt nails to avoid splitting... would blunting the screws help? I could use 1" screws instead of the proper 1 1/4" screws; but it would weaken the table.
On Facebook I saw a demo of a guy heating the screws in a propane torch first and that stopped them from splitting. Sound silly, but it worked in the demo.
Okay, I shouldn't have made the legs 3/4", but since I did, how can I avoid splitting.