How to stop wood from splitting?

[Wade Lippman]

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.

[Mel Fulks]

Bees wax works the best ,but paraffin wax ,or even furniture paste wax helps. Use two sizes of drill bits . Largest size close as possible to size
of beefy part . Smaller diameter bit for the threads. Test on some left over wood scraps, to “be sure you are right, then…go ahead “.

[Michael Burnside]

For sure you need pilot holes with something that small, no question. You barely need the threads to grab and with a little glue they'll be strong enough. I had this happen on some smaller legs made of maple and as an extra step, I had to drill a 3/8 hole and insert a longer dowel with a little glue to shore up the leg. This gave something for the screw to bite into and prevented the leg from spilling again.

[John TenEyck]

What you are doing sounds no different than building face frames. That stock typically is 3/4". So I don't understand why you are having trouble. 1-1/4" screws are the right length, but they need to be the fine thread ones made for hardwood. Is that what you are using? If yes, and the problem is the leg is splitting when you drive the outboard screw, then that means that screw needs to be further away from the end. There should be no need to wax, heat, etc. the screws, but if it helps, so be it.

John

[Mel Fulks]

I see it in a different way. Who among us has not bought knocked down furniture that came with those skinny screws ? Did they hold?

[Tom Levy]

As John said above, you could have an incorrect pocket screw setup. Re-check your drill jig setting and drill bit collar setting, if they are going in too close you'll split even if using the right screws. There isn't a way to pre-drill the leg piece with pocket screws that I'm aware, but they are designed to be used without pre-drilling with the correct screw type/length. The caveat is ensuring the setup/operation procedure is followed exactly as specified.

[John TenEyck]

Maybe you haven't used pocket screws, Mel, or perhaps not the Kreg jig. You only pre-drill the piece with the pocket, in this case the rail. The drill has a step in it. When properly set up, it drills both the pocket and pilot hole for the threaded section of the screw, but it does not drill out the end of the piece. Then the two pieces are firmly clamped together, and the screw is inserted and driven through the remaining, unbored section of the first piece and into the also unbored second piece. It's been that way since the invention of the Kreg jig for drilling pocket holes. When set up properly they work w/o splitting, unless you get too close to the end of a piece, as discussed above.

John

[Mel Fulks]

John, thanks for more detail. If I ever used those, it’s forgotten now !

[Patty Hann]

Bees wax works the best ,but paraffin wax ,or even furniture paste wax helps. ...“.

Sorry for the minor thread hijack, but I have to ask this...
Why is beeswax superior to paraffin? My Dad kept a chunk of Beeswax in his shop for greasing screws, but I never thought to ask him why he just didn't use an old candle or [canning] paraffin wax.
So why is beeswax the "bees knees" when it comes to greasing screws?

[Myles Moran]

Just to verify, are you using the actual pocket screws? They have self drilling cut in their tip, vs a pan head screw that might not. That feature helps with splitting when driving the screw into something without a pilot hole.

[Kevin Jenness]

When I use pocket screws on dense wood close to the end of a stile I use a 1/8" x 6" aircraft drill to drill a pilot hole. Self-drilling screws help, but they don't clear the swarf. Drill first and there's room for the screw.

[Michael Burnside]

When I use pocket screws on dense wood close to the end of a stile I use a 1/8" x 6" aircraft drill to drill a pilot hole. Self-drilling screws help, but they don't clear the swarf. Drill first and there's room for the screw.

Amen, exactly. Clamp together, drill pilot with 6" bit, insert pocket screw, done. I don't do it often, but in the context of the OP's post, I most certainly would. I'd even do here if I used my Castle pocket hole router that goes in only 3-degrees vs. 15 of Kreg and other versions. I'm sort of shaking my head here thinking people don't realize YES we understand how pocket holes work! We're not the ones confused

[Jim Becker]

To add to the discussion, are you using the fine threaded pocket screws intended for hardwoods or the coarse threaded pocket screws intended for softwoods? They are both self-drilling into the non drilled side of the joint, but the former have a bigger bite that can sometimes cause splitting in hardwoods, especially when a piece of wood may have some internal stuff going on.

[Lee Schierer]

Sorry for the minor thread hijack, but I have to ask this...
Why is beeswax superior to paraffin? My Dad kept a chunk of Beeswax in his shop for greasing screws, but I never thought to ask him why he just didn't use an old candle or [canning] paraffin wax.
So why is beeswax the "bees knees" when it comes to greasing screws?

Bees wax tends to be softer and will stick to the threads. Paraffin tends to be flakey and falls off the screw. Bees wax also has a lower melting point than most candle paraffin

[Patty Hann]

Bees wax tends to be softer and will stick to the threads. Paraffin tends to be flakey and falls off the screw. Bees wax also has a lower melting point than most candle paraffin

Ah, I see.... thank you.