I’ve owned this Kreg jig for over 25 years. In fact, I believe this is the first style of Kreg Jig that was ever sold. I bought it at The Woodworking Show when they were worth going to before the age of the internet. It’s worked well over the years, but I noticed that I would have to back the bit out to remove the shavings before I could reach the final hole depth. Wasn’t a huge deal but it did make drilling pocket holes tougher.
Then yesterday I went to Lowes to buy more screws when I decided to buy the small kit that came with a new drill bit for $20. My bit was duller than shit from years of use and I wanted the single pocket jig anyway for drilling pockets in narrow wood. The bit itself is about $14 so the kit was a no-brainer.
I noticed the new jig has a relief hole right behind the metal collar to allow for chip removal while my original one didn’t have that.
So, I took my jig to the drill press and drilled a couple of 11/32″ holes behind the metal collars. Stupidily simple.
Sure enough, the holes worked perfectly removing the chips. Twenty five years of using this damn thing and it could have been so much better had I just thought about the chip removal issue for a minute.
The other improvement with the latest versions are the ability to use singly, couple together, or couple with a spacer to spread them out. And the new bits have a guide on them to tell where to put the stop collar based on thickness of wood.
“Continuous quality improvement”
Yeah, I’m way behind on the Kreg technology I just bought this thing and never bothered with the new jigs. I was considering the one with a table for $400 a few years back but it seemed kind of junky for the price.
KREG used to resharpen bit for 1 dollar if u mailed it to them wihth a note and reuturn address,
Really? Do they still do that?