Customer Reviews

Kreg R3 Jr. Pocket Hole Jig System

5 star:		(116)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I read a quick review of this kit in Fine Woodworking and needed to drill some pocket holes for a workbench I'm building. Great little tool and does exactly what it says. At first I thought it felt a little flimsy (the actual hole jig is all plastic except for the two drill guides) but it's super sturdy and dead accurate.

I also purchased a bunch of Kreg screws to go with it, but the kit comes with 100 or so of various sizes and those will probably be the only ones I need for this project. But, you can never have too many screws in enough sizes!

After years of watching my Good Buddy Norm Abram on the New Yankee Workshop rave about the Kreg Pocket Screw System, I was all set to get started with it,

Kreg makes many versions of their pocket hole system tools and this Kreg K3 Master Pocket Hole system has recently come out. It works like a charm.

Their least expensive kit is the Kreg MLJKIT Mini Kreg Jig Kit, which is about as basic as you can imagine, was not going to work for me.

Kreg makes all kinds of machines to make pocket holes, from their DK5100 monster for almost seven grand, to the before mentioned Mini.

This one is Just Right.

The R3 comes in a cute little plastic box, which appears sturdy enough, and has all you really need for an occasional pocket hole.

(A pocket hole is a way of drilling at an angle, a hole which allows special screws to tightly pull together two pieces of wood. It is a very efficient, fast and easy to use way of making face frames, or to basically join any two pieces of wood together.)

This kit has the duel jig which lets you drill two holes, side-by-side (or you can just use one of the holes), and on the sides there are plastic slides which let you dial in the width of the board you will be drilling. The adjustable depth can be varied from 1/2" to 1 1/2".

The special drill bit rests in the case and can be adjusted to the corresponding depth by loosening and tightening an adjustable collar with the provided allen wrench.

It takes longer to explain it than to do it.

After making the holes, you drill the special screws with the very long square drive. You can see the two pieces of wood drawn together.

The only thing I need now is the Kreg RAC Angle Clamp. It is kinda a pain to clamp the jig to the wood being drilled with small clamps. The Angle Clamp (as demonstrated by my good buddy Norm) makes this part look very easy.

This jig paid for itself in the first project that I used it on. Now I'll have to find other uses for it.

This product is great.
The jig is small so it can be used in relatively tight space.
The case is handy and the instructions clear.

A good addition to this kit would be to purchase the Kreg clamp but a third party clamp would do perfectly too.

The kit comes with several screws but in very small quantities. I strongly suggest buying the screw assortments that Kreg provides right away.

Saw this item used on "Cool Tools" and figured id give it a try. 3 words, Absolutely love it. Create quick solid joints without having to wait for glue to set. Great for quick little projects where I don't feel like breaking out the plate joiner/glue or make Tenons/Mortises. However its still strong enough for cabinets. The case is small enough to not take up any more of my already limited storage space and still has room to store all my accompanying accessories. The chart on the inside of the case takes all the guess work out of which screws to use with which size/type wood. Even more helpful on the inside of the case is the measuring guide for setting the drill bit depth. I don't know about the rest of you users but while convenient for the measuring guide, keeping the inside plastic seemed like such a waste of storage space for me. The jig it self is very easy to use with preset sizes just a click away. Overall I love this tool and it has more then paid for its self as far as I am concerned.

My one bit of advice, make sure you have a very strong clamp otherwise the jig will slide sideways when you start drilling.

This product does what no other product on the market will do, drill precise holes for joining wood. I bought this product because I needed a way to join the face frame to a TV cabinet I was building and the Kreg Pocket Hole Jig did a wonderful job.

I bought this thinking I would be using it to build some cabinets and bookcases, however the first project it was used for was to attach a handrail to an end post. I have to say this worked great. The only issue I have with it is the adjustable depth guides seem a little cheap and could possibly wear out rather quickly. The other is the markings in the bit holder to help you adjust the depth of the stop collar, it could be off as much as an 1/8" depending where the bit is resting. The plastic tray in the case is very light weight plastic and won't stand up to any sort of abuse. So if it breaks you'll be out your collar adjustment guide.

Don't get me wrong, I love this tool. Considering the price of this one and the next level up, I think I can deal with a few trimmed corners.

This kit gets you in the game with pocket joinery. I bought this to build a few face frames for some bookshelves. It worked great, but I would also recommend the bench clamp they sell in order to hold the joints flush while assembling. The first few joints I made, the faces of the frames were not flush by about 1/64", when I just held the two pieces of wood to the workbench with my hand.
Also, this comes with just a handful of pocket screws to get you started.

I'm one of those people who only read directions if I can't figure out how to use something intuitively. By attempt #4, I was an expert user. LOL.

I don't have dado blades for making dado joints, nor do I own a dovehole jig. I HATE 45 angle joints with a passion! Most of my joining is plain, old-fashioned, line'er up butt joints.

15 years ago, I'd seen this tool demo'd at a huge woodworking show I was wandering through in Portland OR. It has stuck in my mind as a "must have" slick jig tool, all these years. I couldn't remember the name, but I sure remembered "slanty holes" and tried to find something locally. You should see what Home Depot sells--talk about awkward and tomfoolery! YUCKERS!!

This is everything I remembered, and thanks to Amazon, I now know its name is KREG.

I'd just never had a need for it before now. I'm "retired now" you know, and have never been busier! LOL

Now, in my 60s, I have time to screen in a front porch, (done!) install headers for the transom above my new door, (done) and remodel my own bathroom to install a jacuzzi. (THAT IS NEXT! LOL!)

I remembered my "wow" impression for butt joining wall studs and headers with this "blue tool." I went to Amazon to find the best price., and it was received in the mail almost before I had time to turn around. THANKS!

NOW, I'll read the directions. (grin)

This is the greatest thing since sliced bread.

So many others have commented on this...I'm gonna contrast this $40 version against the $20 unit (which was my decision point).

I'm contrasting this against the "Kreg MKJKIT Mini Kreg Jig Kit" (aka, the $20 unit. )

I would definitely advise paying the $40 for this version of the tool.

#1. This one has the "depth slides" on the side of the blue box. It allows you to set the proper distance (based on the thickness of the stock).
Aka, if I'm putting pocket holes into 1" thick wood, the "slide adjustments" on the side of this unit allow that to be set in seconds. Then you clamp, and you're drilling in no time. I did not see these on the $20 version.

This has a "clamp holder" piece. Basically, if you get any "official" kreg clamps with a round quarter sized end, you can slide the clamp into this accessory piece ...and do your clamping a little faster. I am using non-kreg C clamps for myself, so this is optional, but a nice little feature.

This unit has 2 side by side drill holes. I like this because I can get a little more strength in my work piece and the 2 side by side screws look really sharp. Using the $20 unit and doing it manually by measuring would just take more time, and not be perfect each time. You of course don't have to put in 2 pocket holes (you can do just one)....but I find myself going ahead and putting the 2 holes at the same time, for a little more strength and not much more effort.

This version has the screw-driving-bit already in the kit. This is the bit that drives the special kreg screws. (Or it may just be a regular square bit..regardless, its in the kit)

This has a little pocket case that keeps everything nice and more importantly "together" so you don't lose any pieces. with my ability to lose tools, this may have been the extra $20 by itself. The pocket case allows you to "snap in" all of the hardware parts. Aka, its not just loose pieces in the case rattling around. Everything besides the screw-samples and plug-samples have their own snap-in-place in the case. Nice work kreg!

The kit comes with a few screws and plugs. That allows you to do some testing without buying a big lot of screws. Just a nice-i-ty I guess.

........

The $20 version is GREAT as well. But I do NOT regret paying the $40 for this version. The first time I made some pocket holes, and felt those screws bring everything nice and tight........I was like "This is AWESOME". It'll probably change the way I make little projects from now on.

............

You need to get (at least) one of the versions ($20 or $40 (or more of course)). But I highly recommend the $40 version.

Some hints:
Visit www.kregjig.com and look at the PDF user manuals. They have the screw size -to- wood thickness guides in them. Aka, if you have 3/4" thick wood pieces, it'll tell you what length screws to get, and whether you should get fine or course screws.

..........

KREG has a great little business model with these and these things rock.

Note: amazon prices were similar to local retail stores for the unit themselves. The screws were actually cheaper locally.....just do some checking before you do the "amazon is cheaper" assumption. I love amazon!.....but I love supporting my local economy as well.

Works as advertised. I have used this a lot in the past month and it works great every time. I have not had any problems with the product. It comes in very handy for me, because I don't have a lot of tools to make fancy joinery. I was able to make a nice blanket chest and a children's train table using this pocket hole jig.

The only negative I had was with the super saver shipping offered by amazon. It took about 11 days for the product to arrive at my house. That seems a bit excessive.