Kreg K4 Pocket Hole System
This is a great tool for the hobbyist who is looking to make pocket holes in your DIY projects.
The main unit consists of a fairly sturdy base with a metal drill guide. The locking handle firmly keeps your work piece in place while you drill your holes. The simple handle and depth control is intuitive and easy to setup. It comes in handy if you have a number of pieces of wood to drill.
While the base sits steady on a workbench, you need to clamp it to keep it in place. It also has screw holes to mount it to a bench or a DIY jig. It depends on how fast you intend to drill here. I’ve drilled with and without a clamp and the jig will move a little bit.
The Kreg clamp it came with has a relatively small jaw that doesn’t fit the bench below which is the height of a 2×4 and a sheet of 3/4″ plywood. The Kreg Clamp in this set is a face clap. The face clamp is good for holding 2 boards (i.e. 3/4″ pine boards) together after they have been drilled.
When I looked at the box, I thought it was a bigger 3″ clamp. So there’s an Irwin clamp in the picture. There is a nice little shroud to attach a vacuum to so you can remove the sawdust fairly steadily so you don’t need to slow down (this depends on the kit you get).
The drill bit and drive bit are the standard high quality bits which comes with other Kreg kits. As long as you set the stopper correctly, you’ll have no problem. I have used this bit countless times and it is not showing any wear yet. Most of my work is done with pine, poplar and plywood. I use this drill bit on a few 2×4 and 2×3 applications with success as well.
What is nice about the kit is that it comes with a Big kit of screws which are commonly used. This case is well built with a screw guide and another solid piece by Kreg. The case alone was a bonus to me as it is well built.
Summary
All in all, this is a great kit for the average hobbyist for weekend projects. If you are into woodworking and woodworking projects, this would be a staple in the woodshop. If I had one con about this is that I have drilled a few pieces and shaved some of the blue plastic off, but I think that was me, not the kit. The other thing is, it does not come with a case to store it in. I gather it is because it is meant to stay on a workbench to be used frequently.
You do have to look at the various K4 kits that are sold as some will come with a Kreg clamp, some with a screw set, vacuum shroud, etc. I got this after I bought the Kreg R3 jig. They do package them differently store to store and online, so just make note of what you plan to buy.
Thanks for reading,
Scottie