Make your own Kreg plugs?

[DK]

Anyone come up with a jig plan for making your own pocket-hole plugs from 3/8" dowel rod?

Hey, just call me a cheap bastard!

"If you can't beat them, arrange to have them beaten." ---George Carlin

[Runnonmt]

I make em all the time, cut them freehand on bandsaw, glue them in place and sand em smooth

Rusty

[Joe]

I wouldn't call you cheap. The dam plugs cost over 5 bucks a bag.

[CW]

[Traves W. Coppock]

On Sat, 27 Sep 2003 03:27:39 GMT, DK Crawled out of the shop and said. . .:

that's not called cheap, its called frugal! hehe

i make my own from dowels and sand them smooth after cutting them almost flush with a 0 offset backsaw

T

[Groggy]

That's right, frugal. Cheap is when you drill the plugs from your neighbor's letterbox.

Greg

[Traves W. Coppock]

On Sat, 27 Sep 2003 08:02:56 GMT, "Groggy" Crawled out of the shop and said. . .:

ok,,,so im cheap

*G* T

[Eddie Munster]

I might be wrong but I thought the kreg plugs were not from dowel stock. Such that the finished surface is not endgrain but "sidegrain" so it finishes up nicer for a better match.

Not that I have ever used them.

John

CW wrote:

[Leon]

They are from dowel stock cut at an angle such that the end grain is spread over an inch and a half width. Essentially this creates the illusion of long grain when looked at from the cut side of the dowel.

[DK]

Thanks for the tips. I was doing some freehand too, but thought someone would have come up with a jig to make consistent length & angled plugs. If I come up with something worthwhile, I'll post it!

Thanks for the good ideas!

DK

"If you can't beat them, arrange to have them beaten." ---George Carlin

[Joe Gorman]

I;m surprised no one else came up with this.

1. Drill a pocket hole in a rectangular scrap.
2. Attach this to another rectangle at the edge to make a 90.
3. Attach a runner to the bottom piece so it can be slid along the bandsaw with the upright barely clear of the blade.
4. Cut the dowel into pieces just long enough to make 2 plugs. I thought about using full dowels but you will eventually get to a this short of a length or use the end of the dowel elsewhere. And this doesn't require puching the jig along the blade with 3' of dowel sticking out.
5. > Thanks for the tips. I was doing some freehand too, but thought

[Barry Lennox]

For "nice" furniture, or where the plug will be very visible, I insert a rough plug of dowel then lay in sidegrain circles cut from 3mm ply. I use a sharpened piece of hobby brass tube with a few teeth filed in it to cut the ply circles.

The rough plug needs to sit exactly 3mm lower than the surface so that the ply circle sits cleanly on top. So I have a "plug driving jig" that does that. It's a piece of hardwood with a 3mm thick washer expoxied to the bottom. Tap it down flush with the surface, and the washer drives the plug 3mm low.

Barry Lennox

[DK]

Damn good idea! But the plug will appear to be oval- or elliptical- shaped, and you're cutting out a round piece of veneer. How do you match the shape?

Thanks DK

"If you can't beat them, arrange to have them beaten." ---George Carlin

[DK]

I think I have the idea, but do you have a way to cut the angle on the screw-end of the plug? Not that it's a critical angle, but it's not 90 degrees either.

Thanks! DK

"If you can't beat them, arrange to have them beaten." ---George Carlin

[CW]

Yes it is.