Kreg R3 Jr. Pocket-Hole Jig System - Portable Kreg Pocket-Hole Jig - Easy Clamping & Adjusting - Includes Positioning Sliders - For Materials 1/2" to 1 1/2" Thick

A must have for wood workers to make perfect pocket holes every time.It is from Kregg so you know this is a quality jigA little on the pricey side but again this is Kregg so can't go wrong.

This thing works great! wish I had got one a long time ago.

I bought this jig because I was not happy with the price and quality of today's pressed board furniture pieces that are sold at department stores. Having put together small book shelves and other small projects, I was familiar with how unstable simply putting a nail into the side of a board and ending into the end of another piece of wood can be. This jig and its matching screws creates a bond which is noticeably stronger and more precise than the workmanship I previously created without the jig. I found this Kreg tool on Pintrest along with a template which another user had posted. I adjusted the template to my needs and created a dinner table without any specialized knowledge and equipment, which included some clamps, wood glue, a router, power drill, paint and stain. If you watch the Kreg videos on their site, and understand the terminology, then you could probably imagine some projects which this tool will save lots of time.The quality of the tool is a bit on the consumer side, but considering the price, I think that it is acceptable. The ruler adjustments on the bottom slide confidently into place. The metal bushing (ring in the blue plastic) really helps keep things in place and I didn't find it to be wearing out or poorly constructed after several hundred holes drilled. The price of the screws that match the tool need to be bought deliberately as the type of wood and thickness really make a difference. I haven't tried to use regular screws to save a few dollars yet, but probably won't for projects that I will use or keep for a while like dresser or tables or benches. The screws never pierce the finished surface when all your measurements are done correctly, and never seem to have trouble locking into the wood, even for soft wood like the cheap pine sold at do it yourself stores.A great tool for beginner or average joe who is looking to make some projects and save some time. With more skill you could use a router to make dovetail joints for stronger and a more professional piece. For someone without any significant training and only a little bit of experience, this tool has saved me lots of time and allowed me to do family projects I wouldn't have attempted otherwise. I don't find the price of the screws to be out of line when you look at how much features are built into the screws, self tapping, washer head with a confident square drive head make for no stress assembly. I looked at the Kreg jigs that were more expensive but decided this was a good cost for benefit factor. I didn't find any other jigs that did more for this price, for people of this skill level. When my table was assembled, I stood on it and the project didn't even creak, squeak or wobble. Measure, Drill, Glue, clamp and screw to perfection. :)

UPDATE:Well I finally got to the point in my big project where I needed to use this jig.There are a few points I will mention:1. I really don't know HOW you would use this effectively if you didn't have thespecial Kreg jig vise-grip. Seems to me absolutely necessary for efficient usage.2. For joining a 2x2 to the top of a 2x4, drilling the pocket into the side of a 2x2 is not handy.They need to sell a narrower 1-hole version for that.As it is, it's a bit tricky to get one of the sides lined up in the center of the 2x2. Onlyone of the 'edge holders' is on the wood, the other is 'floating', or you have to get aseparate clamp to hold 2 boards together with the butt ends matching, which ends upbeing an ok solution, but is as I say above, not 'handy'.3. One time the plastic 'clips' that hold the jig based at a certain wood thickness let goand I didn't notice it immediately and I drilled a couple holes with the wrong setting.After that I was careful NOT to touch or push on that part of the jig and had no further issues.4. I was using the jig on pressure treated wood, and had to knock the sawdust outof the jig between each drilling. A couple hard taps against a hard surface were required,otherwise packed sawdust often remained in the jig, and the next drilling would then takea lot more pressure and time.5. It's not an issue with the jig, but FYI: the Kreg washerhead screws do not 'hold' the square bit aswell as 'normal' washerhead squarehead screws do. The bit has a major tendency to jump outunless you run the gun slow and steady and careful. I think this is due to the fact thatthe kreg screwhead has blue paint inside the socket which doesn't allow the bit to seat as deeply,and the washerhead at least *seems* to be thinner than a 'normal' washerhead screw.END UPDATEI thought some other Kreg Jig noobies out there might find the following info useful:I bought this jig to join 2x2's to 2x4's (which are both of course actually 1.5" wide). That is the largest size wood that this jig is recommended for. I drill the pocket into the side of a 2x2, and attach it to the thin edge of a 2x4.When I got the jig, I immediately tried to set it up for joining 1 1/2" wood. The jig itself was easy to set. Couldn't be simpler.But when I went to set the depth collar on the drill bit, I got confused...The drill collar guide has markings on it which show where to put the collar for each of the main wood thicknesses. Every wood thickness has it's own mark, EXCEPT the 1 1/4" wood thickness, and the 1 1/2" thickness. There is one mark for both of these. ALSO, that mark sets the collar SHORTER than the mark for 1 1/8" (and much shorter than the 1 3/8" mark)! I couldn't figure it out...BUT it turns out this is exactly correct. This 'strangeness' is caused by the fact that the recommended screw lengths change. Forexample, when changing from joining 1 3/8" thick wood, to joining 1 1/2" wood, the recommended screw length goes up by 1/2". Sowith only a 1/8" thicker piece of wood, the pocket can't be drilled as deep, or the screw will poke thru. And it is simple coincidencethat the 1 1/4" pocket and 1 1/2" pocket are drilled the same depth.The R3 Jr. manual is VERY minimal, but the K3 manual (which you can find online as a PDF file with a little googling) is much larger and goes into detail on how to determine screw lengths and shows diagrams on why the pockets are drilled to thedepth they are. It also has a LOT more info on how to join different types of surfaces (mitered joints, etc).