Company history

Great product ideas sometimes emerge when two different disciplines such as woodworking and metalworking collide. In 1986 Craig Sommerfeld was in the process of building his house and needed to find a way to attach his doweled face frames to his kitchen cabinet carcase members. A tool and die maker by trade, but a woodworker out of necessity, Craig had a problem. Not wanting to nail them on and then fill with putty, he designed and built "Craig’s Jig" which was a single-hole pocket hole jig crafted from steel and aluminum that allowed him to attach the face frames from the inside of the cabinet where the joint could be hidden from view. Encouraged by friends and co-workers, Craig built a few more jigs and set out to show them to the public at a woodworking show. What Craig found at these woodworking shows was an audience who had no knowledge of the joining method he was promoting, however they were very interested in learning about a new way to build woodworking projects. So… week after week, month after month, year after year, Craig would build his product during the week and promote them at the weekend woodworking shows. Hundreds of trade shows and thousands of demonstrations later Kreg Tool Company has emerged as the leader in Pocket Hole Technology. From the manual K3 Kreg Jig® to the fully-automatic Pro Series machines, Kreg offers a simple solution that has changed the way thousands of woodworkers join wood.

In 2003, Kreg diversified its product offerings by adding a category of products named Precision Measuring Systems. These products consist of a Precision Miter Gauge, Precision Band Saw Fence, and Precision Trak and Stop Kit that enable a tablesaw, band saw, and miter saw to cut more accurately and consistently than ever before.

THE POCKET HOLE TECHNIQUE:

Pocket Hole Joinery in its’ simplest terms is drilling a hole at an angle into one workpiece and then joining it to a second workpiece with a self-tapping screw. This technique was actually invented by the Egyptians as they clamped two workpieces together and then bored a hole at an angle from one workpiece into the second workpiece. They then inserted a dowel with some glue and cut it off flush with the surface. This technique continued to evolve over the years into two main joinery methods, doweling and more recently, pocket hole joinery. The modern pocket hole joint grew in popularity with the creation of the self-tapping screw in the 1980’s which eliminated the need to drill into the second workpiece altogether.

Why is pocket hole joinery so popular? Mainly because of its speed, strength and simplicity. Speed comes from the fact that the self-tapping screw eliminates the need to pre-drill the mating workpiece, which avoids many alignment problems caused by having to layout and drill for aligning fasteners as with dowel, biscuit, and mortise and tenon joints. Secondly, the self-tapping screw also serves as an internal clamp, which eliminates clamping the joint as the glue dries. This saves the investment in various clamping devices, the time and frustration of clamping, as well as the problems associated with pulling the assembly out of square with clamping pressure.

The strength of a pocket hole joint can be explained with two simple statements. First, a mechanical screw has physical properties that make it stronger than a biscuit, dowel, or tenon. Secondly, the amount of constant clamping force placed on the joint line by driving the screw combined with today’s glue technology makes for an incredibly strong wood-to-wood bond.

PRODUCTS:

With products ranging from $13 up to $7,499 USD Kreg offers a full-line of pocket hole tools to fit every budget and production schedule. Three manual tools; the Mini Kreg Jig®, RocketTM Jig, and K3 Kreg Jig® offer inexpensive solutions for individuals looking to get started with pocket hole joinery, while the semi-automatic Foreman machine and the fully-automatic Pro Series machines offer larger shops the speed and durability needed to produce production pocket holes. Our newest line of Precision Measuring products are premium accessory upgrades to make the woodworking machines in your shop more accurate and easy to use.

Kreg products are available through distribution outlets across the United States, Canada, the UK, Australia, and more. You can also see Kreg products in action at various woodworking trade shows throughout the year. We ask that you give our products a try, we are confident you will be impressed with their quality, durability, attention to detail, and service after the sale.

COMPANY MILESTONES