6 Ways to Plug or Fill Pocket Holes | How to

Hey, what's up guys? I'm Brad from Fix This Build That. Today I'm going to show you six different ways how to plug and fill pocket holes. I'm going to give you the pros and cons of each one. I'm also going to show you what my favorite is. And I'm going to show you a jig that. I made that makes it even faster alright stay tuned, and we'll check it out. The first one I'm going to show you is the tried and true wood filler, AKA wood putty. I'm going to go ahead and break this open and fill these holes and see how it does. The application on the wood filler is pretty straightforward. You just fill up the hole top it off a little bit over the top and then set it off and let it dry. For the next few methods I've actually never used these before. I sent out and Instagram message to my audience and I asked them What's your favorite way to fill pocket holes? They said "Hey, what about sawdust and wood glue?". So I'm going to try that, we'll see how it goes. I took the dust catcher off from my random orbital sander, and I dumped out the sawdust that was in there. I later realize this is walnut that's why it looks so brown. I mixed it up with glue and formed a paste then I put the paste into the holes. I really had a hard time of really getting that into the holes nicely But I did the best I could then I set it aside to dry as well. The third method to fill your pocket hole is something you might not expect. It's Bondo, that's right Bondo in the wood shop. I talked to the folks over on Instagram, and there are a bunch of them that say "hey, I use bondo" I'm going to try it and see what happens Mixing the Bondo is pretty straightforward I just followed the directions on the can mix it up till is a nice pink consistency. And then I filled the holes up making sure that they were over full so I could fill it back to flush. Alright I can say that the first time bondo has been in to fix this build that workshop. But I got this board all bondo'ed up, and I'm going to let it dry, and then we'll sand it. Don't ever let me Bondo your car. The first three methods were all about filling the next three are going to be about plugging. So number four is going to be using store bought plugs. These I've got here are in oak, but they're in a lot of different varieties. I'll put them in here and see how it works. These plugs are really easy to install you just apply the glue in there and then you put the plugs into the hole. My plugs are a little loose as you can see here. Which is interesting because a lot of folks on Instagram told me that there's are always too tight. Regardless, I set these aside let them dry and then I came back and cut them flush with a flush trim saw. I'll have a link down below in the description to this flush cut saw and also to an alternative that's only about 14 bucks that you can get from the home center The fifth way to plug or fill pocket hole which is going to be using a 3/8 of an inch dowel cut at an angle. So it's going to be just like the plug that I just used except this one I cut on a little jig. There's a couple videos out there to show you how to do this but all you do is cut pocket holes into the piece you stick that in there. You cut it off, so it is now flush cut. Alright, so that's I'm going to do with this one. I'm going to install this and we'll see how it works. The installation of these 3/8 inch dowels is the same as the store-bought ones except it fits a lot tighter. So you can try to use a rasp I've seen that in some videos to install those it really wasn't working for me. You can also use the Kreg mini which has a little spot that's supposed to be used to push these in. That did not work for me either. So you can probably guess this is not my favorite method. I actually did something very similar except with a scratch awl the last time I was trying to put these in when I was building my last project. Anyway after I got them installed with the rasp to let them sit for about five minutes just to set up. Then I came back and cut them flush with a flush trim saw. But I saved my favorite for last, the sixth method to plug or fill pocket holes is just to use 3/8 inch dowel. Except straight cut just a one and a half inch straight cut piece of dowel It installs very easily I just busted my knuckles again trying to get the demo trying to push in an angle one. You will never do that with this I'll show you why. The biggest difference between the angled cut dowel and a straight cut dowel is just ease of installation. The straight cut dowel has that flat side on it. So you can easily install it with a hammer you'll see how I do it here and also there's a great tight fit. So you can just wait a couple minutes and then cut that flush with a flush trim saw as well. Here's a quick recap of the different types of plugs you get. The store-bought, the angled cut and then the straight cut dowels here. And here's the jig to quickly make those one and a half inch straight dowels. Drill a 3/8 of an inch hole through the edge of a one by three with your pocket hole bit. Now mark a line an inch and a half from the edge and cut straight down through the hole with a flush cut saw. Now all you do is put the dowel through the holes flush with the outer edge. It only takes a few strokes to cut the bowel and as you push that dowel forward it will eject the plug you just cut. This is a lot faster than using a power tool, and you've got those plugs ready in a container sweet. To smooth out the test pieces I put 150 grit sandpaper on my sander. Then I just sanded all the plugs and fills till they were flush with the surface. Got everything sanded, and I'm kind of surprised by some of the results, check it out. Start up here with the wood filler. This actually came out really nice. There's no gaps in there no voids at all. I thought this was going to need to be refilled, but it doesn't. This one actually works really well nice and smooth. The sawdust and glue this is just a mess. It was super hard to sand and I went ahead and gave up on it. Just because this is recessed, but I did not like this one at all. The bondo is the one I was probably most surprised by. The Bondo's is actually even a little smoother than the other wood filler. Bondo also sanded much faster than I thought it would. This turned out really nice that and I see why folks like this. This is the store-bought plugs, and I was a little surprised because these gaps show back up. You can see here there are definitely gaps in there and that's going to need another little bit of filling if you want to have a completely smooth surface. This is the angled dowel and as you can imagine those little gaps on the top are there. And some little gaps here at the bottom and where I chipped out the wood, but these are pretty smooth around the edges. It's really smooth. It's just the front that I kind of flubbed up by not getting in there properly. All right, and here's the straight cut dowels. This one the front the back seem really good. This looks a little dark because there is kind of a little bit of a gap there so this one actually is going to need a little bit of filling too. A quick recap of the Pros and the cons of each. From the filler side obviously the pro is super smooth finish other than the sawdust and glue, I wouldn't recommend that one at all. But from a wood filler and the Bondo the finish was very nice. But you have to wait a good deal of time for that to dry before you can sand it. On the plus side the store-bought ones they installed really easy, but it's a loose fist. You got to go back and you have to do a little bit more filling . Onto the angled plug, I would definitely not recommend that unless you wanna bust your fingers up like I did or taking an awl to the finger. The straight dowels are the ones that I like best. They are easily installed with a hammer if you have any gaps you can quickly fill it . And to move on from a price perspective the store-bought ones you can get a box of 50 for five bucks. Out of the same five bucks you can buy five dowels and get 32 a piece out of it for 160 dowels. So you can get three times as many out of a dowel as you can out of the store-bought plugs. There you go guys now you know six different ways to plug or fill pocket holes. I'm sure this is going to generate a lot of comments. Let me know down below what your favorite one was and also if I miss something that you do that I did not test here. If you're not subscribed to the channel go ahead and hit that subscribe button. I'd love to have you along for the journey and until next time guys get out there and build something awesome.

Channel: Fix This Build That

Views: 1,011,653

Keywords: woodworking, woodwork, diy, how to, diy project, fixthisbuildthat, fix this build that, How to plug a pocket hole, how to plug pocket holes, how to fill pocket holes, Pocket hole plug, pocket hole plug maker, pocket hole plug cutter, kreg jig, kreg pocket holes, plug pocket holes, fill pocket holes, chris notap, jer’s woodshop, kreg tool, make your own pocket hole plugs, diy pocket hole plugs, how to fill a pocket hole, kreg mini, cover pocket screws, wood filler

Id: _epB_1Dmj5E

Length: 7min 57sec (477 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 07 2017

Reddit Comments

[u/[deleted]]

Can we please stop with notion that this sub hates pocket holes... This sub only has an issue with pocket holes when they are used incorrectly. Pocket holes work just fine for things like, reinforcing miter joints, or attaching sheet goods.

However they restrict wood movement and should be avoided on load bearing joints because they are weaker than traditional joinery methods.

The criticism has nothing to do with them being easy to use. If that were the case then dowels, biscuits, and dominos would all be as harshly criticized.

[u/joelav]

When I saw the angled dowels I was like "wait - you you stick a dowel in a pocket hole, cut it so it's perfectly flush with a pocket hole, then remove it to jam it into another pocket hole??" Glad to see the last method which removes the middleman.

What's the advantage of the angled dowels? less waste?

[u/IT_nightwalker]

I've seen drywall joint compound used with good success as well. Cheap, readily available and easier than bondo (no mixing). The water in it may raise the grain a little, but you've got to sand it down anyways so it typically doesn't matter.

[u/[deleted]]

I liked your videos - good video and sound quality, no hyperbole titles, no lame bgm, no 30 seconds animated intro. Subscribed!

[u/pioneer1787]

I am curious to how the bondo reacts to stain.

[u/roj2323]

mixing the sawdust and glue together in a cup first would have been much better solution. Also adding a couple of drops of water to the mix helps it smooth out. Just let it sit for a few minutes before putting the mix into the holes.

[u/bullsdetector]

I don't understand why you would bother filling them in? Do people use pocket holes in areas that can be seen without crawling under the piece?