Found out the hard way that pocket screws can split rift sawn oak

I was building a set of bookshelves for a client in Portland last spring and kept getting splits on the face frame joints. After ruining three pieces of oak I finally figured out I was cranking the screws in at full speed on my drill. Slowing way down and backing off the clutch to a lower setting fixed it completely. Has anyone else run into this with certain wood species?

2 comments

2 Comments

vals381mo ago

Ha, funny you mention that. I actually found pre-drilling with a brad point bit sized just under the screw shaft made way more difference than anything else on oak.

henderson.kim1mo ago

You tried different clutch settings, but were you also changing your drill speed? I see a lot of guys just slow their hand speed on the trigger but never touch the actual speed selector dial on the drill. Running a low clutch with a high RPM still generates a lot of heat and torque right at the end. I switched to a drill with a proper screw mode that stops the rotation completely once the screw seats, that was the real game changer for me on hard oak.