It's winter. Grey, chilly or downright freezing depending upon where you reside. Is there a better time to fire up the stove in the workshop and make something out of wood? If you're a beginner, it's not as difficult as it seems and like most things in life, just takes practice. Basically, you need some wood, some tools and some ideas. Right? 

Easy steps: First, you need to cut the wood into pre-measured pieces and second, put it together in a manner where it will stay together in a pre-determined form.

The cutting part is probably the easiest if you have at least the basics, a t-Square and a Circular saw. If you need woodworking plans, there are a whole plethora of free ones in cyberspace, see: Top 10 Sites for Woodworking Plans .

The assembling part is where the amateurs get separated from the pros. There are many different ways to connect joints, from biscuits and dowels to tenons and dovetails. One of the most basic joinery concepts, pocket hole joinery , allows you to use the same technology that is used in high production cabinet shops to build solid joints quickly and easily.

The advantage of Pocket hole joinery over other types of joinery is that you only have to deal with one half the joint. With biscuits and dowels, you are dealing with both sides of the joint. There is also no time wasted waiting for the glue to dry, just screw and go. The result is a nice flat face which reduces sanding time and a good, solid joint that is ready to be used.

If you haven't already heard, one of the favored systems for pocket holes is the Kreg K3MS Master Jig . Why is the Kreg pocket hole joinery system is better than the rest? Because the Kreg System uses a special 2-step drill bit. First, it drills a pilot hole in the end and second, it creates a flat bottom hole. Round bottom holes can cause the wood to split when you screw into them. Therefore, the flat bottom hole, combined with the self tapping screw creates a mini clamp on the joint making it extremely strong.

So there you have it. Easy. Fun. Rewarding. Now go make something.

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