Even though I purchased a new blade for my table saw, I used my miter saw to cut the stiles and rails for the doors. I was getting some splintering on the backside of the wood as the saw blade was dull from cutting hardwood flooring. I trusted the squareness of the miter saw over the table saw, so I just lived with it. A typical bad choice for a just-okay DIYer. Purchasing a new odd-sized 8-1/4” blade for the miter saw was on my list of things to buy.
After I cut the rails and stiles, it was time for my initial use of my new Kreg® jig. Yes, I read the instructions and yes, I watched that Youtube video again. Using my table saw as a base, I placed my Kreg® jig on the table and I clamped in my first rail. I set the stop on the drill bit to the right length according to the instructions and I drilled my first holes. Before drilling any more holes, I tested my first joint. Clamping down a rail and stile with the Kreg® clamp, I screwed my first joint. The boards slid lose of the clamp and the boards did not line up well. Again, I just lived with it. I could sand it even. A typical bad choice for a just-okay DIYer. (Note the trend.)
I continued and had problems again with the boards moving under the clamp. Joints were misaligned and in one case I over torqued several screws. Screws broke off in the wood and some broke through the hole making the joint worthless. So, I removed the stiles that had a broken screw and redrilled another hole for another screw. Keep in mind I already had 2 holes. Now I had 3 holes. No worries, the plugs would hide them.
I started putting the rails and stiles back together. This time I added additional clamps to keep the joints from moving. That helped out. However, I failed to note that reusing the screws was not a great idea. These over-torque screws were now weakened. Several screws broke as I was rejoining the frame. You would think I would have figured that out after 2 attempts. So, I had to take the frames apart, redrill some more holes. Since I put the bad screws with the good screws, it was going to be a crapshoot getting a good screw. I tried not to over-drill the screws and that prevented any more screws from breaking, but now all stiles had 3 holes on both sides. The chance of anyone seeing this mess was minimal. It is on the back side of the doors and the doors are in our bathroom.
The frames were done. Now it was time to rout the edges. The trial run continues…