17 Awesome All-American Inventions for DIYers

KREG JIGS: POCKET HOLE JOINERY FOR EVERYONE

In 1986, Craig Sommerfeld was in the process of building his own home and wanted a way to attach the face frames to his kitchen cabinet carcasses without nailing through the front of them. Being a tool and die maker by trade and a DIYer at heart, he designed and built his own single-hole pocket hole jig.

This first ‘Craig’s Jig’ was made from steel and aluminum, and it worked so well that his friends and coworkers encouraged him to build more. He changed the name to ‘Kreg’ out of modesty and started demonstrating the tool at woodworking shows.

The professional cabinet shop folks saw the benefit and were the first to buy the tool, but eventually, a whole lot of us weekend warriors wanted a strong and super-easy way to join wood. Today, Kreg Jig is synonymous with pocket hole joinery.