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Switched from pocket screws to a $9 dowel jig on face frames and my callbacks dropped to zero
Six months back I was doing face frames for a kitchen job in Boise and every single one of them was pocket screwed. Fast forward to now and I have not touched the Kreg jig on a face frame since. Thing is the pocket screws were pulling the stiles out of flush by a 32nd, and you could see it once the stain hit. I picked up a cheap dowel jig for $9 and a bag of fluted dowels and started pinning my joints instead. First cabinet took me maybe 20 extra minutes, but by the third one I was faster than I ever was with the pocket screws. The frames come out dead flat every time and I am not fighting the wood anymore. My callback list for loose joints went from 4 jobs last year to zero this year. Anyone else ditch pocket screws on face frames or am I the only one who got burned enough to switch?
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cole_flores4411d ago
Dowel joints can creep just as bad with seasonal movement if the glue starves on a dry fit, and a 32nd gap from pocket screws usually means the jig was set up wrong or the stock was cupped. Plenty of guys run thousands of face frames with pocket screws and never get a callback, so maybe the switch fixed an operator problem more than a joinery problem.
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