Tried switch to pocket screws for face frames against my better judgment

Ngl I always glued and doweled face frames for 20 years then a guy at the local hardwood supplier in Denver swore pocket screws would save me 3 hours per kitchen. I tried it on a set of six frames last month and ended up with three of them racking out of square because the screws pulled the joints crooked. Has anyone else gone back to dowels after giving pocket screws a real shot?

3 comments

3 Comments

ellioth3722d ago

The same thing happens with those quick release clamps they sell now. You pay extra for the speed and end up chasing square all afternoon because the mechanism flexes just enough to let things walk. It's like how those one-touch canned air dusters never actually get the dust out of the vents, you still end up grabbing a brush. People sell shortcuts that skip the real work but the work always shows up somewhere else, usually when your glue is setting up and you're trying to shim a joint back into place.

lewis.finley22d ago

Did I wake up in an alternate dimension where pocket screws are supposed to help with squareness? I bought into the hype once, built one cabinet, and my wife walked by and asked if it was supposed to wobble like that.

kelly.charlie22d ago

Pocket screws aren't really for squareness, they're more for QUICK assembly when you're hiding the joint. You still need to square everything up with a clamp before you drive them in.