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Pocket hole jig vs. old school dowels, which one are you picking?
Been building cabinets in Austin for 5 years and always used dowels, but tried a pocket hole jig last week on a face frame and it cut my clamps in half. That speed is nice, but I'm worried about joint strength on stuff that gets heavy use, anyone else switch and stay with it?
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emma_jones4d ago
Stick with the dowels and stop worrying about speed. That pocket hole jig is a shortcut that trades real strength for saving a few minutes on assembly. I've seen pocket screws tear out on cabinet doors that get opened and slammed daily, especially when the wood swells and shrinks with the seasons. Dowels give you glue surface across the whole joint, not just a screw biting into end grain. If you're building for yourself or a customer who will actually use those cabinets hard, take the extra clamp time and do it right. Dowels have been holding furniture together for hundreds of years for a reason.
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