Pocket holes vs. dowels for face frames after 50 cabinets

I built face frames for years using pocket holes and thought it was the only fast way. Then I took on a kitchen job last fall where the customer wanted exposed joinery on the shaker frames. So I switched to dowels using a self-centering jig. The first few frames took me twice as long and I messed up a couple joints. But by the third kitchen the speed caught up and the alignment was dead nuts every time. Now I reach for the dowel jig for any frame that'll be seen up close. Pocket holes still have their place for quick work behind panels but for clean joinery dowels won me over. Has anyone else found a method that felt slower at first but paid off?

3 comments

3 Comments

derek_schmidt61mo ago

Jumped into dowels for the same reason a couple years back. First few projects were a total mess, I think I glued my thumb to a stile at one point. But once you get the rhythm down it's hard to go back, especially when you want that clean look with no plugs or screws to cover up. Pocket holes are fine for the stuff that's getting buried behind a panel, but for anything the client's gonna stare at, dowels just look like actual woodworking instead of a shortcut. I'm with you on that speed thing too - once your muscle memory kicks in it's actually faster because you're not fiddling with clamp alignment as much.

anna_fox71mo ago

Stripped a dowel 3/4 of the way into a walnut board last spring (cranked the jig too hard, you know how it goes). Had to drill it out and patch the hole, which ended up taking longer than the whole rest of the project. Still, I ended up using the scrap for a test piece on a new glue-up technique, so it wasn't a total loss I guess.

simon_coleman1mo ago

Right there with you on the thumb thing... try a dowel jig next time.