Switched from pocket screws to dowels for face frames

Used to buzz through face frames with a pocket hole jig, fast but always fighting with alignment on the glue-up. Tried dowels on a hunch after a job in Austin last month where I had to match some antique cabinetry, and the joints just locked together perfectly. Anyone else find dowels worth the extra setup time?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_thomas29d ago

Come on man, dowels are a step backward not forward. I ditched dowels years ago because they take way too much precision for what you get. One misaligned hole and your whole frame is garbage, or you're fighting with clamps trying to pull it square. Pocket screws are faster and you can tweak alignment during glue-up. Another thing is dowels are a pain when you need to disassemble or make adjustments later. If you glue a dowel joint wrong, you're done, but with pocket screws you can back them out and try again. I'll take a little fighting on the glue-up over the headache of drilling perfect holes every time.

danielw8828d ago

@the_thomas might be onto something, but my dowel jig and I have a very forgiving relationship.