Glenn Vaughn
01-24-2013, 12:40 PM
There has been some recent discussions of joinery methods; M&T, Pocket Screws, dowels etc. My wife decided a couple of years ago that we needed to add additional cabinets in the kitchen along a "bare" wall.
Well the project initially was to be a Bakers table. I searched for wood and found a supply of 8/4 Kentucky Coffeebean at an extremely reasonable price - $1.00 a bf. I purchased the wood and worked up a plan for the table. As I was getting ready to start construction she said "Wait - I need a Pantry first." So it was back to the drawing board to design a pantry like she wanted. I showed the Pantry plan to her and she said "Wait; I need cabinets first." SO I went back to Sketchup to design cabinets. The supplier of the Coffeebean had some 5/4 available that had been in the warehouse for about 25 years for $3.00 a bf. I made the 8 mile round trip and ended up buying all of the 5/4 they had.
The next step was to figure how to assemble the cabinets and pantry. At various rimes I purchased the Kreg Pocket Hole Jig, the Jessem Zip Slot Mortise Kit and finally the DowelMax. As a rank amateur I have found dowels to be the easiest to use.
Pocket hole screws worked pretty well but it was a bit difficult, for me, to get the alignment flush at times. Getting square glue-ups was somewhat tedious. My skill level just is not good enough to do this without a lot of time spent tweaking. They were not a good choice for gluing up panels from narrow boards.
I have a biscuit joiner but have found that there is a bit more play in alignment that I liked. Once again I am sure this is pilot error.
I played with the Jessem and liked how it worked with thicker stock but not with ¾" stock.
I received the DowelMax and was surprised at how well it worked when doing some test joints. This became the method of choice forme.
The advantages of the dowelMax for me were:
Flushness of joints is spot on. Wide panel glue-ups were simple to do.
Joints are square as long as the individual pieces are cut square to begin with. I have not had to "rack" a single case to square it up.
Joining has been quick and easy to do. Panels were as large as 28X70 and ended up looking like a single board.
The cabinets and pantry have been installed for about a year and have not developed any problems at all. The Bakers table has kind of been dropped - at least for the foreseeable future.
252341252342
Well the project initially was to be a Bakers table. I searched for wood and found a supply of 8/4 Kentucky Coffeebean at an extremely reasonable price - $1.00 a bf. I purchased the wood and worked up a plan for the table. As I was getting ready to start construction she said "Wait - I need a Pantry first." So it was back to the drawing board to design a pantry like she wanted. I showed the Pantry plan to her and she said "Wait; I need cabinets first." SO I went back to Sketchup to design cabinets. The supplier of the Coffeebean had some 5/4 available that had been in the warehouse for about 25 years for $3.00 a bf. I made the 8 mile round trip and ended up buying all of the 5/4 they had.
The next step was to figure how to assemble the cabinets and pantry. At various rimes I purchased the Kreg Pocket Hole Jig, the Jessem Zip Slot Mortise Kit and finally the DowelMax. As a rank amateur I have found dowels to be the easiest to use.
Pocket hole screws worked pretty well but it was a bit difficult, for me, to get the alignment flush at times. Getting square glue-ups was somewhat tedious. My skill level just is not good enough to do this without a lot of time spent tweaking. They were not a good choice for gluing up panels from narrow boards.
I have a biscuit joiner but have found that there is a bit more play in alignment that I liked. Once again I am sure this is pilot error.
I played with the Jessem and liked how it worked with thicker stock but not with ¾" stock.
I received the DowelMax and was surprised at how well it worked when doing some test joints. This became the method of choice forme.
The advantages of the dowelMax for me were:
Flushness of joints is spot on. Wide panel glue-ups were simple to do.
Joints are square as long as the individual pieces are cut square to begin with. I have not had to "rack" a single case to square it up.
Joining has been quick and easy to do. Panels were as large as 28X70 and ended up looking like a single board.
The cabinets and pantry have been installed for about a year and have not developed any problems at all. The Bakers table has kind of been dropped - at least for the foreseeable future.
252341252342