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Thread: Closet remodeling

  1. #16
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Coastal Southern Maine
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    350
    It all comes down your definition of what is superior for the particular project that you are working on. I don't use pocket holes often but there have been instances where they were the right choice.


    Quote Originally Posted by joe webb View Post
    I know how it works. Obviously it can't be on any exposed area.

    I have used it for some framing and have the mini jig but I am unwilling to use it for woodworking projects because there are so many other superior options for joining.

  2. #17
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Location
    Columbus, Ohio, USA
    Posts
    3,441
    I love my kreg jig (as mentioned above). I did use it on 1/2" ply for some drawers. You must be very careful with 1/2" and Kreg because the tolerances are very close and it is easy to go through. Be sure to also use glue, it adds a lot to the joint. I cannot comment on longevity because I ripped out the cabinet based on an issue not related to the drawers.

  3. #18
    I do not have any pocket hole drawers inside my house but I have a bunch in a long cabinet below my CMS and RAS in the shop. They work fine. But I agree they aren't really attractive. The shop also has half blind dovetails in other drawers - when I wasn't in a hurry. My most recent quick joint for sheet goods is through dominos - little slip tenons. I use a stripped down HF dovetail jig to hold the parts and it goes really fast. The chest of drawers that have these drawers is for a guest room that doesn't get use much but I think they will be fine. A domino is an expensive little tool but it is handy. I have dovetailed sheet goods but it only worked decently with baltic birch. I think the dominos will be what I use for sheet goods drawers from now on.

  4. #19
    Join Date
    Mar 2019
    Location
    Los Angeles, California
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    961
    I hadn’t thought of dominos, what a great idea. They are handy little rascals. 3/4” fronts and backs and 1/2” sides? Strong enough for that plywood? What size dominos?
    Regards,

    Tom

  5. #20
    Yes, 3/4 solid wood fronts rabbeted 1/2 deep for plywood sides. Also have 1/2 plywood backs. It would be safer to use a plywood front too and just have a solid wood cosmetic front but I've done this before with dovetails and the drawers were fine. I used 5mm dominos. That is the thickness. The width is 5+13.5mm or about 3/4. Some people use 4mm dominos but I haven't bought that bit yet. I use an XL so I had to make a shim for the fence to get the bit close enough for the back to sides joint. I just clamped up the joint in the HF dovetail jig (stripped down) and plunged the domino bit through the sides into the front and back. I think the 5mm dominos were 40mm long but they might have been 30mm. Very quick and easy to do. Seem plenty strong and I think they look OK.
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  6. #21
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Silicon Valley, CA
    Posts
    989
    The Next Level Carpentry video is pretty good in most respects.

    My first proper ww project was a cabinet organizer with drawers. I did lock rabbets based on an article I'd read. It was fiddly but ended up working okay, but I haven't repeated the method.

    Lessons I learned in that project:
    - Beware cheap plywood. I had problems with some pieces curling, voids underneath the veneer, and delamination of layers
    - pay attention to ensuring things will glue up square
    - Good blade and zero clearance insert on tablesaw were best techniques to minimize tear-out. (I had less success with tape or pre-scoring)
    - Account for your drawer hardware in your planning.
    - Things like thickness of drawer bottom and drawer hardware will affect the perceived quality of the drawer.
    - There are lots of ways to screw things up (the residual issue for me was one of my drawer fronts ended up slightly misaligned; think it shifted slightly during glue-up).
    - I fell in love with general finishes wipe-on finishes (and have liked their other products that I've tried since)
    - The iron-on banding turned out okay, but I've used glued on wood strips on plywood projects since (this has its own issues, but I liked dealing with it better)
    - Getting square parts out of a sheet isn't automatic (similar to the next level carpentry video)
    - I really wanted a table saw with a few more inches of infeed. (On the bosch 4000 that I was borrowing, there wasn't a lot of space in front of the blade to get sheets registered against the fence. The Next Level Carpentry video talks about how he registers the sheet against the fence. Having a splitter would be a very good idea, as well. Rigid flip top outfeed support works pretty well; similar result to the supports he shows in video)

    For various drawers in the shop since, I've tended to put shallow rabbets in the sides (to help with alignment), and then reinforced. Pneumatic brad nails aren't as attractive, but are nice during glue up. Dowels added after glue-up seem to be more artistic (although not sure if these add much value if a good glue joint). I'd also think pocket screws would work (pockets on the outside of the front/back to hold the joint tight, with the front pocket covered by the drawer front afterwards). It is nice to have something like nails or screws to hold the joint tight as the glue dries. Incidentally, I wouldn't recommend dovetail jigs for plywood drawers, but should work nicely if you get some poplar...

    Matt

  7. #22
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Silicon Valley, CA
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    989
    Quote Originally Posted by Matthew Hills View Post
    The Next Level Carpentry video is pretty good in most respects.
    After watching more:
    - This was first time I've seen someone square a sheet product with a jointer. I think I'd still be inclined to go with tablesaw sled or a dialed-in crosscut jig for circular saw
    - I liked the infeed support he uses with his miter gauge.
    - His outfeed support looks clever. The Rigid flip-top supports work similarly.
    - his plywood quality looks to be pretty good -- he isn't needing to deal with many issues as he goes.
    - Surprised to see someone running a gyro g700 dust collector (this looks to be a sponsorship; he does have another video talking about it)
    - Interesting to see him using the lock rabbett with screws.

    Matt

  8. #23
    Thanks for the precious tips Matthew.

    * Plywood quality. Visiting HD and local lumber yards, excluding baltic birch, the remaining are of so-so quality. They all have void in the core. Some have large void. Both side are rather different in quality. They are about $60 a sheet. Baltic birch is unfortunately out of my budget at $110 per 4x8 sheet.
    * Is your wipe-on finish the wipe-on polyurethane? Someone suggested Shellac, and I tried it on a sample. After 3 coats, I got a darker color, but I didn't see much of protective layer. I know many people dislike the look of polyurethane, but I am fine with it. I am looking for the quickest finish (combined number of coats and dry time).
    * I plan to do edge banding and have no experience w/ it yet. I saw may people reporting it is rather time consuming.
    * Yesterday I did the lock rabbet on a sample and I was able to get a very tight fit. I don't think screws would pull them any closer.
    * His cabinets are so fancy. I would be happy if I could incorporate half of what was shown in that video.
    Last edited by joe webb; 05-25-2020 at 3:25 AM.

  9. #24
    If you are interested in cutting lock rabbet with a simple blade (no dado stack), here is how I did it. I built this KerfMaker and I used it to size the width of the groove to cut. My lock rabbet is surprisingly super tight. Loved the accuracy. Given my table saw is small, it was a bit cumbersome to place the KerfMaker and the stop block as seen in this video.
    Attached Images Attached Images

  10. #25
    There is also a next level carpentry video about edge banding. I thought it was good. He does it quickly.

  11. #26
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Silicon Valley, CA
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    989
    Quote Originally Posted by joe webb View Post
    * Plywood quality. Visiting HD and local lumber yards, excluding baltic birch, the remaining are of so-so quality. They all have void in the core. Some have large void. Both side are rather different in quality. They are about $60 a sheet. Baltic birch is unfortunately out of my budget at $110 per 4x8 sheet.
    * Is your wipe-on finish the wipe-on polyurethane? Someone suggested Shellac, and I tried it on a sample. After 3 coats, I got a darker color, but I didn't see much of protective layer. I know many people dislike the look of polyurethane, but I am fine with it. I am looking for the quickest finish (combined number of coats and dry time).
    * I plan to do edge banding and have no experience w/ it yet. I saw may people reporting it is rather time consuming.
    * Yesterday I did the lock rabbet on a sample and I was able to get a very tight fit. I don't think screws would pull them any closer.
    Cheaper plywoods can be made to work; you just might end up with some mini-projects mid-project.

    My first closet project used general finishes wipe-on gel urethane. You don't need many coats (I might have done 2 or 3). The biggest question with oil-based varnishes is clearing the ambient dust before applying, and letting it harden enough before a light scuff sanding. I didn't use any stain.

    I did a second project with a danish oil finish. This was even easier to apply, but took much longer to settle down to a state where I'd put clothes anywhere near them.

    Your joints look good.
    I'd recommend keeping the joint in clamps until the glue sets up. Few things as lousy as finding a joint slightly opened up and you now have a trapezoid you're trying to use with drawer slides...

    Edge banding took some work to get trimmed nicely. It is probably faster than solid edging, but I just didn't like the process as much (not as confident working with the glued edges compared to solid wood)

    Sounds like this will be a great project!

    Matt

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