Vent: Why I finally gave up on pocket hole joinery for face frames

An old timer named Gary at the supplier in St. Louis told me a year ago that pocket screws would open up on me after a few seasons, and I just didn't believe him. Well, three cabinets in my own kitchen started showing gaps at the mitered corners last week, exactly like he said. Has anyone else had their pocket hole face frames shift on them after a while?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_sam9d ago

@susan649, that old timer Gary was right in my experience too, I learned the hard way on a bookcase project a few years back.

susan6499d ago

Hold up, just a little thing - mitered corners aren't really what pocket holes are for. They're way better for butt joints on face frames. No wonder they opened up on you.

robert_bell9d ago

Gotta tell you, @susan649, a buddy of mine tried pocket holes on a mitered frame for his kitchen cabinets and watched the joints crawl apart within a month. He swore off pocket holes for anything but face frames after that, and honestly his next build with butt joints held tight as anything. Sometimes you just gotta learn the hard way what a tool's actually meant to do.