I am making face frames and realize that I have not looked at this process for many years. How do you join the rails and styles of face frames?
I have been doing with dowels, except for where I have wide rails and then I will use a biscuit, but I am thinking of switching to pocket screws. What do you think of the Kreg system?
Long ago I used biscuits, in the last fifteen or so years I always use pocket hole screws and glue unless the back side is made visible by a mirror. Now that I have a Domino that will probably change if I am not in a big hurry. With pocket hole screws you can build them as fast as you can put in screws as no clamping and waiting for the glue to dry is necessary. Having said that and assuming you switch to pocket hole screws it is a very good idea to invest also in 3 or 4 of the specialty clamps for holding the joint together while you put in the screw. In particular the bench clamping plate, a larger version of the clamp that Kreg includes with most of its kits, and the 90 degree clamp that allows you to clamp 2 pieces of wood at
90 degree angles to each other.
the Kreg system is very easy to use and productive. I have been using the Kreg pocket hole jig since they only had the aluminum jig as the top portable jig. I upgraded to the bigger kit that allows for easy drilling into multiple thickness boards and has the clamp handle on the more convenient front side of the jig.
There's no doubt as to the speed and utility of pocket screws, but somehow, as a hobbyist, it bothers me to screw frame members together. It just doesn't seem like joinery to me.
But if I was making cabinets for a living I think I'd overcome my objections very rapidly :-).
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