Cabinet Question - Page 2

Cabinet Question · 07-13-2009, 11:31 AM

I am making a cabinet for a friend up North. The carcass is about 32" tall by 84" wide with 4 doors and no shelves. It may need to be shipped knocked down or unassembled. It will be solid white oak, built more like a piece of furniture than a kitchen cabinet. The customer is capable of limited assembly and installation, he has a butcher block top that will be attached with wood screws through slots in the top of the carcass. The carcass will be dovetailed.

My question is:

What is the best way to attach the face frame?

Remembering that he will have limited tools and I will not be there to help. Everything will be prefinished but I can tape off the parts that will be glued, I can send along a bottle of titebond.

Would biscuits be the best solution or I was thinking some through dowels of contrasting wood.
He may not have pipeclamps. I could make a set of wood clamps with wedges.

I have never used pocket screws and don't want to try something that new to me.

Any ideas, suggestions?

Joe Scharle · 07-15-2009, 11:37 AM

Mike, I don't know what a $44 kit contains, but at the very least should include the stop collar settings. Except in unusual connections, the width/thickness chart should save you having to experiment.

Mike Davis · 07-15-2009, 12:23 PM

Hey Joe,

The small kit has the guide, bit, collar, settings, driver and a few screws, everything needed except the clamp.

Standard settings would usually work fine, but since I am routing a rabbit in the back of the face and my wood is not standard 3/4 inch material I want to test the setting just to be sure it will not go too deep.

I watched a video at Klingspor and it seems to be a very simple and foolproof system, we'll see how foolproof it is when I use it.

JackLeg · 07-15-2009, 10:26 PM

Mike, I have not built that many cabinets, but I have helped my buddy build some. The Kreg system is THE way to go, both for the cases and the face frames. You're going to need some kind of flat faced clamp for sure. Good luck.

Mike Davis · 07-15-2009, 10:52 PM

I never built a cabinet like this, well I did build an under counter cabinet out of pine 1x12s and plywood doors in our home in Georgia 22 years ago. But never one like this. Lately I built a couple small ones that were kinda top end and I thought that was what this guy wanted, just a small display cabinet, single door, not too big, you know, like the others in my gallery.

Well, when he sent me the drawings I had already committed to do it and I knew it would be a pain in a tiny shop with none of the right tools. He did check all over the NorthEast and he found lots of regular kitchen cabinet shops and a few custom builders. He said they wouldn't build anything custom without going into the THOUSANDS$$. He's an old friend and I want to help him have what he needs. His cabin is small and every inch counts, this needs to fit into a particular space and needs to be moveable once or twice a year to get to a storage space behind the place where this will go. So, it has to be free standing but solid and strong. That is why I'm using through tenon frames, dovetailed carcass parts and kiln dried quarter sawn white oak for the construction. I was thinking about mounting some kind of roller system under it but he said he only needs to move it twice a year and he has plenty of help when he needs it.

Hopefully once I get a little further into it I'll have some neat pictures of parts hanging out the window and dry fitting out in the pasture.

dkeller_nc · 07-19-2009, 11:30 AM

Mike - Pocket screws are pretty goof-proof, but I'll note one situation where they can cause and issue - pulling out a plug of end-grain. I don't think you'll have this situation because you're drilling through long-grain of the cabinet into the long-grain of the face frame, but without a picture I can't say for sure.

Where this issue typically comes up is joining the actual face frame with pocket screws - the head's in the rails and the threads in the stiles. What can happen is that sufficient torque is applied when the screws are seated to strip out a plug of end-grain in the part with the head of the screw. It's for this reason that the Kreg screws have a flat bottom on the head.

I've still done it, though (pulled out an end-grain plug), so instead of using a powered drill as a driver, I've changed tactics and use a square-drive screwdriver.

Tarhead · 07-19-2009, 01:29 PM

Kreg has a Micro Pocket Drill Guide for thinner stock. Suppose to be kinder and gentler according to some: http://www.kregtool.com/products/pht...PRODUCT_ID=113
Definitely don't want to use a impact driver when installing these.

Glennbear · 07-19-2009, 02:55 PM

Originally Posted by Tarhead

Kreg has a Micro Pocket Drill Guide for thinner stock. Suppose to be kinder and gentler according to some: http://www.kregtool.com/products/pht...PRODUCT_ID=113
Definitely don't want to use a impact driver when installing these.

Nice concept but based on the MSRP and the fact that retailers usually don't discount Kreg prices that much this one goes on my "maybe someday" list.

Mike Davis · 07-19-2009, 03:33 PM

I make my frames and doors with through tenon joints. I don't think I'll ever change that. I have seen lots of old doors and frames sag or rack with any other joint, but never with through tenons.