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Thought pocket screws were a hack job until I built 14 shop cabinets with them
I used to think anyone using pocket screws on face frames was cutting corners, and I'd say it out loud too. For 6 years I cut real mortise and tenon joints on every face frame that left my shop in Cincinnati, and I was proud of it. Then a guy I respect a lot, 30 years in the trade, watched me complain about a kitchen deadline and just said "run them with pockets and see if the client ever calls you back." So I did. Built a whole run of uppers and lowers, 14 boxes total, Kreg jig, glue in the joint, clamped and screwed. Two years later I went back to that house to hang a shelf and every frame is still dead flat and tight. What actually matters is how the frame sits against the box and whether your rails are flat, not some badge of honor about how long the joinery took. The mortise and tenon still goes on the doors I care about, but for paint grade boxes I stopped pretending it buys the client anything. Any of you still hand cutting face frames on deadline jobs, or did you switch over too?
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joseph_williams1d ago
Funny how the shortcut nobody admits to becomes the standard once the deadline hits.
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