Update: My face frame joinery experiment changed my mind

I was putting together a cabinet and left out the biscuits for the face frame... the dowels I used instead held up perfectly and cut my work time in half. I think we overcomplicate things with biscuit joiners when dowels do the job just fine... am I crazy for thinking this?

3 comments

3 Comments

ryanh561mo ago

People forget how much a biscuit joiner costs compared to a simple dowel jig. Not everyone has that special tool sitting around, so dowels make way more sense for casual work. Honestly, unless you're doing production work, dowels are the smarter choice.

luna_kelly1mo ago

Admit, I once bought a biscuit joiner thinking it would make me a pro overnight. Turns out, I spent more time fixing my mistakes than actually joining wood. Now I just use dowels for everything, even when it's probably overkill. They're cheap, easy, and I don't have to worry about another tool gathering dust. So yeah, dowels for the win, unless you enjoy explaining to your friends why your cabinet doors are crooked.

adam_thompson531mo ago

My biscuit joiner is just a really expensive doorstop now. The dowels never argue with me!