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I swore pocket screws were cheating until a 3 hour face frame job in my garage in Boise made me eat my words
For years I wouldn't touch pocket screws on anything a customer would see. I was a mortise and tenon guy, or at least a good dowel and glue guy, and I figured pocket screws were for quick junk and nothing else. Then a contractor buddy in Boise asked me to bang out a set of shop cabinets for his garage, six boxes, and he didn't care about fancy joinery since they'd hold paint and tools. I figured I'd speed run it, so I pulled out the Kreg jig and started drilling, and the frames came together in about 3 hours total, no clamping drama, no waiting on glue. What got me was how square they stayed once I got the boxes assembled and checked the diagonals, and I stood there kind of mad about it. I always assumed pocket screws would rack and loosen, but with good glue in the joint and the screws pulling everything tight, those boxes felt solid as anything I've built. So now I keep the jig on the bench for paint grade stuff and let the fancy joints live where people actually see them. Any of you use pocket screws on face frames you'd call furniture grade, or do you all keep them locked to shop and paint grade work like I do?
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mason_lopez19d ago
Man, I gotta disagree on the glue part. Pocket screws plus glue is strong, sure, but that glue isn't doing much when it's end grain to face grain anyway. The screws are carrying that joint, and screws in end grain will move over time, especially with seasonal swings. Fine for paint grade, but I wouldn't trust them under a finish that shows.
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