Vent: Why I ditched pocket screws for traditional joinery on face frames

Used to swear by my Kreg jig for face frames because it was fast, but after a job in Austin where three frames started pulling apart within 6 months, I switched back to mortise and tenon last year. Am I the only one who thinks pocket screws are overrated for anything besides quick utility work?

3 comments

3 Comments

ray_martinez8219h ago

Yeah @the_jana, but mortise and tenon was common in a lot of older face frames actually.

sage_green18h agoTop Commenter

Man, that's rough when you put in the work and it still doesn't hold up.

the_jana21h ago

Wait, did you say you switched to mortise and tenon? For face frames? That seems like overkill. Traditional face frame joinery was always pocket screws or dowels, not mortise and tenon. Mortise and tenon is for structural cabinet frames or doors, not for holding the front of a box together. Your frames pulling apart was probably a glue or assembly issue, not the pocket screws themselves. If you used cheap screws or didn't let the glue dry, anything will fail. I've built hundreds of face frames with pocket screws, never had one come apart.