I changed my mind about using pocket screws after a job in Asheville

I was framing a set of cabinets for a kitchen remodel in Asheville last spring and an old carpenter walked by my site and saw me using pocket screws for face frames. He told me I was making more work for myself and that the joints would shift with humidity changes. I brushed him off until I came back 6 months later to fix a door that had gone crooked on one of those same cabinets. He was right - the pocket screw joints had let the frame twist just enough to throw everything off. Has anyone else had pocket screw joints fail them after a few seasons?

2 comments

2 Comments

barnes.morgan14d ago

Yeah but hold on, you're kinda mixing up two different things with dowels vs pocket screws. Dowels are good but they're not magic either, they can fail if your glue joint isn't tight or if the wood moves a lot. The real issue with pocket screws on face frames is that you're relying on one screw per joint with no mechanical lock against rotation. A properly cut mortise and tenon or even a good dado joint won't let the frame twist no matter how much humidity swings. Dowels help but they still depend on glue more than people want to admit. The old carpenter probably would have told you to just glue and clamp the face frames and skip the screws entirely if you're in a climate like Asheville where it goes from wet to dry every season.

stella_lee15d ago

Wait, was the old carpenter using dowels or was he doing something else entirely? I had a similar thing happen with a built-in bookcase I did in a cabin near Boone. Used pocket screws on the face frame because they seemed so much easier than cutting proper joints. Looked great going in. About a year later one of the shelves started looking a little off kilter and the door on the base cabinet wouldn't close right. The pocket screws had popped a little loose in the seasonal humidity swings. Doweled joints would have held that frame square through everything that mountain climate threw at it. Funny how we think we're saving time with shortcuts but they just create more work down the road.