Went with the Domino for my current kitchen job since I'm up against a deadline in 3 weeks... but I still feel like I'm cheating somehow. Has anyone else switched over and regretted it later?
Customer brought in a maple door that was twisted about 3/16 of an inch. I tried clamping it flat with the face down on the bench, then added heat from a heat gun, but it just sprung back after cooling. Took me trying a steam iron and wet towel method from a YouTube channel before it finally flattened out enough to hang right. Anybody got a go-to trick for those stubborn twist cases that actually works every time?
I keep seeing everyone rave about those expensive metal domino shelf pin jigs, but I tried one on a job in Phoenix last month and it was a headache. The spacing was off by half a millimeter on the third row, and I spent an hour shimming the whole thing. I went back to my old method of using a plywood template I made from scrap and a self-centering drill bit. It took me maybe 20 minutes to cut 60 holes across four cabinet sides, and every single pin lined up perfect. I think people get sucked into the fancy tool hype without testing the simple stuff first. Has anyone else had a better experience with a basic homemade jig?
I built a set of kitchen cabinets 2 years ago for a client in Denver. Used pocket screws on all the face frames like I always did. Last month she called me - the mitered corners on the main cabinet were pulling apart about a 16th of an inch. Took a crowbar and a hammer to fix it. Now I use mortise and tenon joints for anything that gets opened more than 50 times a day. Has anyone else had pocket screw failures show up way later?
Stopped by City Glass on 5th last Tuesday to pick up some shelf pieces and ended up watching their guy run a brand new edge polisher. He was knocking out perfectly rounded edges on 3/8" tempered in like 30 seconds per piece. Made me realize how much time I waste trying to smooth out glass shelving in my insets with sandpaper and a block. The polish came out so clean I could see my own face in the edge. Has anyone here ever subbed out glass work to a specialty shop instead of doing it in house?
I used to do all my face frames with biscuits and glue, took me about 45 minutes per cabinet. Then about 6 months ago I tried pocket holes on a kitchen job in Austin, first one took me maybe 20 minutes start to finish. The joints came out way tighter and I stopped worrying about clamping pressure going wrong. Has anyone else noticed a big time savings after making a similar switch?
I was working on a set of shaker cabinet doors for a kitchen in Phoenix last week. The face frames kept having tiny gaps at the cope joints after glue up. Tried everything. Then a guy at the lumber yard told me to use spring clamps on the cope tenon before tightening the bar clamps. Keeps the joint perfectly flush. Took me from 20 minutes of sanding per door down to maybe 5. Anyone else run into this on cope and stick joints?
I've been doing cabinet work for about 4 years now, mostly kitchens and bathrooms. Last week I was going through my job log and realized I've built exactly 100 custom spice drawer inserts. That's a hundred times I've measured out 3 inch deep boxes with slotted dividers. Never really thought about it until I added it up. It started with a request from a lady in a 1920s bungalow who wanted her oregano off the counter. Now it's basically half my kitchen jobs. Has anyone else had one random thing that just took over their workload?
Ran into a retired guy at the lumber yard last week who saw me grabbing some poplar for a face frame. He asked what joinery I was planning, and when I said pocket screws he just laughed and said 'you're building furniture, not a birdhouse.' We ended up talking for 20 minutes about drawbore pins and why they actually hold up better over time. Made me wonder how many shortcuts I've taken that will come back to bite me in 10 years. Has anyone else had a random stranger change how you work mid project?
I spent last Saturday building a home office cabinet setup in Portland and used prefinished maple ply for the shelves and raw maple for the face frames. The prefinished saved me like 3 hours of sanding and sealing, plus the factory coat is way more even than what I can roll on. Has anyone else found a brand of prefinished that holds up better in humid basements?
A client in Portland changed their mind on the wood species after I already cut all the face frames, and then their dog chewed up a door panel overnight. Has anyone else had a job spiral like that after just one bad decision?
I never really kept count of how many doors I've made over the years. But last Thursday I was finishing up a set of shaker doors for a kitchen remodel in Portland and I decided to tally them up from my job logs. Turns out I crossed the 500 door mark on that job. It threw me off because I don't think of myself as that experienced. I started making cabinets part time about 4 years ago after I got laid off from my warehouse job. 500 doors sounds like a lot but I still mess up the grain matching sometimes. My wife laughed when I told her and said 'that's only 250 kitchens worth of doors.' Has anyone else hit a random milestone like this and felt weird about it?
Used to sand everything in the same direction as the grain, thinking that was the only way. Tried cross-grain sanding on a job last fall for a client in Denver and never looked back, it cut my finishing time by half. Anyone else have that moment where you found out your basic technique was just... not it?
I've been fighting with making loose tenon joints on these oak cabinets for a kitchen reno in Portland. Tried using just a square and a marking knife but kept getting half a mm off. Third attempt I clamped a straight edge to the reference face and used a spacer block to set the depth. Everything lined up perfect on the dry fit. Learned that taking 10 extra minutes to set up the jig saves an hour of sanding later. Anyone else have a trick for keeping dominoes dead straight on long panels?
I was at a cabinet shop in Nashville last month helping with a install and this older guy pulls out a #4 block plane and starts scribing a whole run of uppers to the wall. No jigsaw, no belt sander, just shavings and a sharp pencil. He got each piece within 1/32" in like 4 minutes flat. I've been using a oscillating multi-tool for years and it takes me at least 10-15 minutes per cabinet to get it right. Has anyone else ditched power tools for hand tools on scribing? It felt way cleaner and less dust too.
I was building a pantry cabinet in my shop last Tuesday, and I got sick of stopping every 10 seconds to swap bits. Just ran the screws in full speed with no pilot hole, and not a single split in the plywood. Tried it on some oak face frames later and still no issues. Am I the only one who's been wasting time on this step?
Last month I was reading through some woodworking trade journal I picked up at the lumber yard, and there was a study in there saying cabinet shops waste around 12% of their hardwood on average. I had to read that twice because I figured I was doing better than that. So I went back through my job book from the last six months, tallied up my drop pile and offcuts. Turns out I was sitting at about 14% waste on maple alone. That surprised me because I thought I was pretty careful about laying out parts. Now I'm wondering if anyone else has actually measured their scrap rates or if you just eyeball it like I was doing.
My Festool domino went kaput last Tuesday while I was in the middle of a big kitchen job, and I spent three days improvising with just a router and some shop-made jigs. Has anyone else had to go old school when their main tool broke down mid project?
I installed a full kitchen of standard Blum hinges last year and regretted it. The slamming drove me crazy on a job in Phoenix. I swapped them all out for the Blumotion ones and it cost $150 more for the whole set. Has anyone else found a cheaper alternative that actually works?
I visited Johnson's Custom Cabinets in Portland on Saturday and noticed they had all their sanders hooked up to a single 4 inch PVC pipe with those cheap Y fittings. The owner said it cost him under $150 for the whole setup and it cuts down on fine dust by about 80 percent. He ran the pipe along the ceiling with simple hangers and used blast gates to control each tool. Has anyone else tried something like this for a smaller home shop?
Said he needed a 6-foot-tall hutch with a locking door cause the bird kept opening his fridge. I told him I'd need to see the ostrich first before I give a quote, has anyone else gotten weird animal requests?
Bought a bulk pack of #6 x 5/8 pan head screws from a surplus place last month thinking I was saving big. Every single one stripped out on the first turn with my impact driver. Anyone else had bad luck with mystery hardware bins?
Turned out I had the cabinet box racked by 1/16 of an inch and had to shim the whole thing, anyone else chase a problem like that forever before finding the obvious answer?
Ran into a retired guy at the lumber yard Thursday who said he builds everything with dowels and glue only, called pocket holes a crutch. Made me wonder if I've been taking the easy way out on face frames. Any of you build without pocket screws for certain joints?