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Discussion Forum

Dados, Biscuits, or Screws?

GotAll10 | Posted in General Discussion on November 25, 2005 05:54am

Today I built a set of 3 cabinets with 3/4″ plywood.  On one, I used dados, glue, and nails.  On the second I used butt joints with biscuits and glue.  On the third I used butt joints with glue and screws.

Glue and screws was sure a lot easier and faster.  Are any of these methods (or others) significantly better than others?

Thanks.

Paul

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  1. steve | Nov 25, 2005 06:27am | #1

    i've built cabinets for twenty years and for joining casework, biscuits for the first choice followed very closely with partocle board screws

    biscuits are more time consuming and cost more per cabinet, but screws require concealment behind a veneer or laminate covering

    so for a typical kitchen, casework is fastened with screws except for where the fasteners will be exposed, then its the biscuit joiner

    dadoes and all that stuff? forget it

  2. JonE | Nov 25, 2005 05:17pm | #2

    I'd use pocket screws and glue before anything else.  Biscuits a close second, dados are fine as long as you can control racking in the cabinet (i.e. have a solid back or strong face frame).  Butt joints, glue and nails?  No.   Only way I'd use butt joints would be with glue and screws, maybe, or dowels, but not nails. 

     

  3. ModernHomesInc | Nov 25, 2005 05:19pm | #3

    Even faster is pocket screws, no glue.

  4. nikkiwood | Nov 25, 2005 07:51pm | #4

    I don't think the joinery you use matters much -- in terms of necessary strength.

    What does matter -- if you are building any number of cabinets over time -- is to find a system of joinery and stay with it. That's what will give you speed and efficiency.

    I do all mine with a locked dado on my TS, but I have a system (with set up blocks) that makes the process very fast, and the cabinets are easy to assemble.

    It is not that my system is any better, just that I am both familiar with it and set up to do it quickly.

    ********************************************************
    "It is what we learn after we think we know it all, that counts."

    John Wooden 1910-

    1. User avater
      Sphere | Nov 26, 2005 01:03am | #6

      I am with ya on dados..makes life and clamping a lot easier...I just plow a shallow dado, and use all the above methods in addition.

      I never know whos fat ele or plumbers azz is gonna be crawling in or on a box I made,,,,or me.LOL  Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks

       

      " Nie dajê siê olœniæ statkami parowymi i kolej¹ ¿elazn¹. Wszystko to nie jest cywilizacj¹. - Francois Chateaubriand (1768 - 1848) "

      1. Sancho | Nov 26, 2005 03:52am | #7

        Im with ya on the dados , dados glue and clamping the way to go.

        It automatically aligns the shelf plus I dont have to change my TS set up. i use a router primarily for dadoingLong Live REZ.........ROAR

        1. User avater
          GotAll10 | Nov 26, 2005 06:37am | #8

          Do you use a jig to make dados with your router?

           

          Paul

          1. Sancho | Nov 26, 2005 08:00pm | #9

            Some times depending on the size of the panel . Its a shop made T square style jig. My router table has a sliding table with a fence on it so I use it quite a bit.. Ill find a link for it. I think MLCS sells it now and so does grizzly but when I bought it , I got mine from wood line. Heres the link: http://www.mlcswoodworking.com/shopsite_sc/store/html/smarthtml/pages/routabl2.html#precision_table_anchor

             

             

            Edited 11/26/2005 12:03 pm by Sancho

  5. john | Nov 25, 2005 11:44pm | #5

    I build lots of cabinets from birch ply. The material takes screws well so I use pocket screws only. If the joint is going to be in shear (for instance an end unit where the feet are inset to provide toe space) I use some polyurethane glue as well. More than strong enough.

    If I was making cabinets from particle board I weould use a different joining method

    John

    If my baby don't love me no more, I know her sister will.
  6. ChrisG1 | Nov 27, 2005 04:02am | #10

    Pocket screws where it doesn't show, biscuits where it does.

    1. User avater
      GotAll10 | Nov 27, 2005 06:58am | #11

      You and others use pocket screws.  Are these coming from inside the joint?   Why not just screws from the outside if they don't show?

      Thanks.

      Paul

      1. john | Nov 27, 2005 12:33pm | #12

        You and others use pocket screws.  Are these coming from inside the joint?   Why not just screws from the outside if they don't show?

        Well, if you are using birch ply, then with a pocket screw fixing a base to a side then the threaded part of the screw will be entering the side panel from the side, whereas screwing from the outside of the cab with an ordinary screw you will be screwing into the end of the ply panel, which is obviously no so good. Same would be true with solid wood.

        JohnIf my baby don't love me no more, I know her sister will.

      2. ChrisG1 | Nov 28, 2005 03:52am | #13

        If you are attaching a face frame to a kitchen cabinet you can't drive screws through the front of the face frame. Well you could but it would be ugly. Pocket scews go in from behind at an angle drawing the frame tight to the box. if you used biscuits for the same application you would have to clamp it. pocket screws save a lot of time, and if you make a mistake, just take it apart.

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