Good Morning, I am in the process of helping a neighbor with his kitchen cabinets which are falling off the wall due to poor construction and overweight issues. I found they are made of pressed wood with a veneer of “Oak”. The glue appeared to hold up, but the pressed wood pulled apart. I am rebuilding them with 1/2″ plywood with a maple veneer re-using the existing face frame (need to match existing). The glue used originally appears to be a good adhesive and somewhat ply-able to the touch; can someone give me some insight as to what was used? The cabinets were purchased from “some manufacturer when the house was built approx. 10 years ago. Normally when I build furniture (not an expert at all), I use Tightbond II, but my joints are either doweled, biscuit or Kreg Screwed. Any and all information is greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Bob
Replies
it is totally irrelevant as to what type of glue the manufacturer used. Your task is to now use the most appropriate glue for the particular task at hand. Offhand, I can't think of any reason that a pva (titebond) wouldn't be right for any part of a cabinet job.
3/4"
I'd recommend 3/4" plywood for the carcass and shelves.
3/4" with 1/4" dado leaves
3/4" with 1/4" dado leaves 1/2" of material. I don't like to dado into 1/2" material.
Dado
I'm saying do the dado. Just use 3/4" material, so there's plenty left.
Hi Bob, What is typically used in cheaper mass produced cabinets is hot melt glue and a few staples. Your use of yellow glue is much better. Build the boxes out of 3/4" plywood. Since you are already familiar with biscuits and pocket screws, use one of these methods to build your boxes using simple butt joints. Machined joints are nice and strong, but probably overkill in this situation, where you are trying to improve pretty cheap cabinets.
Completed
Thank all of you for your answers.
I used pre-finished 1/2" maple for the sides, top and bottom. I dadoed the sides and back for more support and actually I added 3/4" screw/glue blocks along the top and bottom rear inside edge which will not be in the way of the shelves. I did manage to purchase a DT glue gun and specific wood glue sticks. After everything was squared and assembled, I hot glued the sides and face frame just as an added precaution. I hope to get them hung sometime today.
Thank you again for all your feedback.
Bob
Hot glue designed for wood assembly may work fine, but I'd not hire a cabinet guy that used hot glue - titebond is easy to use, and has a track record - same can't be said for some hotglue that not in common use.
Yeah, hot glue is used in manufacturing because it's fast, not because it's good.
Titebond II
In regards to the titebond II versus the hot glue...
Titebond does not adhere well to pre-finished surface, all surfaces which were dado'ed, titebond was used. Any surfaced which remained pre-finished (outside, not seen) was screwed and hot glued.
Bob
Tite bond is a good option it has specification waterproof formula offers superior bond strength and cold weather extrusion down to 0°F. It is ideal for bonding most common wood based materials including trim moldingand on plywood.
spam link removed
mathew
Get the post right.
Titebond comes in several choices-if you don't know them - look it up for the proper or most successful application.
Regurgitating vague info is worth zip.
Negativity
What is with the sarcasm within the posts. I was under the impression, and you can correct me if I am in error, but this was supposed to be a place where you could obtain information pertaining to your project from individuals who have had experience with the subject at hand, not to make snide remarks about " if you don't know, look it up" or other remarks in the same manner. If this is the caliber of individuals who respond at this site, then I guess you can have it, life is too short to get involved in some sort of verbal match. Obviously this is directed to the last reply to the post !
Bob
Bob
The post I made was to the evident spammer-Mathewtaylor. Mathewtaylor has been writing meaningless posts that had a live link included that directed you to some builder in a foreign land. I deleted the link within his posts when I came across them.
I did not direct it to you or anyone else.
Does that explain it better for you?
I hope so, I meant no snide remarks to you or this thread.
Instead of just automatically deleting the spam posts, I give them half a chance to respond and clear up any misunderstanding.
thanks.
Reply
Yes, it does explain the post, but why would end up in our post, and not directly to him.. You don't have to answer that question, it was just my thoughts.
Thanks,
Bob
Bob
I did reply to him in this thread-so it was to him-just so happens it was in this thread. Like I mentioned-I do try to draw out a reply from these "maybe" spammers instead of just deleting and blocking in hopes that maybe, just maybe.............they are not what they appear and may actually add to the discussions here.
Just a dumb carpenter that's been here since the late 90's that they figured might not screw up having the delete button.
Sorry, didn't know it might rub you the wrong way.