Kreg jig minutia for you Kreg-mieisters
I’ve used kregs a lot for softwood trim, and am now getting ready to kreg together a kitchen’s worth of cabinets. I have a few minor questions.
The Kreg book recommends 1 1/4″ screws for 3/4″ stock and 1 1/2″ screws for 7/8″ stock. I am almost always using 13/16 pine, so I’ve always used the 1/2″ weather-coated coarse screws as they seem to be the most versatile to have around. The extra 1/4 inch of length seems like a good thing to me.
The face frames I’m going to be making are 3/4″ maple. Any reason not to use the 1 1/2″ coarse screws? I ran a couple of test joints and they seem to work fine. No blow outs. Kreg recommends fine-thread for hardwood. Can anyone think of any detriment to using the course thread? What about #8 versus #7?
Thanks in advance.
Steve
Replies
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Using coarse threads on hard woods might cause some splitting -- since the thickness of the screw is being pulled into the wood a bit faster.
But it might not. Depends on your wood. Hard maple versus soft maple could be the difference.
And #7 versus #8 ....... for face frames, use the 7's. The bigger screws are overkill, and will make splitting a bigger concern.
Politics is the antithesis of problem solving.
Missusmoogie going to get a real kitchen?
Why not just buy a box of screws?
Joe H
Joe,
Actually the Missus did eventually get her real kitchen. It's done! Well, ok...there is the matter of the one missing drawer, and the pair of doors with no catch on them, oh, and the dangling hot wire for the under-cabinet lighting that's been there for 8 years...oh yeah, and the island, but that can't happen until the dining room addition gets built, and the kitchen table can move into the dining room to make room for the island...well, you get the idea.
This one is for a client. I will be buying the screws, just would like to use whatever is going to cause the least trouble.
Steve
View Image
ROLTFLMAO. How many of us can describe our own home projects the same way? Reminds me of the ten years it took to finally get base moulding in our family room after I did the Drywall.
Even after ten years I didnt do it. My dad did it. I hired him (cause I was on another project) to prep our old house for sale when we moved.
Moogie! I'm in love with your kitchen floor!
How do they describe that old wood, up your way?
BTW, nice finish on it. How did you prep it and what did you use?
That's what caught my eye too. Gorgeous isn't it?View Image
Yeah, that's nice lookin' stuff and all wide boards too.
I've refinished a few pine floors of a similar age. Many of them in the Mid-Hudson area are what is called "pumpkin pine". It has a natural orange color along with some beautiful blonde tones. Lots of large, solid knots with colors running around and off of them. Wide boards too.
I wish I could get my hands on a couple hundred sqft of it for my new master BR.
>>How do they describe that old wood, up your way? BTW, nice finish on it. How did you prep it and what did you use?<<Old wide pine is how it's commonly referred to I guess. I've heard reddish pine called pumpkin pine down in New Jersey.That floor was a whole lot of work. I pulled it all up, reframed about 1/2 of the floor system. Then I laid 1/2" plywood subfloor to replace the 1/2" rough-sawn dustboards that were underneath. Then I laid the floor back down, tight during he humid season. It still opens up to about 3/8" gaps in a lot of spots during the heating season.I was originally planning to paint rather than varnish, because it was so beat up, and several large sections had to be patched with new boards. But I decided to give a clear finish a try. But of course not untill after I had filled a hole lot of holes with bondo because I was planning on painting. The bondo doesn't look half bad after all is said and done though. I didn't want it to be sandled flat. I have done that in the past and it always feels too sterile to me, so I sanded the whole thing with a 6" Festo palm sander, starting with 36 grit. It took about a week on my hands and knees. I have to say it was worth the effort.I custom mixed a stain for the new boards to get them close in color to the old ones. You can't see any of them in this picture. The finish is about 6 or 7 coats of waterlox medium sheen.Steve
Edited 6/14/2008 1:05 am by mmoogie
After all that, I'm sure you've enjoyed the result. It looks great in the small photo so it must be a real knock out in person.
It was wise of you to op for painted cabinets. Better to contrast with that amazing floor so it's beauty is revealed completely.
Thanks for the kind words.I'm so used to painted cabinetry and woodwork from working mostly on pre-victorian buildings that I find clear-finished hardwood trim and cabinetry disagreeable to me now. I find a big bank of cherry or maple cabinets looks overwhelming, whereas painted cabinetry feels more architectural to me...more like part of the house rather than cabinets stuck onto the walls of a room.Steve
I tried to make a case for that POV in another thread on kitchen remodels, a couple days ago.
Any design that features an old wood floor of that quality is very intelligent and respectful of the past. It adds emotional depth to the experience of living in the house.
Yeah man, that kitchen looks great. Did you make a concerted effort to find retro type appliances? I like the blender and the oven a lot.
Thanks Jim,I got the old oven at an on-site estate auction for five dollars before the kitchen existed. Took it out of the house, brought it home, hooked it up and started using it. Designed the kitchen around the oven. It looks great, but doesn't crank out a lot of BTU's. Takes a while to get a big pot of water up to a boil. And the MIL nearly blew the house up one day when she tried to light the oven. Needs to be lit via a touch-hole. She turned it on, and after a while realized it wasn't lit, so she then went in with the match. Singed her eyebrows pretty good. We don't use the oven part anymore since I put the wall oven in the new kitchen.If that old oven ever craps out, I'm going to have a hard time finding one 39" wide to fit in its place.The mixer was an x-mas present to the DW, who likes to bake. They sell that kind in lots of colors. Went with hunter green to match the accent tiles and the green LeCreuset pots.Steve
Steve
I've heard of places that can rebuild that old oven to like new condition. Not sure where you'd get it done but there must be someplace as I've seen in magazine articles that they had the old over rebuilt.
Doug
Well, I'm not sure there's anything wrong with an oven that scorches the eyebrows off your mother-in-law. I'm thinking that thing earned it's keep right then and there.
I'm thinking that thing earned it's keep right then and there.
yea, I guess you have a point.
Doug
I've always used the fine-thread screws on hardwoods, but I've noticed when I've taken apart factory cabinets to modify them, they have used coarse thread.
Mike