Old timer told me to ditch the pocket hole jig for dovetails on face frames. 5 months later i see his point.

John Thompson · 2026-07-01T21:05:05.720777+00:00

So I started building cabinets about 2 years ago in Austin. This old cabinetmaker named Carl kept telling me pocket holes would fail on solid wood face frames after a few seasons. I ignored him cause it was way faster. Fast forward to last month I got a callback from a job I did in spring 2023. The miter joints on a maple face frame had opened up by almost a 16th of an inch on 4 cabinets. Humidity change did it. Took me 2 days to fix and the client was mad. Now I'm learning half blind dovetails on the Leigh jig. Slower but that joint is not going anywhere right? Has anyone else had old school advice bite them later or am I the only one who thought they knew better?

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Old timer told me to ditch the pocket hole jig for dovetails on face frames. 5 months later i see his point. | Cabinetmakers - Librear