c/cabinetmakers

A client told me my drawer slides were too loud - here's what I changed

I had a customer last week complain that the soft-close on a set of kitchen drawers I built was grinding. I always used those standard Blum slides (you know, the usual ones). He showed me his old IKEA cabinets that were dead quiet. Turns out I wasn't shimming the slides level before screwing them in - they were binding just a tiny bit. Now I'm using a small level on every single slide before I fasten them down. Has anyone else ran into this issue with certain drawer heights?

Dowels vs domino joinery for face frames - which do you trust more?

I've been building face frames for about 4 years now and I keep going back and forth. Started with dowels because that's what my dad taught me, simple and cheap. Then I tried a Festool Domino at a buddy's shop and man, it felt like cheating how fast it was. But here's the thing - my dowel joints have NEVER failed on me in the field, even on big kitchen jobs. The domino joints I've done? They hold fine but I've had two separate occasions where the tenon twisted slightly during glue up and threw my alignment off by like 1/16 inch. That tiny gap drove me crazy. So I'm back to dowels for now but I'm wondering if I'm just being stubborn. What's your go to for face frames and why?

I was dead wrong about pocket hole jigs for years

Always heard older guys say pocket holes were cheating and would never hold up. Stuck with dowels and mortise and tenon for everything, even simple cabinet boxes. Finally grabbed a Kreg jig (the $99 one) six months ago for a quick pantry job where time was tight. Load tested the joints with 50 pounds of canned goods and not a single one budged after 3 months. Now I use them for all my face frames and basic boxes, saves me about 2 hours per cabinet. Anybody else have a tool they swore off but finally gave in and tried?

That customer who wanted drawer fronts sanded to 400 grit

Had a client last month in Portland insist I sand all 22 maple drawer fronts to 400 grit before finishing. Took me 6 hours and my fingers were raw by the end. Anyone else get weird sanding requests that make no sense for the final product?

Biscuit joiner vs domino for cabinet face frames

I built face frames with a biscuit joiner for years and thought it was fine until a buddy let me borrow his domino joiner on a kitchen job last month. The difference in alignment and strength was night and day, now my frames come together perfect without any fighting. Anyone else make the switch and find it hard to go back?

I was dead set against pocket holes until last weekend

Always thought pocket holes were a shortcut that looked like crap on nice cabinets. Then I had to hang 12 upper cabs solo in a tight kitchen in Portland and couldn't get my clamps in right. Tried a Kreg jig I borrowed and it saved my back - joints were solid and hidden behind the face frame anyway. Anyone else come around on something they swore they'd never use?

Changed my mind on drawer slides after a kitchen reno last spring

I always used side-mount ball bearing slides because that's what my old boss taught me. Tried undermount soft-close slides on a custom job for a customer in Portland and was shocked how much smoother they felt and how much cleaner the drawer box looked. Has anyone else had a similar switch that worked out better than expected?

That one job last Thursday made me want to sell my router table

Show up to install a custom set of shaker doors I spent a full weekend on. Client's wife walks in, takes one look, and says 'the panels are too recessed, they look weird.' I set them at 3/8 inch like I always do. She wanted 1/4 inch max. Had to plane down all 12 doors on site with a hand plane in her driveway. 95 degrees out. Took me 4 hours. Has anyone had a client totally change specs after the fact?

That $40 router bit set from Amazon gave me tearout on half my joints

Picked up a cheap 8-piece set thinking I was saving money for a quick job. First few cuts looked fine, but then it started burning and chipping on maple plywood. Had to redo two whole drawer fronts. Lesson learned: buy once cry once on bits.

Can we talk about the difference between pre-finished and site-finished plywood edges?

I've been building cabinets for about 8 years now, mostly in the Denver area. I used to always order pre-finished plywood and just live with those edge banded seams, thinking they looked decent enough. But last summer I took on a job for a kitchen remodel where the homeowner insisted on site-finished solid wood edges on all the panels. Man, what a difference. The way the grain matches up and the finish blends in made the whole thing look like one solid piece of wood. Took me an extra 3 days per cabinet box, but the final look was way cleaner than any pre-finished edge I've ever done. Has anyone else switched from pre-finished to site-finishing for face frames or panels, and was it worth the extra time for you?

Walked into a shop this morning after 20 years away and barely recognized the layout

My old mentor retired last year and his son took over. First time back in that building since 2005. The whole floor plan got flipped upside down. Used to be all hand tool benches along the wall with one big jointer in the middle. Now it's a CNC machine near the front door and a dust collection system running through the ceiling. He said they cut their waste down by 40 percent since switching to programmed cutting. But I noticed the hand plane shelf was dusty. Is that just how it goes now or do some shops still keep a mix?

Hot take: my domino cutter let me down on a butcher block countertop

I was working on a butcher block countertop install last Monday, putting together a big L-shape section for a kitchen. I've been using the Festool domino joiner for like 3 years now and it's always been solid, but mid-cut on one of the mitered corners, the bit just slipped and started chewing up the wood. It made this horrible grinding noise and blew out a chunk of the face grain about 2 inches long. I had to stop everything, pull the bit out, and realize the collet wasn't tightening right anymore. Ended up having to scrap that piece and recut a new one from a $120 board I had in the shop. I think the dust over time got into the tightening mechanism or something, because it just wouldn't grip. Has anyone else had their domino go wonky like that or am I just unlucky?

My biscuit joiner crapped out mid-cut on a $800 slab of walnut and I think the whole dust collection thing is overblown

Was running a job last week in Portland and the bearing seized up on my Dewalt 682 after three cuts, so I chucked it in the trash and went back to using a router and a jig because sometimes the extra cleanup is worth not having a tool fail on expensive material - anyone else had a biscuit joiner let them down at the worst possible moment?

Lost a whole week of work after a router bit shattered in my hand last Tuesday in Denver

I was just trimming some maple for a custom kitchen job and that cheap carbide bit exploded sending shrapnel into my palm, now I'm down for 7 days and can't even grip a chisel, has anyone else had a bad experience with those bargain bit sets from Harbor Freight?

That retired cabinet guy told me to sharpen my chisels with toothpaste

Met this old timer at the lumber yard who swore a dab of Crest on a leather strop would bring back a dull edge. Tried it on a beat up Stanley I had, and somehow it actually worked good enough to pare end grain.

Hardware store veneer edge banding is a waste of time

I used to buy those rolls of iron-on edge banding from the big box store for quick jobs. But after about 6 months, I noticed the edges would start peeling on kitchen cabinets near the sink. Switched to PSA backed veneer from a specialty supplier about 2 years ago and it holds up way better. The extra cost is maybe 30 cents per foot but I have not had a single callback since. Has anyone else found a better option for high moisture areas?

Vent: talkin to an old cabinetmaker made me feel like I don't know anything anymore

I was swapping stories with this guy Lou at a supply house in Columbus last week, been building cabinets since the 70s. He said he never uses pocket holes for face frames, just mortise and tenon everything, and it hit me how much I rely on shortcuts now. Anybody else ever talk to an older guy and realize you might be overthinking or underbuilding stuff?

Shoutout to my digital caliper for saving a $200 panel today

Was building a custom cabinet for a weird alcove in a house near Nashville. The customer's wall was out of square by almost a quarter inch over 4 feet. Instead of guessing and hoping, I measured each section 3 times with my Mitutoyo caliper and adjusted the dados accordingly. Everything fit perfect on the first try during install this afternoon. Anyone else ever have a measurement tool bail you out of a major redo?

Can we talk about how I switched to pocket screws after 20 years

My old mentor Steve called me out last month while we were building a face frame in his shop, saying my dados were wasting time and material. He showed me how he sets up his Kreg jig and the joints looked cleaner than anything I ever cut by hand. Has anyone else had that moment where you realized an old habit was holding you back?

Talked to an old timer at the lumberyard in Tulsa last week about drawer slides and it kinda rehit me

Tried fixing a crooked drawer front with a sledgehammer logic

So I was fitting a drawer front last Tuesday and the gap was infuriating, like a solid 3/16 off on one side. I kept adjusting the clips and it just wouldn't sit flush, so in frustration I gave it a solid whack with my rubber mallet. The drawer front broke clean in half right down the middle. Ended up having to glue it back and wait overnight before I could even try again. Has anyone else ever had a drawer front just betray them like that?

Showerthought: why does nobody check their dado stack runout before assembly?

I was at a shop in Minneapolis last month helping a guy with some shelving and noticed his dado cuts were all slightly off. He blamed the wood movement but I checked his setup and the stack had about 0.008 inches of wobble. He had been fighting this for 6 months on every project. Three minutes with a dial indicator and a little shim fixed it. Has anyone else run into this where people assume the tool is fine but never actually measure the play?

Had a young apprentice show me a new way to drill for hinge hardware yesterday

Been doing this 30 years and always pre-drill hinge screw holes with a standard bit. This 22 year old kid on my crew showed me he uses a self-centering bit from a cabinet hardware kit. I told him that was for amateurs but he challenged me to try it on a tricky euro hinge install we had last Thursday. Honest to God it saved me 10 minutes per door and every screw went in dead straight. Made me wonder what else I have been doing the hard way just because thats how I learned. Any of you older guys ever have a younger worker show you something that changed your routine?

Old timer told me to stop pre-sanding my plywood edges

A retired cabinetmaker I met at a woodworking meetup last year said I was wasting time sanding the edges of my pre-finished plywood before assembly. I ignored him for 6 months until I tried it on a bathroom vanity, and he was right - the glue joints held just as strong without the extra step. Any of you guys skip that sanding step too?

Pro tip: stop using drawer slides that come with the cabinet boxes

I used to just grab whatever slides came with my Melamine boxes from the supply house. Last month I built a set of kitchen cabinets for a client in West Palm and the soft-close slides that came with the boxes started failing after 2 weeks. The detent mechanism just gave out on two drawers. I swapped them out for some Blum tandem slides and the difference is night and day. The client is happy but I had to eat the cost of the new slides and my time to swap them. Now I order boxes without slides and buy my own. Anyone else deal with cheap slides ruining a build?