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Debate: Should you pre-drill or not for cabinet face frames? My old boss tore me a new one over it.
I used to just screw face frames together with pocket holes and no pre-drilling. Worked fine for years on my own jobs. Then I worked for this older guy in Cincinnati who insisted I had to pre-drill every single hole before driving a screw. Called my frames 'lazy man's work' in front of a customer. He said pre-drilling prevents the wood from splitting and keeps the joints tighter over time. I argued it takes too long and slows down production. But after a year doing it his way, I have to admit I get way fewer callbacks for loose joints. Now I'm stuck in the middle. Do you pre-drill your face frame joints or just send it with a good screw? What's your experience been?
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price.alice4d ago
I worked in a shop for 3 years that pre-drilled everything on face frames with 18 gauge nails and glue, not even screws. The owner was dead set on it because he said it kept the wood from moving later on. We did it on every frame, no exceptions. So when I switched to a place that just used pocket screws with no pre-drilling, I noticed the joints on their frames would sometimes open up a tiny bit after a few months, especially in kitchens with humidity changes. It wasnt a huge failure, just enough to bug me. Now I'm curious about what kind of wood you're mostly building with. Does the wood type change whether you can skip pre-drilling or not?
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loganhart4d ago
Oh man, I've been there. Your old boss's method reminds me of when I tried to assemble a face frame with just glue and hope and it ended up looking like a wavy potato chip. I think the wood type really does matter, especially with stuff like oak or maple that's super dense and prone to splitting if you don't pre-drill. I learned that the hard way when I cracked a nice piece of cherry trying to skip it. So yeah, your mileage may vary, but I pretty much always pre-drill now just to be safe, unless I'm using something soft like pine that doesn't fight back as much.
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