Dowels, not pocket screws for me

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Dowels, not pocket screws for me

Postby noseoil » Thu Oct 14, 2021 12:08 pm

I inadvertently hijacked John's thread about spar-to-side fastening for the headliner, so here's how I do things with dowels, not pocket screws. I mentioned that I don't own a pocket screw jig, but here's what I use for most of my building. Basically, a layout stick is used for building cabinets in a custom shop when I apprenticed in the early 70's. This provides all marks & measurements for panels, dadoes, face frames, drawers, doors, backing & all of the parts needed for building a finished piece. I've heard people say "It takes too long to do a layout stick" but in reality it helps track materials & cutting lists efficiently. Drawers are made with dado joints, similar to the way the side walls attach to the bottom of our teardrop. Fasteners & glue are used to pull the joint together from two directions.

My doweling machine from the early 70's. It's a 1/4hp motor with a chuck, brad point drill (1/64" oversize), sliding table with a 1" slot in the fence for hole alignment. It's pretty crude, but actually works well enough for production.
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Here's the tick marks & X marks to track hole positions. These are just transferred from the layout stick to the face frame stock, then drilled with the boring machine.
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With dowels placed, glue would usually be in first, then clamps are set. Yes, you need clamps to make tight joints with this system, but it's bulletproof structurally.
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The two questions I ask;
1 - does it look good?
2 - did it hold together during use?

Here's a dowel joint I did yesterday. Red oak is ground to make a tight fit in the tapered spear head. West System epoxy & a screw holds it in place. It's theme & variation, ad nauseam, just a different type of dowel joint. There is no right way to build, just better, more efficient & stronger as practice turns into production over time. Note: I did not use pocket screws to make this spear!
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Build log: viewtopic.php?f=50&t=60248
The time you spend planning is more important than the time you spend building.........

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Re: Dowels, not pocket screws for me

Postby western traveler » Thu Oct 14, 2021 1:38 pm

Crude? Here’s mine…
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