A carpenter pointed out my drawer construction flaw last week

I've been building cabinets for 8 years and always glued my drawer boxes with pocket holes. He asked why I wasn't using dovetails for a $400 job. Had a customer complain about wobble 6 months ago and now I think I know why. Anyone else switch joinery methods mid-career?

2 comments

2 Comments

tara_palmer1mo ago

Man, that's rough. I had a buddy who did kitchen cabinets for like ten years and always used those plastic drawer slides. He thought he was saving money and time. Then he did a big job for a picky lady who ran her hand over every joint and asked why the drawers felt so flimsy. He ended up rebuilding the whole thing with dovetails and proper slides. Said he learned the hard way that cheap shortcuts come back to bite you in the end.

finley7771mo ago

@tara_palmer yeah your buddy's story hits close to home. I had a similar wake up call years ago when I was building custom shelving for a client. Kept using those cheap metal brackets that always bent under weight. Thought it was fine until one shelf collapsed and took out a bunch of expensive pottery. Ended up switching to solid hardwood supports and steel brackets with proper screws, cost me more upfront but haven't had a single call back since. Sometimes you just gotta eat the extra cost to keep your reputation clean.