05-07-2018, 12:10 PM
(05-07-2018, 10:42 AM)Pirate Wrote: I have an antique claw foot table, and anopther round oak table. Both have the skirt attached with pocket hole screws. They have been used for a long time.
Up until now, I thought the craftsmanship of the table was fine. Live and learn.
What is the proper way to attach the skirt? Pocket holes seems to be a great way to do it.
I have a new found respect for dowels. Especially for assembling sheet goods. There are two separate trade associations, one for the flat pack industry (furniture like Ikea sells) and one for the kitchen cabinet manufacturers.
Both associations contracted independent testing labs to test the strength of various construction methods. The kitchen cabinet manufacturer's test included testing face frames and the results for two dowels and two pocket screws were the same. The dowels are completely hidden (an advantage) the pocket screws were faster (an advantage).
For attaching sheet goods (particle board, MDF, plywood --all in 18mm thickness or 0.708661") dowels emerged as a the clear winner.
It would probably worth reporting in a separate thread. And I would want to foot note it with the actual test results. But a couple of things were obvious.
1. Fasteners should be no closer than 2" from the end of any panel. Apparently they need at least 2" on either side of the fastener (any fastener) to keep the sheet from blowing apart.
2. From a strength point of view both studies showed particle board to be the weakest, followed by MDF and finally plywood emerged as the strongest.
The flat pack people tested with fasteners only. No glue. So it was just mechanical strength. Both were primarily interested in racking strength. The test had a shelf mounted to an upright on one end only and they loaded the end of the shelf until it failed.
At the bottom was a dado. Without glue it failed before any reading could be made.
Then came the 1/2 turn cam and stud.
Then came a conventional wood screw.
Then came the Confrimat screws which apparently functioned both as a screw and a dowel.
Then came the dowels.
They used two fasteners for each test.
Further research showed that high end cabinet makers were placing dowels about 5" apart in plywood. Low end cabinet makers were using far more dowels in particle board.
I'm switching to dowels and confirmats for my cabinets. The dowels for the strength and the confirmats to eliminate the needs for lots of clamps. They locate the panels and make for simple glue-ups. And they are stronger than dadoes, which I've been using until now. The dadoes also simplify glue-ups.
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