c/cabinetmakers

PSA: My shop flooded and I lost a whole custom cherry job

A pipe burst in the unit above mine on Tuesday, and by the time I got the call, there was an inch of water across the whole floor. The worst part was a set of six frameless cabinets for a kitchen remodel, all cut and ready for assembly. The plywood boxes are probably okay after drying, but the solid cherry face frames and doors are all warped beyond saving. That's about $2,500 in material and three days of work just gone. The building's insurance is dragging its feet, and the client needs their kitchen. Has anyone else had to deal with a shop disaster like this and how did you handle the client timeline?

Tbh, I just lost a full day's work to a bad batch of drawer slides

Honestly, I didn't check the packaging date and they were corroded inside, so I had to redo everything. Anyone know a reliable supplier that dates their hardware?

Just finished a job using both pocket screws and mortise and tenon for the face frames.

The pocket screws started to show movement after a year in a client's humid Florida kitchen, but the mortise and tenon joints I did on another project are still rock solid. Anyone have a favorite glue for that joint in high humidity?

Saw a kitchen in a Portland bungalow with really odd drawer spacing

I was helping a friend look at houses up there last weekend and one place had custom cabinets that were clearly handmade. The upper drawers were all spaced about 3 inches apart, which looked nice, but the lower ones were crammed together with barely a half inch gap. My buddy asked the realtor about it and she just shrugged. It made me wonder if the builder ran out of material or just changed their mind halfway through. Have you ever seen a design choice like that and what would cause it?

Serious question, has anyone else had a client bring in a photo of a piece from a big box store?

Last week, a client in Springfield showed me a picture of a $399 dresser from a catalog and asked if I could match it. I explained the difference in materials and joinery, but they just didn't get why my quote was so much higher. How do you guys handle that conversation now?

Finally got the hang of those tricky mitered corners on a built-in bookcase project

Remember when we all thought pocket hole jigs were just for quick fixes?

Saw a guy at the 2018 AWFS Fair in Vegas building a full walnut credenza with them, and the joinery was rock solid. Anyone else switched to using them for more serious casework now?

Spent three days on a walnut slab table only to have the finish cloud up overnight

I was putting the final coat of oil on this beautiful live edge piece for a client in Portland. The shop was warm, around 70 degrees, and I wiped it on thin like always. Woke up this morning and the whole surface is a milky, cloudy mess. It's like it never fully cured and just trapped moisture or something. I'm looking at having to sand the entire top back down and start the finish process from scratch. Has anyone else had this happen with a specific brand of finishing oil when the humidity spiked?

The drawer slide on a custom vanity gave out right after install

I just finished a big bathroom job in Tacoma where I used those full extension slides from a brand I trusted for years. The homeowner called me back two days later because the bottom drawer on the double vanity just fell out when they opened it. What's your go-to heavy duty slide for a 24 inch wide drawer full of bathroom stuff?

I thought those magnetic drawer catches were just a gimmick

I put them in a kitchen for a picky client in Boise last year, and they've held up perfectly with zero adjustments needed. I was sure they'd fail after a few months of heavy use, but they're still silent and smooth. Has anyone else switched to these for inset cabinet doors and had good luck?

A bad finish on a cherry vanity made me rethink my whole sanding routine

I was finishing a custom cherry vanity for a client in Boise, and the top coat looked awful. It was blotchy and rough, even after three coats. I was ready to blame the new brand of lacquer I was trying. Then my buddy, who runs a shop across town, stopped by. He ran his hand over the raw wood before I sealed it and just said, 'You're still sanding to 220, right?' I was. He told me to feel it again, but with a damp rag to raise the grain. The surface felt like sandpaper. I'd been sanding dry, which leaves tiny wood fibers standing up. When the finish hits them, they swell and make a rough surface. Now I do a light water pop after 180 grit, let it dry, and *then* sand with 220. It adds a step but the difference is night and day. Anyone have a different method for dealing with grain raise on open-pored woods?

My journeyman insisted I use a 1/4-inch roundover bit on every exposed plywood edge, but after a year of chipping, I'm switching back to a 45-degree chamfer.

He said it was the 'professional finish' for our shop in Boise, but the roundover catches on everything and chips out far more often than a simple chamfer, so has anyone else found a better edge treatment for pre-finished maple ply?

TIL you can use a cheap laser level to check cabinet alignment before the glue dries

Last month I was installing a run of upper cabinets in a kitchen remodel in Tacoma. I had them all clamped up but something felt off. My helper grabbed a $30 laser level from his truck and we shot a line across the front edges. Sure enough, one cabinet was sitting about 1/8" proud of the others. We caught it before the glue set. Has anyone else found a simple tool that saved a big headache like that?

PSA: That weird drawer slide alignment issue on a built-in last week took me 4 hours to fix.

The cabinet carcass was out of square by just 3/16 over 36 inches, which threw everything off. Anyone else run into a tiny framing error that cascades into a huge headache?

I finally got my drawer fronts to line up perfectly after a tip from a guy in Boise

He told me to clamp a straightedge across the cabinet face frame before attaching the drawer slides, which solved my 1/8 inch alignment issue I'd been fighting for months. Anyone have a different method for keeping everything flush on a frameless build?

My boss in Charlotte swore by using a 1/8 inch back bevel on all our face frames, I thought it was just extra work for nothing.

Had a weird gap issue on a built-in and tried something my grandpa said once

I was fitting a cabinet into an old, uneven wall in a house in Bellingham. The gap at the top was almost 3/8 inch and I didn't want to scribe a huge filler. I remembered my grandpa saying to use a heat gun on the back of the plywood to make it bend. I clamped one end, heated the back along the top edge for about a minute, and gently pushed it into place. It held the curve perfectly after it cooled. Has anyone else tried bending plywood with heat for a tight fit, or is that a bad idea long term?

I used a 1/4 inch roundover bit on some reclaimed barn oak and it totally chattered until I reversed the feed direction.

Heard a guy at the lumber yard say he never uses a story stick anymore

I was picking up some maple for a built-in last week and this guy was telling his buddy that story sticks are old school and a waste of time. He said he just takes all his measurements and puts them straight into his phone, then cuts. I almost laughed out loud. I've been doing this for fifteen years, and I've seen too many jobs go sideways from trusting a digital number over a physical stick you can hold. Last fall, I did a kitchen where the walls were out by over an inch corner to corner. If I hadn't transferred the real wall onto a stick first, every single upper cabinet would have been off. My phone can't feel a bump or a bow in the plaster. How do you guys handle big runs of cabinets? Do you still use a story stick or are you all digital now?

Just read that some old cabinetmakers used to mix egg whites into their glue

I was flipping through a book on 18th century furniture at the library and it said they did this to make the hide glue set faster in cold shops. Who even thought to try that first, cracking an egg into a pot of glue? Has anyone here ever tried a weird old trick like that, or is it just a dusty book story?

The way I cut dados for drawer bottoms used to be a mess

For a long time, I'd just run a 1/4 inch straight bit on my router table and hope the plywood fit, which it never did cleanly. After a job in Tacoma where a client pointed out the gaps, I switched to a Freud 3/8 inch spiral upcut bit and a jig I built. The fit is perfect now, no more slop. Anyone else have a drawer bottom method they swear by?

Spent a whole afternoon fighting a drawer slide alignment issue

I was installing undermount slides on a built-in, and the drawer just would not sit flush. Kept binding at the back. Took me about four hours of fiddling before I realized the cabinet box itself was out of square by a tiny bit, maybe an eighth of an inch. Had to shim the rear mounting bracket on one side to compensate. Anyone have a better method for checking box squareness before you even start on the hardware?

Finally got the grain to match on a walnut drawer front after two days of trying

I had this one drawer front for a built-in that just would not play nice. The client wanted bookmatched walnut, and I had the perfect slab set aside. Cut everything, went to glue up, and the grain on the right side panel just refused to line up with the drawer face. It was off by maybe an eighth of an inch, but it looked like a mile. I spent a whole day messing with clamps, shims, even re-sanding the edge. Nothing worked. Finally, my buddy came over and we figured out the drawer box itself had a tiny twist I hadn't caught. Had to pull it apart, re-square the whole thing, and start over. What should have been a couple hour job ate up my whole weekend. Anyone else ever get hung up on a tiny detail that just snowballed?

Three years ago I built a vanity with pocket screws and now the doors won't close right

I was working on a big bathroom job in a new build out in the suburbs, and the client wanted a custom double vanity fast. I figured I'd save some time and use pocket screws for the face frame assembly instead of my usual mortise and tenon. It looked solid when I installed it, and I moved on. Fast forward to last month, I got a call back. The whole thing had shifted with the seasons, and now the drawer fronts are rubbing and the doors won't latch without a hard push. I had to go back, take the whole thing off the wall, and add proper reinforcement. It was a full day of unpaid fix-it work. I mean, maybe it's just me, but I think pocket screws are fine for shop cabinets that don't get touched, but for something that gets daily use and moisture, they just don't hold up. Has anyone else had a piece fail after a few years because of the joinery?

Help with a tricky scribe job on a stone fireplace surround

Last month I was fitting a custom oak surround to a stone fireplace in a 1920s house. The stone was so uneven, my usual scribe method just left gaps. I ended up cutting a cardboard template, transferring it to the wood, and using a jigsaw with a fine blade to follow the line. It worked but took forever. Has anyone got a faster way to handle super wavy stone like that?