Thread: dowel or pocket hole joints

So this baby cot I built earlier this year is a pretty good example of dowel construction. Everything is neat and tidy without those ugly pocket hole patches everywhere. And the dowel joinery is tough as nails.
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You can download a copy of the SketchUp file of this cot from my website. I like looking at it in "xray" mode so you can see the insides of the beast.
https://kuffyswoodwork.com/product/b...sketchup-file/

My personal opinion, would be dowels you should not have to "bog" pocket hole joints, the design should be such that they are not visible

Both have pros and cons; neither is “better” than the other as an all round system. I use dowels, pocket holes, dovetails, mitre lock joints, biscuits, mortice & tenon, bridles... it all depends on the application.

Dowels are fairly strong, you’ll probably find your dining chairs are dowelled construction. They are for all intents and purposes invisible too. They are also very cheap it terms of consumables, even shop bought dowels are reasonably priced. The downside is that they require precision drilled holes, they are slower to make and of course you have to wait until the glue has set.

Pocket holes are very, very quick. The only additional tool you need for precision joinery is a clamp, and you can buy or make wooden plugs that hide the hole. The joint is good to go imediately after completion and allows the joint to be broken at any time. Downsides? One of the weakest joints you can make, unfortunately. Expensive too; you need to use fairly special wafer headed screws. If you’re only jointing pine then any brand will work fine but if you’re jointing Aussie hardwoods the fine threaded Kreg screws are the only ones I’ve found that won’t snap.

So... what do you want to make? Something like a small bookcase is easy for a beginner and you can use dressed timber from your local hardware store. You can use either method for all the joinery. Or something a bit more adventurous like a small stool or simple coffee table, again either method works.

Thanks fellas..chief tiff you have cleared that up for me...wonderful vid kuffy...remarkable talent you have.
cheers