# joining cabinets -screws



## adpanko (Jun 18, 2009)

I'd say it is largely a matter of personal preference. Just don't use drywall screws as they are fairly brittle. But normal wood screws or pan head screws will both do the job. Presumably, most people don't want to see a screw head in their face frame when they open the door, so I'd think pan head wouldn't normally be used, but that doesn't mean it is a bad choice. In my cabinets, I used normal wood screws, countersunk so the heads are flush with the surface of the faceframe. I think I used 3" screws so I got about an inch of screw into the adjoining faceframe.


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## adpanko (Jun 18, 2009)

...and I'd say #8 is thick enough. Do two screws in each frame; top and bottom. Maybe a third in the middle if you want to get nuts.


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## toolbelt Tina (May 18, 2009)

adpanko said:


> I'd say it is largely a matter of personal preference. Just don't use drywall screws as they are fairly brittle. But normal wood screws or pan head screws will both do the job. Presumably, most people don't want to see a screw head in their face frame when they open the door, so I'd think pan head .....



Thanks it was my thinking that you would hide the screw heads. I just didn't know if the pan head had a different thread such as the difference between metal and wood stud drywall screws.

thanks
Tina


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## RippySkippy (Feb 9, 2007)

If the cabinets are face frame type, use a Pony clamp to bring them together, and use the GRK trim screws to fasten.


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## adpanko (Jun 18, 2009)

RippySkippy said:


> If the cabinets are face frame type, use a Pony clamp to bring them together, and use the GRK trim screws to fasten.


The pony clamp is a great product, but in my opinion not worth the investment for just one kitchen job. I wrote a detailed review about them on Amazon if you're interested. They do the job exactly as they say they do, but at $50-$60, I thought it was overkill for one kitchen (and only a handful of cabinets to use them on). In my opinion just using Irwin quick grip clamps, or virtually any clamps for that matter, and a tad more manual alignment, is a better option if you don't already own the Pony clamps. And "normal" clamps can obviously be used repeatedly in the future for other products, whereas the Pony clamps are highly tailored to do just one task. So if you don't have clamps already, invest about $40 in a pair of 12" Irwin quick-grip clamps.


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## Willie T (Jan 29, 2009)

Take your doors, and hinges with them, off. (It's just two small screws each) Pull the cabinets together clean and flush with "Quick Grip" clamps. Drill pilot holes where the replaced hinges will cover the screws. Screw the cabinets together. Replace the doors, and not a screw will ever be seen.


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## Paragon (Jun 14, 2009)

:thumbup: Willie T :thumbup:

Yes, that is the correct answer and I side with Willie.

Remove those screws from the hinges, draw the cabinets tight and faces flush and drill and countersink, insert screws and replace hinges 

VOILÀ concealed screws and cabinetry DONE.

That is my humble opinion so take it for what it is worth but if it were my project that is how I would do it.

Good luck and be safe!


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## toolbelt Tina (May 18, 2009)

*thanks to all*

thanks guys for taking the time to assist.

I already have clamps 12/24 and I think 36 or 48. They are not the $$kind but a knock off of Irwin. So I am set. 

Is there a chart somewhere that defines what size pilot hole to drill for a screw size? I just usually eyeball it.

thanks again
Tina


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## PaliBob (Jun 11, 2008)

toolbelt Tina said:


> ...Is there a chart somewhere that defines what size pilot hole to drill for a screw size?...Tina


 
Most of the time #7 trim head screws don’t need pre-drilling except in hardwood. 

http://www.naturalhandyman.com/iip/inffastener/infwoodscrewpilot.html
 



RippySkippy said:


> .....and use the GRK trim screws to fasten..


GRK are the ultimate in Trimheads

A little side story.

I was detained by Homeland Security partly due to some GRK screws.
In 2007 I flew from LA up to Vegas for the National Remodeling Show at the Mandalay Bay Hotel. On the third and last day as the booths were closing down, I made a last scavenging run through the aisles. Along with more literature, I collected a few Fein Multimaster blades, a hefty sample plastic package of GRK Screws, and a sample pack of *Boar blades *http://www.boarblade.com/ 
*EDIT this Link is Kaput so I added a PIC below*
 
I threw all the goodies in my backpack and raced down to the hotel baggage room where earlier that day I had stashed my luggage. Pulling the Luggage and with my backpack I made my way through the bedlam out to the hotel Airport Shuttle bus to catch my flight back to LA.

Arriving at the Airport, I checked my one piece of luggage then went up to join the mob at security screening. Not thinking I put the backpack on the conveyor, but then I beeped at the checkpoint. After some yelling back and forth between the agitated securities, they led me aside to a private area with a chair bolted to the floor and two feet silhouetted on the floor where I was instructed to place my feet and sit down.

There were now three agents that were wanding me, getting beeps, and asking questions. Another agent came in and I heard the word ‘Blades’. Now they wanted to know where I put them. As they continued to wand me and ask questions, they found the source of the beep. I had I single stick of gum overlooked in a shirt pocket.

I was relived, but they were still agitated as to what did I do with the blades? The mystery was resolved when one of the agents went back to retrieve the backpack, then opened it for a search. In the confusion they thought that I had the blades on me, not in the backpack.

As they took these ‘funny’ looking blades out to examine them and compare them to those ‘funny’ looking multicolored and multishaped GRK Screws, and then there were those ‘funny’ looking Fein blades. Something had to be terribly wrong here. I’m sure they had never seen anything quite like that collection. One agent kept holding them up side by side as if trying to imagine how these different things went together.

After conferring some more, they left me alone with just the guard. Then after about ten minutes an older Agent appeared and said follow me. Great, I thought, I’m not going to Gitmo, they’re going to let me go to LA. All happy we started to walk down an upper level corridor, me with the retrieved backpack, in the direction of the planes but then he stopped at a side door leading down to the street.
He then told me this is the deal, no way can we let you get on the plane with that cargo as carry-on, but if you go down the steps and cross the street to Ticketing, they may let you check in the backpack as luggage.

Since I had long since missed my shuttle flight back to LA, and since by now I was ready to fight to keep my freebies, that is what I did. After breezing back through a now almost deserted security I had an hour to kill so I retired to the Bar where I finished off three Cadillac Margaritas before boarding.
.


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