You certainly can use plywood for a face frame but there are a couple of caveats.
Joining the rails to the styles cannot be satisfactorily done with pocket screw joinery since the screws are going into the edge and will likely separate the laminations forming bulges on the surface and not holding at all well. You can make saddle type mortise & tenon joints or lap joints or I would probably use biscuit joints and I have seen people scab a thin plywood or hardboard patch across the back of the joints. Another concern will be the hardware. If you are using surface mount hinges into the face of the face frame there will be no problem but if you intend to use hardware that fixes into the edge of the face frame you are likely to run into the same troubles as joining the rails and styles. Remember this may apply to latches as well. We have a load of added storage cabinets around the hospital with plywood face frames many in daily use. If you plan to keep the oak showing, that is, not paint it you might prefer to fix the face frames to the cabinet walls with biscuits or dominos or something other than face nailing even with finish nails so you don't have them to hide. ----- Original Message ----- From: Michael Baldwin To: blindhandyman@yahoogroups.com Sent: Sunday, February 24, 2008 4:01 PM Subject: [BlindHandyMan] Wood workers Hi, can I use plywood for a face frame? besides the edges not looking nice, which can be fixed, is there a reason not to use it. I have to sheets of 3/4 oak plywood, which is way more then I needed for a project. Thought I could save some cash. I am building a wall cabinet for my bathroom to hold towels and such, so it will be exposed to lots of moisture. Thanks, Michael [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 269.20.9/1295 - Release Date: 2/23/2008 9:35 PM [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
