Tired of seeing dovetail pins just slapped in without any thought to grain direction

Was at a shop in Phoenix last week helping a buddy with his kitchen build. The guy before him had put in some drawer boxes and the dovetail pins were all running perpendicular to the drawer front grain. Looks like crap from three feet away and it's gonna move like crazy when the seasons change. I get that some guys just crank them out for production, but if you're charging custom prices, take the extra 30 seconds to orient those pins with the grain. Am I the only one who notices this on installs?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_gray15d ago

And it's the SAME kinda lazy thinking you see everywhere now, nobody pays attention to details anymore.

rose_murray15d ago

Isn't that just how people scroll on their phones now, barely looking at anything?

theabennett15d ago

Honestly the grain thing is bad but the real issue nobody talks about is how the wood movement itself plays out over time. I've seen drawers that fit perfect in January and by August the pins are so tight they're cracking the drawer fronts or so loose you can see daylight. When you orient pins with the grain at least the whole piece expands and contracts together as one unit. Going perpendicular means you're fighting the wood's natural movement season after season and that joint is never gonna be stable. It's not even about looks for me anymore it's about the fact that the drawer will literally self destruct in a year or two. That kind of shortcut is just asking for a callback and a pissed off customer.