George Vondriska

Face Frame Finishing Tips

George Vondriska
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When a face frame cabinet has been built from melamine or a similar material, you need to make sure that you don’t get stain and sealer on the melamine while you’re applying finish to the face frame. The solution is very easy. It’s all about prefinishing, but you have to take care with the finish to make sure you have a glue bond between the face frame and the front of the case. Check out the solution to this problem.

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9 Responses to “Face Frame Finishing Tips”

  1. Troy MacPherson

    I never glue my Face Frames, I use pocket holes to secure it. That way there is no worry about whether the glue sticks or not. It's all a preference I suppose, I just find it easier and there is no waiting for the glue to dry, more so, of what type of wood you are using. Thanks for the video George all good information!

  2. Steve

    So how am I supposed to watch the video if all I see is a stupid ad?!? Every time I try to hit play it just takes me to a Vicks web page. This is a dumb page.

  3. Donald Delaney

    I work in a cabinet shop for several years and we always dadoed the face frame . I don't like the idea of just gluing your wood to particleboard . I think if I wasn't going to use a dado I might put a pocket hole or so on the inside .

  4. Barry

    Melamine edges are usually made of a very poor particle board material so do you actually only use yellow glue? Is it a special glue? Since the particle board material is usually kind of crumbly it is surprising that no finishing nails up front, or pocket screws or biscuits from behind are used. Also since you have never had a joint fail or face frame warp because of only applying finish to one side you have caused so many of us to feel like we have been wasting our time doing it the other way. Thanks for preventing us from losing more time. :o)

  5. Robert Augeri

    Why not use a biscuit jointer .

  6. Pauyl Johnson

    You don't nail it as well?

  7. jwoodworke@aol.com

    But George, what happened to what you do on one side of a project, you should do on the other side, to prevent warping. e.g., 3 coats of poly on one side needs 3 coat of poly on the other side. I think the reasoning was uneven escape of moisture in the wood causes warpage. Are you thinking that because the faceface is secured to the carcass, that my point is moot?

  8. Ted

    You said no problem with glue on the melamine because glue doesn't stick to melamine. Does that mean that gluding the face frame to the melamine will not be a strong joint?

  9. sawandsew

    George, You said that glue doesn't stick to melamine well, how did you secure the face frame onto the melamine? Did you have to scuff the melamine first?

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