Cabinet

[Rick Albright]

I'm making a shelve cabinet and want to ask, which number wood screw would you suggest to use for going through the flat side of a 2 x 4 into the side of a 1 x 4? I know it should be probably 2 1/2" to 3" long.

[Andrew Pitonyak]

Depends on the screw. If possible, I would doe a few tests. My Hi Point screws have very different characteristics to what I consider a standard wood working screw.

So you are going through 1.5" of 2x4 and then into a 1x4, which I assume means into the 3/4" cross section of the wood. I assume that you will drill pilot holes so that your alignment is correct.

I assume that you want to secure the shelf in place. Any chance you can cut a dado into the 2x4? That would probably help a lot.

Run a few test on scrap.

All that said, I would drill pilot holes and work very hard to keep the square.
I would use #8 screws for my first tests.

When I last did this, what I really did was to put a support strip under the shelf and I screwd that in place.

[andy bessette]

2x4 seems awfully heavy for making a cabinet. To answer your question, though, to attach 2x4 material I would consider using a #10 or 12.

[Chris Hachet]

I would use a pocket hole jig, you can buy the smaller of the Kreg jigs from Lowes for about $40 last I checked. With a pocket hole jig the screw is not completely in line with the grain, running it at an angle seems to give a lot of extra strength.

A support strip like Andrew suggested, or cutting a dado into the side of the 2 x 4 will also help a good bit. You can also laminate two pieces of 1 x wood together and leave a space for the shelf if you do not have a router or handsaw and chisel, or another way to make a dado.

End grain does not always hold screws well when you run screws in directly along the grain.

Good luck and keep us posted!

Chris

[Lee Schierer]

Unless you plan on removing the 1 x 4's later. I would recommend that you use #10 x 2-1/2 screws and glue on the edge of the 1 x 4. The screws will hold the board while the glue dries.