Particle Board and Kreg Pocket Fastening

I made a 96" tall, 16" deep and 30" wide cabinet for the garage about 20 years ago. It was made with 3/4" particle board covered with melamine. The back was 1/4" plywood. I used 3 european style hinges on each door -- doors were 96" x 15". I had 3 fixed shelves -- one at 3" where I kept my 10 gallon air tank, one at 3 feet and one at 6 feet, plus a top. there were also 3 or 4 other adjustable shelves. I did not use Kreg screws - I used 2 1/2 " or 3" wood screws at each fixed shelf and the top along with glue. While most of the shelves were used for storage, I would not say that there was ever a great amount of weight on them.

I also built a 3 foot tall x 6 foot long x 15" deep file storage shelf unit that I use for file storage from 3/4" melamine covered particle board. It has no doors. There are cubbie holes about 11' tall x 18" wide. This unit is pretty well loaded with supports for the shelves about every 18". I've had it for about 8 years and it has held up well. I did use Kreg screws on that unit.

I also built a 6 foot tall x 30 inch wide by 12 inch deep bookcase out of the same material. The shelves at the 2 foot level and forefoot level are fixed as are the top and bottom. I used Kreg screws on this unit.This unit is fairly well loaded with books, three ring binders and other items, but they're not jampacked in. This bookcase is not subjected too much stress or movement and items stored on its shelves are not regularly moved.

None of these units was ever subjected to a lot of stress. The file storage shelf unit has a few files taken out and put back on a daily basis, but the files would be about the size of a pretty good size book. The bookcase and storage shelf were each moved on one occasion to another building without any significant problems; the taller garage cabinet was never moved. It had seasonal things taken out and put back from time to time but was not used on a daily – or sometimes even weekly – basis.

I don't believe that I would use 5/8 inch particleboard on the project. If the unit is going to be subject to much movement or stress, plywood would be by far the better choice. I agree with Stick and Gene that stress and particleboard are not a good combination.

The trick with particle board & screws is to not over tighten them. Holes should always be pilot drilled. There is a lot of difference in various grades of particle board. The crap that the box stores sell is generally meant for underlayment not anything structural. Even the board meeting industrial standards varies a lot. Screws into the edges of ply have their problems also. Glue helps a lot. So does any form of inter locking joinery. Dados, biscuits, dowels, Dominos, splines will be stronger than just screws into an edge. Strong enough depends on the application. Use the correct screws for the material. Dry wall or wood screws are not the correct screws for particle board or MDF! The correct screws will have an auger point, deep wide spaced threads and a self counter sinking head. Caution about the "self counter sinking head" it will only work if you have enough thread into the board to pull well. Best to use a counter sink first. It will almost never work with a melamine coated board. Pocket screws have a different type of head and need to be used for that application. It's the same principle as hunting a bear with a 22 cal.

My wife loves to cook and over the years she has amassed a plethora of kitchen items (I call them tools). She has 4 storage cabinets that she uses now that are of the kmart particle variety made from 5/8" particle board, and has worked well for the last 15 years or so. They are nowhere to be found anymore to buy 2 of them. She stores things like Tupperware, stock pots, casseroles, slow cookers and the like. I realize particle board is delicate and would rather build it with plywood. I have only just recently used the Kreg pocket hole jig for a cabinet carcass (plywood) to display/store my hand planes. My preference would be to use real joinery in making the carcass but wanted to make it a cheap as possible so I called Kreg to ask about it and of coarse the said it will work with the downfalls you describe. I wanted some verification from real users and I think that is the reason no one seems to sell these cabinets anymore. The cost of making these cabinets from plywood will jump the cost to more than double to three times the price for plywood and even more for real pine lumber.

Although not the ideal material, particle board has been around for many years and there are possibly millions of cabinets and furniture still in service in various conditions. The question was , can pocket holes be used in this, I have never tried, but I have used and recycled many particle boards and I am currently building my version of the New Yankee Workshop router table and the main carcass is particle board with a beautiful maple veneer on both sides. Let me explain why I am using this; several years ago I was at a local Home Depot and as I passed the lumber section I noticed in the liquidation bin four sheets of 3/4'' 4' x 4' particle board at $2.00/ea. Well at that price who could resist ! I was planning to make a bar with them but I am n ow in a smaller home with no room for a bar and I really don't drink much anyways. So after a couple of moves and still have the sheets, a few months ago I cut them up according to the dimensions on the plan. I will be cutting the Dados and rabbets soon and I will assemble with glue and coarse thread screws. The fact that it has the veneer I will trim out the end cuts ans apply a nice finish when it's done. I would not have purchased them had they been only 5/8'' thick. The first picture shows the sheets under the accessories before they were cut. The second shows then cut and stacked.

For what it's worth, a few comments about my experiences with MDF (hundreds of sheets) and particle board (only one batch of 500 shelf sized boards)

MDF is by far the primary material for building car audio speaker baffles and subwoofer cabinets, sometimes powered by thousands of watts of power, and having to withstand the pressure and vibrations, as well as the huge swing in moisture and temperature variations of the automotive / marine environment.

Notice to Reader: Newer mdf (within the last 6 or 7 years) is ostensibly water resistant due to the higher glue content and more modern manufacturing techniques. On a recent flight, I sat next to an industrial engineer who was responsible for setting up and commissioning the latest mdf production presses in the market place; he told me the new stuff is almost water proof, in part because it is so easy to produce it that way, and it helps minimize goods lost to environmental factors. The density and reference flatness and straightness of these sheet goods is the standard. Having Home Depot cut it properly on their Holzherr panel saw yields CnC level accuracy btw......

Just saying these things for reference and background.

1/2, 3/4 and 1" Mdf - always pre drilled w/ countersinks, and at a slight angle when possible so the threads bite thru the "grain"/layers to some extent....they are there, if not officially...... Then glued, stapled into position and screwed tightly. Experience tells you what size hole to drill for which screws sizes in stock. On rare occasion you might get some lift of end grain visible ; drill perpendicular countersunk hole, shoot in a screw, problem solved. Hundreds of applications, never a failure or come back, which would suggest this method works. I still have some enclosures I built 20 yrs ago that remain solid as ever.......having lived thru 3 or 4 cars and damp garage storage.

The particle board story is even better:

A customer calls me about 18 yrs ago and says I can have as many lifts of green melamine 5 sides 5/8' particle board shelving as I want - ideally all of it. 3 tractor trailers full. I managed to take 10 skids. Used it to build highly stressed garage shelving units for my neighbors friends and myself.
Same assembly process as described above. In damp garage environments......for 18 yrs......zero failures.

Have always believed in overbuilding anything functional......so it lasts and performs.
Not everyone's method nor always required, but I try my best to do my best.......even when typing out these longwinded tales, lol

That is not to say the original question has been answered directly, but I do think the level of anecdotal evidence would suggest at least trying the jig and screws and experimenting would not be a waste of time, as long as there is a desire to modify and adapt as needed.