Split Styles

[Steve Osterday]

First project of the year. Face frames for 2 cabinets I'm building. My very first cabinet last year came out perfect, this year not so good. I'm using 1x2 Poplar and course screws. The styles split when the screw went in. The only thing I'm doing different is using a new Makita Impact driver I got. Last year I used the drill/driver and had no spliting. Did I over drive the screws or did I just get a different quality of wood. I'm assuming Poplar is a soft wood so the course screws. Was that wrong? What did I do....?

[John Schaben]

Hi Steve - I would guess the impact driver is more than a tad robust. I admit I use one on occasion but I'm generally in a construction mode joining 2x4's. On 1x  stuff I use the cordless with a clutch setting around 12-15 out of 28. Coarse screws are OK for poplar, that's what we used at the furniture factory I worked at.

[DAVID CZUPRYN]

Loose the impact driver; use a drill/driver, with an adjustable clutch setting.

[Steve Osterday]

Thanks guys. That's kinda what I was thinking. I even did a test piece first and it split, but I went ahead and used it anyway. Duh... What kind of logic is that, huh? :-)