>>I am building a cage out of 3/4 inch oak plywood that will be 4x2x2 for an ackie monitor. I would like the cage to be furniture quality. I was thinking about using Dowels to attach the sides of the tank and the front face. Are dowels strong enough and would you reccomend this? Is there a better way to put them together without any exposed screws? I bought a dowel jig so aligning the pieces shouldn't be a problem.



Does the doweling jig allow you to make 90-degree joints? Many of the cheaper jigs assume that the pieces will lie flat (e.g. like a cabinet face frame). If your jig doesn't have built-in support for 90-degree corner joints, you may find that getting the dowels lined up is more trouble than it's worth.



As others have suggsted, I'd probably just use screws. You can use traditional plugs or there are a number of alternatives. McFeely's sells plastic screw caps in a number of different colors that might be acceptable. They also sell peel-and-stick caps. Some are pre-finished, others are unfinished.



Plugs are probably the best way to go, but they will take a bit more time. FWIW, if your plugs are spaced at regular intervals you can use contrasting color wood for a nice design detail. For example, if you're using oak plywood you might use walnut plugs at the four corners of a piece and oak plugs everywhere else.

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