Building kitchen cabinets can be a very rewarding experience. Once the job is done and you realize that the beautiful piece in front of you was once a pile of wood, it can give you a great sense of accomplishment. Most people don’t jump right into cabinet making without some prior knowledge of woodworking…although I’ve seen a few who did. They may have played with a saw and hammer before, but had no real experience in the area of fine woodworking. If this is the case, here is a list of some of the top tools you really should have.
1. Table saw
The most indispensable tool of tools. However, don’t just buy a cheap one. It should be a pretty sturdy model to keep up with some of the work you need to do. The cheapest models have small tables and are very light. They tend to tip over if something with a bit of length or weight is being passed through them.
2. Get high
This tool is a must if you want to get those smooth, clean edges on your wood. A small portable glider with a width of 10″ and a depth of 5″ will handle most jobs. These tools are great when it comes to squaring wood. You need all of your parts to be very accurate in dimension or you will be in for a lot of headaches. The glider takes care of that.
3. Shaper
You can get by without one of these, but I think it’s a good option. A router can do pretty much everything the shaper can, but on a much lighter scale. The Moulder gives you a nice, solid table and a heavy-duty motor to take on the toughest jobs, like raising panel cabinet doors.
4. Miter Saw
There are many of these on the market. A 10″ miter saw will handle most of your cutting. Radial arm saws are good too, but the portable miter saw doesn’t take up as much space and you can move it anywhere. These tools are good for clean, accurate crosscuts.
5. Route
The router can do many different jobs. You’ll mainly use it to finish your work, but you can buy a table for it and use it as a shaper as well. There are all kinds of bits with different cutting styles available, which will do just about any type of modeling project you can ask for.
Of course, there are many other must-have tools you’ll need to build your own cabinets, but here are some of the main ones. An orbital sander and a biscuit joiner would be greatly needed, as well as a number of clamps and other small but very useful items. There are a plethora of tools available to the woodworker today, but if he’s just starting out, these five are the basic tools to get him started and on his way.