10 Must-Have Cabinet Making Tools and 1 Great Fastener

Making cabinets can be a tricky process without the proper tools and equipment. While cabinet making may seem like a simple undertaking when compared to larger projects like subfloor or roof installations, there is a lot of precision work involved in cabinet making. With the below tools, making a new set of cabinets will be more efficient, effortless and accurate.

A Toothy Blade

A frustrating part of cutting particle board is its tendency to splinter. Instead of sanding and patching splinters, get a blade that will make clean cuts through the wood. Plywood and melamine blades have serrated, toothy edges that cut particle board cleanly with a splinter-free finish.

Shelf Pin Drilling Jig

This tool will allow you to create stable shelves without measuring for accuracy. Using the pin drilling jig, drill the pin hole for first, then peg the jig in place with a shelf pin. This will speed up the process, allowing you to create shelves faster without sacrificing accuracy.

Compass

A compass or scriber will allow you to mark irregular portions of the wall in order to help achieve a perfect fit for your cabinets. Some compasses even allow for multiple articulation points, so you can use the tool in smaller spaces.

3-Way Clamp

It’s not uncommon for custom shelves to require atypical clamping. There are instances where a classic bar and pipe clamp won’t be able to reach, and a 3-way clamp will come in handy. It’s particularly helpful in holding the face frame to the cabinet while securing.

Cabinet Claw

In some cases, square cabinets frames will slip right into place, but more often than not, there are other factors such as unlevel floors and warped walls that make things difficult. For this reason, the cabinet claw will pull the frames of two cabinets together, and align their faces flush, which makes installation much easier.

Hinge Placements

Professional cabinet markers typically use European-style cup hinges because they can be adjusted after installation. However, these tools are not cheap, and for someone who’s only making one set of cabinets, investment in an expensive tool may not be practical. Hinge marks are a cost-effective option that will allow you to accurately mark the location of the hinge holes before drilling them.

Self-Centering Bits

Small screws used in cabinet making can be difficult to center as they tend to move out of position due to the grain of the hardwood. A self-centering bit will help prevent this problem by holding the center of the screw hole in place for an accurate pilot hole.

Thin-Kerf Dado

When using 1/4” plywood, a full-kerf blade would likely require two passes for a rattle-free groove. A thin-kerf dado creates the perfect groove in just one pass, which makes the process twice as efficient.

Drawer Mounting

By clamping or holding a drawer mounting tool to the frame, the jig will secure the metal slides so you can screw them in place. For those who are mounting drawers without any help, a mounting tool will help hold everything steady for accurate installation.

Pull Placement

After constructing a beautiful cabinet, it would be a shame to finish it off with a poorly positioned pull placement. A pull jig has adjustable pull template lines that will allow you to center and mark the handle screws for precise placement.

In addition to the tools above, there is one superior fastener for wooden structures. Wooden nails are ideal for use in wooden furniture production because they blend in seamlessly. LignoLoc® are the first collated wooden nails, and they are shot pneumatically, which completely eliminates the need for pre-drilling. They also have superior holding power due to a substance-to-substance bond that is created as the nails are driven in a process called lignin welding. LignoLoc® are efficient, ecological, and they also decrease tool wear. For a flawless looking cabinet, wooden nails are the ultimate solution.