Discover the Secrets to Successful Cabinetmaking!
Almost every cabinetmaker would agree that you need to buy a table saw to build cabinets for your kitchen or for a living. After you buy the table saw, we think your next purchase should be The Complete Cabinetmaker's Reference, a book that will work as hard as your table saw to ensure your next project is as smooth and successful as possible.
Professional cabinetmaker Jeffrey Piontkowski has distilled 30 years of experience and shop drawings into a book that will eliminate (or drastically reduce) the time you spend making shop drawings for 23 of the most common household cabinets. His system will save you time, eliminate costly drawing mistakes and even cut out a lot of wasted materials.
The Secret is the Worksheet
Here, in a nutshell, is how this ingenious system works: First you decide what style of cabinet you want to build, whether it's a base cabinet with a drawer or a set of bookshelves. Then you determine how wide you need the cabinet to be to fit the space in the kitchen, den or utility room. That's all you need to know to get started building. The worksheets do the rest of the work.
Open this nice hardbound book with a durable spiral binding and turn to the worksheet for the cabinet you need. Every bit of information you need is right there. There's a hardware list so you know how many hinges and drawer slides you need. There's a complete cutting list that follows an optimization chart. Using the cutting list and the chart, you'll be able to cut all the parts you need from your sheet goods with the least amount of waste and the fewest number of cuts.
With all your parts cut to size, you'll next cut the dadoes and rabbets needed to attach the drawer guides, shelves, bottom and top rails. Then you'll be able to assemble everything by following the 3D exploded drawing for that cabinet. And in case you're unsure of a step in the construction process, each chapter includes a step-by-step tutorial with tips for building each style of cabinet covered in the book. And if you need assistance with basic operations (such as building a drawer) the first chapter of the book explains all the basic operations with step photos of each machine operation.
The worksheets are even designed to be photocopied so you can mark up how many cabinets you need of each style and what sort of finishing procedure should be used for each cabinet. With a stack of these worksheets, you can keep track of all the cabinets for your next kitchen project or for an entire hospital or school job.
All the Plans You Need
With the more than 160 worksheets, you'll be ready for any job in any size space. Need a base cabinet? Choose from seven different widths or use a simple formula to quickly make custom widths without making a mistake. There are worksheets for base cabinets with one drawer, no drawers or four drawers. Base cabinets for sinks and vanities in a wide variety of sizes and configurations --with and without drawers.
To match the base cabinets, Piontkowski includes a complete set of worksheets for matching wall cabinets in all the common and useful widths, and the corner wall cabinets you need to make the job look right. All these cabinets are built right, with hanging strips to keep them in place and deep back rabbets that allow you to scribe them to walls that aren't plumb.
And because not every job involves the kitchen, The Complete Cabinetmaker's Reference includes useful plans for basic dressers, bookshelves, entertainment centers, desks and file cabinets. You'll also get construction details for adding custom touches, like building a pencil drawer on the desk unit and making wood-edged countertops.
The Complete Cabinetmaker's Reference will let you skip all the drudgery of planning and let you get to the good part --cutting wood and making money.
