I do have a 12 inch compound miter saw but cutting power tools for furniture making size on that with 18 inch depth panels is hard in one pass. George Vondriska and A. This is by far the most important piece of safety equipment that you should wear when operating power furnitire. And they make quick work of easing the edges on finished designs. Have a look at what we offer. Make sure you buy clamps that are adequate for your pkwer and will serve you for years to come. As soon as you start feeling that it lost its grit, throw it out.

Its circular blade allows you to rip long lumber lengthwise or cut big panels such as plywood. An adjustable blade height allows you to score wood or cut all the way through. In the last few weeks, I used mine to build a rustic table using huge timbers and notch a post for a deck railing. The worm drive version is an upgrade in higher-end models that gives more power and torque.

But for occasional use, a simple model like the classic Skilsaw remains a good choice. For long cuts, you could use a circular saw. But your line may end up a bit wobbly.

If you need accurate long, straight cuts on a board, a table saw is an absolute must. Most models are space hogs in your garage, but if you need a smaller portable option, there are compact versions that can handle the vast majority of your needs. Even as a relatively new addition to my tool chest, my angle grinder gets used surprisingly often. This little tool spins small disks at a high RPM to cut and grind all kinds of material.

The disks themselves are only a few dollars, and most are specialy designed for either metal or masonry. The thin disks designed for cutting are super useful for trimming metal pipe, rebar, hog wire or tile, or clipping off rusty nail heads.

The fat disks designed for grinding are useful for jobs such as smoothing rough spots in concrete, removing rust and sharpening tools. The construction industry has made a dramatic shift to larger engineered fasteners that are installed with an impact driver.

Instead of lots of small screws and nails, pieces now are frequently joined with larger screws that have hex-shaped heads. While you can often use a regular drill for an engineered screw, you will burn out your drill a lot faster.

With an impact driver, you can use fewer fasteners that are stronger, and install them more quickly. This is one of those tools that everyone should own, from the general contractor to a DIYer. Sanding anything large is agonizingly slow, tiring and sloppy. An electric sander can do the work in a fraction of the time and the end result will look superior. Most electric sanders are random orbital, so they sand without leaving a noticeable scratch pattern on wood.

And they make quick work of easing the edges on finished designs. Sandpaper disks are attached with Velcro, making it simple to replace them or to switch between different grits. Nothing can beat the usefulness of a nail gun with an air compressor for larger projects such as framing, roofing and trim work. Nail guns come in several gauges, all of which can attach to the same compressor and air hose.

For years, I have used an gauge gun with thin nails on trim boards where I wanted my nail holes to be invisible. When I had to frame out a new room and add siding to my house, I invested in a burly framing gun.

I first learned to use a jigsaw in middle-school shop class, where we used them to build kid-friendly art projects. My art projects are a lot more expensive now, but I still use a jigsaw with surprising frequency.

Their specialty is cutting through thin and lightweight material with inexpensive reciprocating blades that can be used on wood, metal and plastic. There are certain jobs that only an oscillating cutter can do. Imagine you have a 2-by-4 inside a wall that you need to trim. The tool uses a flat bar that vibrates at a high speed — almost like a hair clipper —and little teeth on the bar help make cuts with surgical precision. Once you own one, you begin to discover all kinds of uses for it.

Different blades make it possible to trim protruding pipes, remove old grout or open up clean rectangles in drywall. Some come with grinding or sanding heads. Wondering which brands or models to buy? There are plenty of reviews online that cover the ever-changing world of power tools. But this is the rule of thumb I use: Spend your money where it will get used. If you plan to use something weekly, opt for the best model you can afford.

It can quickly cut through wood, metal and other material. But there are other tools that can accomplish the task. Rotary hammer: This tool is used to drill into concrete. The flat base prevents rocking as you draw it along a surface. And a built-in sharpener means you'll never have to search for a pointier pencil.

All that and it can still draw circles and arcs. Custom cabinet jobs often come with custom clamping conundrums. Where bar and pipe clamps can't easily reach such as a center face-frame stile , turn to Rockler's 3-Way Face Clamp. This unconventional clamp grasps the carcase to gain leverage for securing the face frame to the cabinet. You won't turn to this specialist often, but when you need it, there's no substitute. In a perfect world, your dead-square cabinets slip into place like they're greased, adjoining face frames aligning seamlessly.

In our world, bulging walls, out-of-level floors, and moisture-induced wood movement make that a fantasy. The Cabinet Claw draws together the face frames of two cabinets while simultaneously aligning their faces flush, making it a simple matter to join the cabinets with screws.

Pro cabinetmakers love European-style cup hinges because they include enough post-install adjustment to make them ultra-forgiving. Sommerfeld's Hinge Boring Jig makes the preinstall process just as easy. Three built-in boring bits connected to hexhead drivers on top of the jig precisely locate the 35mm cup hole and 8mm bushing holes.

Turn the hex heads with your drill and a socket and press down to bore each hole to perfect depth. For a lower-cost alternative, try the Hingemark above , which simply and accurately marks the location of the hinge holes. Align the jig, tap the three spring-loaded punches to mark the hole centers, and then drill them on your drill press.

Tiny screws and hard wood make a bad recipe for precise hinge placement -- errant grain can cause the bit to slip off course while drilling the screw holes. If you plan to install butt, barrel, or wrap hinges, pick up a self-centering bit for the sake of your hardware-mounting sanity.

The chamfered, spring-loaded sheath on a self-centering bit commonly called a Vix bit eliminates hinge creep by locking in the precise center of the hinge's screw hole while the bit punches a perfectly sized pilot hole. When mounting drawer slides, one hand holds the slide, one hand holds the screw, and one hand holds the drill.

Clamped or held against the face frame, the jig's magnets secure and position metal slides leaving your hands free to screw them in place. The companion product for mounting full-extension drawers, shown on slide 1 , Tools For Furniture Making Value provides a convenient resting place for the drawer box while you secure the drawer-side slide.

With your drawers and doors complete, don't blow it now with poor pull placement. Rockler's Drawer Pull Jig It adjustable drawer-pull template lines up on your center mark to precisely locate handle screw holes in six standard spacings, as well as centered.

With an old handscrew clamp and some scraps of hardwood, you can set up your thickness planer to Skip to main content.

Previous X of 11 View all Next. Get clean carcase cuts Tools For Furniture Making Video from a toothy blade Few materials prove as finicky or frustrating to cut as splinter-prone hardwood plywood or melamine-coated particleboard.

Storage Cabinet Padlock Zoom Wood Workshop Bench Image