Carpenter-Cabinetmaker Training

Lesson 1 • Personal Protective Equipment Essentials

Covers selection and proper use of PPE for woodworking environments. Establishes the safety baseline all subsequent hands-on work depends on.

Lesson 2 • Hand Tool Safety and Handling

Introduces correct grip, posture, and cutting direction for common hand tools. Proper technique here prevents injury throughout all future woodworking tasks.

Lesson 3 • First Aid and Emergency Response

Covers immediate response to cuts, eye injuries, and inhalation incidents common in woodshops. Prepares students to act before professional help arrives.

Lesson 4 • Power Tool Safety Fundamentals

Establishes safe startup, operation, and shutdown procedures for portable power tools. These rules apply directly to drills, sanders, and routers used in later chapters.

Lesson 1 • Lumber Grading and Defects

Teaches industry grading systems and how to identify knots, timber checks, and warp. Students learn to purchase and cut around defects to maximize usable yield.

Lesson 2 • Fasteners, Adhesives, and Hardware

Introduces screws, nails, dowels, biscuits, and wood glues used in cabinet construction. Correct fastener and adhesive selection is prerequisite knowledge for joinery chapters.

Lesson 3 • Sheet Goods and Engineered Panels

Covers plywood, MDF, particleboard, and melamine construction and their cabinet applications. Understanding panel properties prevents delamination and fastener failure in assemblies.

Lesson 4 • Moisture Content and Acclimation

Explains how moisture content affects dimensional stability and finish adhesion. Proper acclimation before milling prevents warping in finished cabinets.

Lesson 1 • Squareness and Reference Surfaces

Teaches how to establish and verify square, flat reference faces before layout begins. A reliable reference surface is essential for all subsequent milling and joinery operations.

Lesson 2 • Angles, Bevels, and Compound Layouts

Covers sliding bevels, protractors, and trigonometry for angled cuts and compound miters. Angle layout skills are required for crown molding and angled cabinet components.

Lesson 3 • Measuring Tools and Their Use

Covers tape measures, rules, calipers, and digital gauges for woodworking accuracy. Accurate measurement is the first step in every cut and joint made in this course.

Lesson 1 • Milling Sequence for Square Stock

Integrates jointer, planer, and table saw into a systematic milling sequence for dimensioned parts. Following this sequence ensures all faces are square and parts are interchangeable.

Lesson 2 • Jointer Technique for Flat Faces

Teaches infeed and outfeed table adjustment and safe jointing of faces and edges. Flat, straight reference surfaces produced here are required before planing and ripping.

Lesson 3 • Table Saw Setup and Ripping

Covers blade selection, fence alignment, and safe ripping technique on the table saw. Accurate ripping is the foundation of consistent part width in cabinet construction.

Lesson 4 • Band Saw Resawing and Curves

Introduces blade tensioning, fence use, and freehand curve cutting on the band saw. Resawing skills enable efficient use of thick stock and production of book-matched panels.

Lesson 1 • Dovetail Joint Cutting

Teaches layout, sawing, and chopping of hand-cut through dovetails for drawer boxes. Dovetails provide mechanical resistance to racking and are a hallmark of quality cabinetry.

Lesson 2 • Glue-Up and Clamping Strategy

Introduces glue application, clamp placement, and squaring techniques for hand-cut assemblies. Proper glue-up technique ensures joints close fully without introducing winding (twist in timber).

Lesson 3 • Dado, Rabbet, and Groove Joints

Covers hand-planed and router-plane methods for dadoes, rabbets, and grooves. These joints house shelves, drawer bottoms, and cabinet backs in standard case construction.

Lesson 4 • Mortise and Tenon Joinery

Covers layout, chopping, and fitting of through and blind mortise-and-tenon joints. This joint is the primary structural connection in face frames and solid wood cabinet doors.

Lesson 1 • Router Table Operations

Teaches fence setup, featherboard use, and safe routing of profiles and dadoes on a router table. The router table enables consistent edge profiles on all cabinet door and drawer parts.

Lesson 2 • Doweling and Confirmat Fasteners

Teaches dowel jig alignment and Confirmat screw use for sheet-good cabinet assembly. These fasteners provide strong, concealed connections in melamine and plywood carcasses.

Lesson 3 • Router Fundamentals and Bit Selection

Covers router types, collet use, bit geometry, and feed direction rules. Correct bit selection and feed direction prevent tear-out and burning on cabinet components.

Lesson 4 • Template and Pattern Routing

Introduces guide bushings, flush-trim bits, and MDF templates for repeatable shapes. Template routing is essential for producing identical curved parts in production cabinet runs.

Lesson 1 • Shelf Pin Holes and Fixed Shelves

Introduces shelf pin hole drilling jigs and methods for installing fixed and adjustable shelves. Accurate shelf pin rows are essential for client-adjustable storage in wall cabinets.

Lesson 2 • Face Frame Construction and Attachment

Covers building and attaching solid wood face frames to plywood carcasses using pocket screws. The face frame stiffens the carcass and provides the door and drawer reveal.

Lesson 3 • Toe Kick and Nailer Integration

Covers toe kick construction, nailer placement, and scribing for wall-cabinet mounting. Proper nailer placement ensures secure wall attachment during installation.

Lesson 4 • Carcass Assembly Sequence

Teaches the step-by-step order for assembling sides, tops, bottoms, and backs into a square box. Following the correct sequence prevents racking and ensures back panels fit squarely.

Lesson 1 • Drawer Box Construction

Covers dovetailed and lock-rabbet drawer box construction sized for undermount and side-mount slides. Accurate drawer box sizing is critical for smooth slide operation and full extension.

Lesson 2 • Slab Door and Drawer Front Sizing

Teaches sizing, edge treatment, and reveal calculation for flat slab doors and drawer fronts. Consistent reveals across a run of cabinets define the quality of the finished installation.

Lesson 3 • Frame-and-Panel Door Construction

Covers cope-and-stick and mortise-and-tenon methods for building solid wood cabinet doors. Floating panel construction prevents cracking caused by seasonal wood movement.

Lesson 4 • Hinge Selection and Installation

Introduces European cup hinges, butt hinges, and pivot hinges with layout and boring procedures. Correct hinge placement determines door swing clearance and overlay consistency.