Guides
For getting a panel furniture project ready before cutting: the parts list, the edge banding and how many sheets to buy. Each guide comes with its example, which opens in the optimizer for free and without signing up.
-
How to make a cabinet cut list, step by step
Learn to work out every part of a cabinet: sizes, gaps, grain and edge banding, with a kitchen base unit as the example and a free cutting plan at the end.
Read the guide → -
How to calculate edge banding for furniture
Which sides get edge banding, which thickness and width to choose, how much extra to buy and whether to subtract it from the cut size, with a sample bookcase.
Read the guide → -
Saw kerf and edge trim: why your parts don't fit
How much the saw takes at every cut and the trim at every edge, why two 1220 shelves don't come out of one sheet and which sizes do fit, with a table.
Read the guide → -
Sheet sizes and thicknesses, in millimetres and in inches
The most common sizes and thicknesses of melamine, MDF and plywood, the US ones in inches, and why 3/4 plywood measures 23/32, with a one-sheet bookcase.
Read the guide → -
How to read a cutting plan and its cutting sequence
What each colour and number on a cutting plan means, what the phase, measure and position of each cut tell you and which order to cut in, with a desk example.
Read the guide →