Shapers, molders, planers and routers are the tools used in cabinet making for taking raw lumber and turning it into cabinet grade hardwood face frames, trim moldings and solid wood components. A common stationary tool used for making moldings and profiling is the shaper. The shaper is a costly piece of equipment and I think it’s over rated. I have a 3 hp shaper in my shop and for the most part it sits idol. The reason, I have a 3 hp variable speed router mounted under a large table with a quality fence system that I use to do most jobs. It’s more versatile, easier to set up for long runs, and the bits are much cheaper. The BenchDog ProMaxRT Router is a good example of a router table system that will perform most shaping duties and replace the more expensive shaper. In m shop the router is by far the most used and important piece of equipment that we have. In cabinet shops it is very common to have several with varying horse power to do specific jobs.

A planer or a combination planer/molder is a must addition to your tool inventory. It’s essential that your hardwood materials be of consistent thickness because you will be joining parts together and variations in thickness will give you nothing but trouble. A portable, 13″ planer, which usually costs less than $400 dollars, will usually handle your surfacing requirements. It should be mounted on a stationary stand for stability and you should have in and out feed roller stands for supporting longer material lengths. However, for the best  results a larger stationary 20″ planer would be preferred for continued high use and dependability. Keep in mind these machines are several thousand dollars so be sure your volume of work justifies the expense.

When it comes to profiling moldings and making trim here’s what we do in our shop. We use the William and Hussey molder. We custom make all types of moldings, in a variety of species. We make radius trim for arch’s and all manor of curved trim. The shop Fox W1812 , around $1,300 bucks ) is a less expensive equivalent to the W&H.  I would not recommend buying this machine if your just starting out, unless you expect to be making lots of moldings and trim. They are well worth the cost, however, if your shop is growing and expanding into custom moldings as part of your cabinetry designs.

In general, I’d say, start with a good portable planer for surfacing and get a 1 hp, or better, router for general purpose use. Also decide if you want to spend the money on a shaper or whether a router table system is more in your budget ( I would highly recommend the later ). As far as making detailed moldings in a small shop goes, there’s no better way, in my view, then using the W&H or ShopFox for this.

That’s my opinion. Take it for what its worth. I’ll discuss assembly and more tools for cabinet making in part 3 of this series.