Cutting Lists

Anthony Bailey explains how to draw up a cutting list for any project

Any project of any size is a series of steps or processes. It can be a new build or restoration, but to do it properly requires some planning. In this article, I will use the cutting list for a storage unit that I made from boards as an example but the principles can be applied to the preparation of any project.

Creating a cutting list

You can make drawings to suit certain requirements in terms of size, shape and capacity. However, in my experience with man-made board material in particular, there is usually too much or too little left when the cutting list is made up. A cutting list should be an accurate list as far as possible of all the component sizes and the numbers of each component needed and what material it will be made from. A typical list usually contains some solid timber as well as man-made board material. Cutting lists for purely solid wood projects will not have any board material listed except where jigs or templates are needed. This list is required before we can do anything else.

Board drawing

Since my storage unit will mostly be made from board material, which comes in 2,440 × 1,220mm sizes, it is important to work out all the sizes, so enough board gets ordered but also to maximise board usage and reduce waste. I have been known to use narrow boards biscuit jointed together to get the right width so that is a trick I’ll keep up my sleeve once I know how economical the cuts are likely to be. Unlike working with solid timber, it is perfectly sensible to do scale drawings of boards and then draw out the components so they can best fit. Using CAD on a computer makes this process quick and easy; it is slower using pencil and ink.

Board choice

Although I had in mind exactly what each part of the unit would need material-wise, as I drew it out I still needed to put numbers to it. Generally speaking, the carcass will be the most heavily built part of the design so it is strong and can cope with the loading of the interior. So this will be made from 19mm maple-veneered MDF: the top, ends and base plus the two vertical divisions.

Apart from the open storage spaces there are a series of nine drawers all of one size. I wanted the plant-on fronts to be the same 19mm veneered board but the drawer boxes are to be 12mm veneered MDF with 6mm ditto as the bases. Because these shapes are smaller than the carcass, the material thicknesses therefore reduce accordingly so the drawers aren’t too heavy, which in turn also helps to maximise the drawer capacity. The drawers need to look good when they are open so I felt veneered 6mm board for the drawer bases was justified. Spare board can then be used for the carcass back panel, which is necessary to stop the carcass collapsing so it must be fitted and it will also help to keep dust out. If I find there is more of one board thickness left over but a shortage of another, then I will need to be creative and rethink the design slightly in order to keep both the cost and wastage down. Although the drawer boxes and back panel are subject to slight adjustment once the carcass has been built, I can be pretty confident about the board area they will take up so I can now plan out the cuts and see how it will all fit.

If you study these board layout drawings you can see I have ended up using some crafty compromises to minimise waste and avoid buying extra boards. The planted-on fronts for the drawer boxes are to be cut from 12mm veneered board rather than the intended 19mm board; this has released enough 19mm material to make the unit base and also the dividers, which are in two pieces each, biscuit jointed together.

Final cutting list

One rearmost piece has its grain running the wrong way but it won’t be visible. Lastly, the front of each drawer box has the grain running vertically as I feel this isn’t as critical as at the back of the drawer where it would be more visible. Any cross grain splintering can be hidden better too as it will lie against the plant-on fronts. Laying them out like this has allowed me to lay the plant-on fronts correctly ‘with the grain’.