What kind of hinges are you going to use? If your going to use CA hinges then you can use just a hobby knife but it is work for plastic pined hinges they make a cheap tool that looks like a thicker bladed and has a v cut in to it to gouge out the wood. If your going to be doing lots of hinge in the future save yourself alot of work and time and invest in a slot cutting tool also get the electric one cause the battery one will only do a few slots befor it needs recharging.....Hope this helps