Okoume and router

Working from plans...

Suppose I am cutting both front hull pieces on a boat.

If I cut one peice, can I use the first piece as a template for a router and a pattern bit to cut the second? Does the Okoume plywood chip out? Smooth cut? Best bit type to use?

Thanks


5 replies:

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RE: Okoume and router

   Okoume routs wonderfully. But kayak panels are thin, so there's not much edge for your bearing. With a top-bearing, pattern-following but, an inadvertent tilt of the router will the lift the bearing clear of the patter and causes a big divot to be removed. Putting the pattern beneath, and using a laminate trimming type of bit (bearing below cutter) is safer.

I'm a plans builder, and rout all of my panels. I use full-length straight grained battens tacked onto the layout marks, and run my router against the batten, cutting both panels at once, with no fairing/tuning/sanding needed. One cut and done...

RE: Okoume and router

Nemo,

Are you running the base of the router against the batten, or some bit against the batten? Or something else? Trying to visualize...

RE: Okoume and router

I cut both panels at the same time with a jigsaw. I cut a little bit proud of the line then sand to it. Cutting with a router wastes wood my jigsaw blade is 1mm wide and a router cutter is going to be at least 5 or 6mm wide.   

RE: Okoume and router

 

   Are you running the base of the router against the batten, or some bit against the batten? Or something else? Trying to visualize...

Yeah, the bearing against the batten (which is exactly on the marks), and the base rides on top of the batten. You can attach a little piece of batten to the far edge of the router base to help with balance. Sort of like an outrigger canoe...

Yambo, I separate the part from the sheet by cutting next to the batten first with either a circular saw or jigsaw, primarily just because I don't like to plow full width with my router bit (12mm wide, here).

RE: Okoume and router

   Not just with Okoume but with any plywood, this is also my intention.

Rough-cut (say 2mm proud) with a jigsaw then use a Master Template to produce 4 panels the same dimension

 

 

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