Rounding the chines: sander or router?

I have a palm sander, a random orbital sander and a router.  I have a nice set of router bits that include roundover bits.  Has anyone ever used a roundover bit to round their chines?  I also have a trim bit with a roller bearing guide.  I want to use that when I trim the excess deck sections of our MC 16.5.  Does anyone see a problem with that?

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RE: Rounding the chines: sander or router?

I wouldn't go near the chines with a router and I've used one for years. Your ROS will do just fine. As far as trimming the deck with a trim bit, I think youre going to run in to a problem with the angle of the deck. The bearing isn't going to ride flat on the hull so there's going to be a bit of deck left. No problem, really, just get the ROS back out. I prefer hand tools, Japanese saws and rasps and my Lie-Nielsen low angle block plane, for deck operations.

George K

RE: Rounding the chines: sander or router?

Jeff,

If you can wait for delivery, these "rasps" are cheap and VERY effective at cleanly removing a little (or a lot) of wood with very little effort.  I bought the combo set; the blades snap in easily and have used them for everything from edge triming to shaping my carbon coaming.  Link below.

Good luck,

Larry

http://us.microplane.com/8snap-inrasps.aspx

 

RE: Rounding the chines: sander or router?

Thanks guys.  I'll probably stick to the RO sander and hand tools.  I already have three nice cuts on my left hand now from the bloody (literally) Japanese Saw. 

RE: Rounding the chines: sander or router?

You can round the chines with a small plane and sandpaper faster than you can set up your machines and without the risk of cutting too deep, which is alfully hard to repair. Same for cutting down the deck, although I have to admit I've used a belt sander for this chore. A belt sander can do a lot of damage in the twinkling of an eye, though, so don't try it unless you have many, many years of experience with it. -Wes

RE: Rounding the chines: sander or router?

What Wes said..., I used a belt sander to take some of my pieces down to size, but it takes a good eye and a slow, steady hand!

All good advice,

Larry

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