chopping board help

[alibh]

hi guys, totally new to routing but my brother has some spare walnut kitchen worktop and has asked if i can turn it into 2 chopping boards for him

what i want to do is to route a 'drainage trough' (for want of a better word!) around the edge (with curved corners) with a spout bit in one corner

i can use the fence to get the straight sides but wondered the best way to do the curves?
i assume some sort of template but don't know if these need to be made/bought or whatever

and if making how is that done... without a template!

any help is much appreciated

ali

[Ashore]

First thing that comes to mind take small depth cuts , 1 mm at a time and do it freehand , scribe a line with a felt pen good grip on the router put your goggles on and go , the second cut is easier as it follows the groove cut by the first pass

[Sturdee]

hi guys, totally new to routing but my brother has some spare walnut kitchen worktop and has asked if i can turn it into 2 chopping boards for him

what i want to do is to route a 'drainage trough' (for want of a better word!) around the edge (with curved corners) with a spout bit in one corner

i can use the fence to get the straight sides but wondered the best way to do the curves?
i assume some sort of template but don't know if these need to be made/bought or whatever

and if making how is that done... without a template!

any help is much appreciated

ali

As you are new to routing I would make a jig to guide the router rather than using it freehand.

To make the jig just use some chipboard and cut out the left hand side of the proposed drainage trough and the distance for the router base. You can use a jigsaw and sand the cutout to make it smooth and if you make a mistake you can easily start again.

Clamp this to your cutting board, rout out the trough and turn the jig over to do the other side.

That was my very first router project about 30 years ago and I first tried it freehand but found that the jig was much better. Ny first router project and first jig, so good luck.


Peter.