Woodcutting: Best way to cute a square of wood out of the center of the board that doesn't go through?

Question

What is the best way to cute a hole (the size of a standard deck of cards in a wooden board without cutting all the way through the board.

I'm trying to cut an indention (not a hole). Out of the back of an inch thick cribbage board (two indentions actually one in each side). The board has a hinge in the middle and folds so inside, I'd like to have a place to keep the cards(so the compartment is LITERALLY the size of a deck of cards).

I don't actually have a wood-router, seems like an expensive tool; is it?

I have a rotary tool a jigsaw, a circular saw, and a drill.

Answer 1

This would be a job for a plunge router with a straight bit. It won't get completely into the corners though, so you'll have to use a chisel for the corners. Be sure to practice first on a scrap piece of wood as it can be hard to get a straight line. You could also use a pattern and pattern bit that would guide the router on its intended path. Remember, safety first!

Answer 2

Use a drill to put a hole in the wood. Now the question is where. If you want the piece of wood cut out from the middle, you will drill the hole on the line. If you don't care, you can drill the hole in the cutout.

Next use a small handsaw, a jigsaw or a scroll saw (if you don't have a scroll saw, you may have to make several drill holes next to each other to make a whole big enough to put the jigsaw or handsaw in.

Once you get the sawblade in, then just cut where you want.

Answer 3

Ok.... If you mean to actually cut a hole thru the face of the board, without using a saw to cut thru the edges of the board, you can do this two ways...
First method is use a plunge router, with a guide rail to run against. You will want to measure from the edge of the bit, to the outer edge of your router base...this distance is the measurement you need to know for how far out to put your guide rail for the router. I would draw where I wanted my cut to be at, directly on the face of the board, then go out from there with my guide rail, and clamp the guide rail in place. It wouldnt hurt to put the guide rail in towards the cut just a little bit, for the first cut...gives you some room to make a mistake, hehehe. Depending on how thick your board is, you may want to make the cut in a few passes....the thicker your cut, the more likely the router is going to try to run away with you, or wobble. If you decide to make the cut in one pass, do it slowly.
Second method is to drill 4 holes, one at each corner of where you want to cut. (Note... do not put the center of the drill bit on the corner....you want the outer edge of the drill bit just inside where you want your cut to finish at. It wouldnt hurt to leave some space, and finish the corner with your blade, or even a chisel) Then, you can either use a coping saw, or jig saw to cut from corner to corner. Now, this method will not cut as 'cleanly' as using a router... so, you will have to do some sanding to clean it up... keep that in mind, and leave a little room if necessary. Using a blade with more teeth will give you a cleaner cut, but you will need to cut slower. Just let the saw do the work, don't 'push' the blade.

Now.. if you mean to cut a 'pocket' into the wood, but not go all the way thru it....(like the grooves you would see for poker chips, or on a cutting board) ... you would have to use a router... use the same method as mentioned above, but you would set the depth of the bit to the depth of the pocket you wanted to make. You would simply move the guide rail a little each time you wanted to make a pass, or, you could clamp 4 guide rails in place at once, and then just clean out everything in between (that's what I would do). Again, moving the router slower will give you a cleaner cut.

Not everyone has a router in their tool box, or even a jig saw... but most folks do have a screw gun or drill these days... the hole only needs to be larger than the blade you are going to put thru it. I would suggest that whatever method you choose.... practice first! Hehehe... Use a scrap piece of wood, and try out one of these methods first, to get used to how the tools go thru the wood, and get a 'feel' for the work. Practice on as many pieces as you need to, to feel comfortable with it... then move on to the piece of wood you actually want to work with.

Have Fun!!

Answer 4

Use a router with a plunge bit to cut the desired depth and rough size of hole and use a sharp chisel to clean corners.

Answer 5

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Answer 6

That should work well. If you don't have a router, you could use a drill with forstner bits. They will leave a flat bottom. You will still need to clean up the corners and the bottom a little.

Answer 7

Use a router to get most of the length then a chisel to finish the edges

Answer 8

router