Making clean, accurate notch in lacquer finished cabinet?


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Old 10-03-13, 05:57 PM
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Making clean, accurate notch in lacquer finished cabinet?

Without getting into the long story of why (big discussion with my cabinet maker.. he thought it was too risky), I need to route several rectangular notches about 3/4 deep, 3 in long and 2 in wide without disturbing the lacquer finish around it. This is maple wood with a white lacquer. My idea is to first score the outside with a sharp wood chisel, and then use a smaller router to make the notches, and then use a chisel again to remove the rounded inside corners. We are both afraid that the router machine might be hard to control when it grabs the wood. So we would make a custom jig first. Is this the best way or is there a better technique or set of tools?
 
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Old 10-03-13, 06:10 PM
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The router idea is good, but I suggest you make a template and use a "flush trim pattern bit" (google it) in the router. That way you can fully control the machine and no scoring needed. Just be sure to do a test run. Clean the corners as you mentioned.
 
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Old 10-04-13, 03:11 AM
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I would think a utility knife would be better for scoring the cut, maybe tape the perimeter too.
 
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Old 10-04-13, 10:46 AM
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I had the same thought as Mark about a utility knife for scoring instead of a chisel.

I also think I'd practice the whole process on some scrap first.
 
 

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