Is it possible to cut birch plywood (for benchwork) with a router instead of a regular circle saw? Did you use birch plywood for your benchwork? How did you cut it?
Birch plywood is expensive around here. Regular old CDX will work fine. Sometimes I even get one side plugged and sanded. You can cut it with a router if you like but a saw will give you a finer cut and waste less wood. A saw will give you better control of the cut. If you go with a router make sure you have a real good carbide tipped bit. Trying to use a cheap high speed steel bit will dull fast and ruin a good project.
Pete
It is possible, but you can cut down a redwood tree with a kitchen knife too!!! A router is not designed to cut like a circular saw - it will take 20 or more times longer to do the job, plus it will not cut as streight as a circular saw without an edge guide. I don’t know about prices in Sweden, but you can get a decent circular saw in the US for $40 and a GOOD one for a little over $100. My [2c]
I beg to differ with Pete - CDX plywood compared to birch is like a Volvo compared to a Yugo!!! Stick with the birch!!![:D]
I have cut all my Birch with both a Router and a Circular saw. I use the saw for the straight cuts and the router for the curves as I find it superior to a jigsaw.
I suppose. A router will cut it. Routers never want to go straight, they have to be guided. Even with a guide a router wants to follow the grain and wander off course. Was it me, I’d use a handsaw before the router. It will cut as fast, and a lot straighter. Or, for the price of the baltic birch you can buy a skilsaw.
You could also use a Jigsaw ( also called a scroll saw) with a straight edge. You really waste less wood on curves if you make every cut straight and piece together trapazoids rather than curve the wood. In case you forgot your junior high mat a trapezoid is a shape like /__.
Maybe you are thinking of one of those little routerlike laminate cutting tools or a RotoZip. One can get a cutter for those which is about 3mm in diameter and looks alot like a drillbit. To cut straight with them ,you’ll need a guide. They are great for free hand work though, such as profile boards etc. I also like them for cutting into existing table tops as they don’t shake the benchwork like a jigsaw does. The worst drawback is they are terribly noisy and should be run in the house with a vacumn cleaner. Good Luck BILL
As far as I’m concerned a router is not a tool to replace a jig saw. If you use the correct blade, speed and have a hand steady enough to use a router then cutting birch with a jig saw should be no problem. The only router I have used on building my model railroad s the attachment that came with my dremel too. I found it real neat for cutting out nice ever pieces of foam when transition levels and needed to sink the roadbed a bit.
Although a router is not a tool intended to be used as your describing if it works for you thats fine.
Lou
At my local lumber yard 3/4 x 4 x8 cdx sanded and plugged one side is $20 a sheet. Birch the same size is $50 a sheet. For benchwork I think the CDX is good enough. If you can afford Birch than go for it. If I buy 3 sheets of CDX the price I can save would buy a new skillsaw and jigsaw. I would still have solid benchwork. Maybe in Sweden the prices may be reversed.
The company I work for buys truck loads of 3/4 inch CDX for lining the inside of our dump trailers. When bought in quantity and at the right time of year we can get it for just under $15 a sheet. Lumber prices fluctuate faster than fuel prices.
Pete
It is definitely possible. . Just keep incrementally lowering the router bit for a deeper bite each pass. Yes, it takes time but you will have a very smooth circular cut. I have built speaker boxes for years and cut the round speaker openings in this way. I too, like birch plywood for lots of tasks. The very smooth and void-free surface is a pleasure to work with, and pleases me asthetically as well, tho it will be covered with subsequent scenery.
Pete, CDX is cheaper here, but Electro is from Sweden!! The birch is probably much cheaper there!! As far as CDX is concerbed, if it’s fir it’s OK, but if it’s yellow pine it’s ca-ca!! CDX is made for use as sheathing where it’s supposed to be nailed every 12" in the field & 6" on the perimiter - it has a tendancy to warp. From an old retired carpenter.[:)]
“Pete, CDX is cheaper here,”
Lou where do you shop, there ain’t nuttin cheap here except the Governor
I myself have used Maple/Birch plywood for my layout…but I cut mine into 3" ( inch ) wide strips that I stood on end for my layout frame work…I used a circular saw with a good fine tooth blade.
As mentioned a router would not be a good idea. Just to clarify for others however, you can get a straight cutting bit for a router, although they are primarily used for making groves (think slots) in finished wood pieces. All I see a router doing is splintering to heck.
Now on the other hand I also have to agree, I think the OP might have been confusing a router 
with a rotary cutting tool 
(photo curtesy of http://www.ronhazelton.com/)
I’m from New Jersey - don’t mention our Gov!!! I think that would be like swearing on the forum!![:(!]
Lou
I am no carpenter and never claimed to be one. The CDX I put in our dump trailers to line the sides is 7 plies with one side plugged and sanded. The rear sheets take the most wear and needs replacing about twice a year. Mostly the lower half wears out the fastest but the top half is nearly new. After I pull them out I take my old skill saw and rip the top 2 to 3 feet off and save it for what ever I can use it for. I have enough to put up my layout now I just need the room. The stuff just never warps.
Not to be political but our governors first name is Deval. Say it fast enough and it sounds like devil. Taxachusettes where there is excise taxes on sales taxes. and vice verse.
Pete
I don’t believe It hasn’t been mentioned, All this squabbling about every other tool to do this job except the one that is designed for the task… A TABLE SAW. Even if you don’t own one of wish to buy one, most shops and home centers will rip the plywood for you for a simple charge.
A router would work, I guess, however the bits would take an enormous beating and start to dull/ burn in short order. The setup time and accuracy of cut will never compare to a table saw as well.
For the application and use needed, I would never consider using ripped 3/4’ CDX when other more stable and quality products are available. Even fir underlayment (plug and sanded) grades are far superior to fir due the voids that are present throughout the internal plys of CDX. CDX may be a solid material in larger sheet form, but will not compare to birch in smaller ripped strips.
Luan or birch 3/4 ripped to 3 1/2" is the best choice in my opinion. Been working with wood as a cabinet builder/ finish carpenter for 35 years.
This is the base of your drean, don’t cheap out to a lesser produck for a mere few $$ in savings at this point.