I saw a few of those tools at Home Depot today. Dremel makes a nice one.
Cutting flush with the deck means i'd be cutting two sides of box out (essentially all of it) instead of just the bottom (one side), right? Cutting out two sides sure would make surface prep easier. Seems like it'd be tight quarters trying to clean/sand three sides (inside) of a two inch square.
I also checked out the red oak. 2"x1"x8' seemed kinda stiff. Should I cut these down so they are easier to bend/curve? I'd hate to squeeze all the thickened epoxy out of the joints having to use clamps. Or is that even a big issue as long as I have wetted out all sufaces with unthickened epoxy.