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hen the talk turned to too

recent woodworkers m

I surprised myself by nrouter templates as my favorite. Do

me wrong: I love hand tools and use

constantly, but my work would be le

cient and less profitable without thesple but versatile templates.

Router templates can be used to

and fine-tune furniture forms befoting into expensive stock. They allo

to see a design full-size and in rela

the other parts of a piece. Not to metemplates make it easy to reproduce

tical parts.

Almost all template-routing operrequire only a handful of tools, inclu

router, two common bearing-guided

bandsaw, a sander, and a shopmad

plate. With those items and a few drtools, such as a compass or even

curves, you are fully equipped to

any template-routing job.

Making a templateTemplates can be made from ansheet material with enough streng

thickness to guide the bearing on a

bit. In a pinch Ive even used scra

paneling and old crate lumber, buare better choices. Mainly, I use two

rials: 18-in.-thick Masonite for on

and 14-in.-thick Baltic-birch plywoproduction. Both have the basic cha

istics of dimensional stability and c

tency (no hard or soft spots), an

readily available.

Drawing the patternTrusting yois the quickest route to getting the

you want in a template, but drawin

will help you get there.

I usually begin by sketching the tempattern directly on the surface of the

piece, especially when Im working

serve the grain in a particular boardIm satisfied with the shape, I transf

the template stock.

When drawing the pattern on th

plate, its a good idea to add at least material lead-in and exit beyond the

piece edge wherever possible. Withthe bit can catch as you try to make t

corner of the template meet the be

Believe me, Ive done it.

Whether you draw a pattern freor with drawing tools, you often will

with bumpy lines and rough tran

Templates

Guide the Way

W

Photos: M

Create elegant curves

and furniture parts

with router templates

B Y D O U G P E T E R M A N

72 F I N E W O O D W O R K I N G

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M A Y / J U N E 2 0 0Drawings: Vince Babak

that need to be smoothed out. The trick to

achieving a smooth, or fair, curve is to getyour eyes right down near the drawing sur-

face and look along the line. Bumps and

dips are easy to see, but also look for tran-

sitions that are too abrupt. Work your wayalong the line, refining it until the curves

are fair.

Rough-cut on the bandsaw, then

sandWhen rough-cutting the template,

keep the blade about 116 in. from the pencil

line to leave enough stock for sanding andfinal smoothing.

To get to the final shape, use a stationarybelt sander. I use twoa 6-in. belt and a

1-in. beltand both run with the table per-

pendicular to the vertical belt. For tight in-

side curves, a sanding drum mounted inthe drill press is ideal.

Power sanding to a line involves a few

simple rules. First, keep the material mov-ing smoothly with even speed and light

pressure. Never let it stop. Second, for op-

timal control, try to have the waste come

off so that you hit the line just as the tem-plate passes the trailing edge of the belt or

the center of the drum. This gives you onespot to watch and the comfort that the rest

of the abrasive belt is safely cutting waste.

Finally, work on bumps and dips by sand-

ing the areas around them. Start before thefault, sand smoothly through it, and carry

on a bit beyond.

If you dont have power-sanding equip-ment, templates can be smoothed by hand,

using either files or sandpaper. I prefer files

because its easier to keep a square edgewith them. Use a flat file along the edge on

convex curves, and a half-round or round

file pointed diagonally across the templatebut still moving along the edge for concave

areas. Sand as the last step if you must, but

use a very firm or hard block torounding the edge.

To check your work, slide your

over the finished piece to find any bor dips. Smooth them out as needed

Using the router templatesWhen routing a workpiece with

plate, I use bearing-guided straig

M A K I N G A T E M P L A T E F O R R O U T I N G

Glue scrap blocks to the template. The

prevent the bit from catching the corner of

workpiece and damaging it upon exit and e

Cut and sand the template.After roughing out the template on the bandsawcutting116 in.

outside the linesmooth the template to its final shape using a belt sander (left) for flat or con-

vex areas and a drum sander (right) for inside curves. Subtle irregularities are difficult to see, so

inspect your template for dips and bumps by running your hand across its edge.

Cut the workpiece on a

bandsaw to within116 in.

of its final shape.

Workpiece

Scrap blocks help p

blowout as the bit e

and exits the workp

Secure the

workpiece with

double-faced tape.

Template

Extra

material

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74 F I N E W O O D W O R K I N G

that are known as flush-trimmin

when the bearing is on the tip, and p

or template bits when the bearing is shank. You need one of each type

are 12-in. bits with a cutter length o

When using these straight bits withplates that are exactly the size of th

ished piece, theres no need to add

for a bushing, and no worries that aing may be off center.

The bearings should be exactly the

diameter as the cutter path to prodflush cut. A good way to test is to ma

pass with only the bit riding on th

plate edge; then make a second pas

the bearing riding on the surface thjust cut.

There should be no step betwe

first cut and the second cut. If the bhas left an impression where it

along the cut surface, it means your

has excessive runout, you have bearing, or the bit does not run true

of these cases, the bearing is acting

To avoid tearout when the grain

changes direction on a workpiece,

flip the piece onto its opposite side

to reverse the direction of the cut.

At the same time, switch from a

pattern bit to a flush-trimming bit

instead of removing the template

and remounting it on the other side.

With the template

on the underside of

the workpiece, use

the pattern bit to

rout all of the areas

where the bit is cut-

ting in the same di-

rection as the grain.

Leave the remaining

areas uncut.

Workpiece

Feed

direction

Template

Bit

Guide

bearing

BEGIN WITH THE TEMPLATE

ON THE BOTTOM

With the template

on top of the work-

piece, use the

flush-trimming bit

to rout the remaining

areas in the opposite

direction.

FLIP THE WORKPIECE

AND CHANGE THE BIT

Workpiece

Template

Bit

Guidebearing

Area

of cut

Template

on top

T E M P L AT E - R O U T I N G

Feed

direction

Workpiece

on top

Area

of cut

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hammer as it swings around just off the

center of rotation.

Secure the template to the work-

pieceFor quick one-off routing, attach atemplate with double-faced tape or a few

globs of hot-melt glue.

If I have to make several parts with the

same template, I try to use clamps (shop-made cam, wing nuts or knobs, toggle

clamp, etc.) to hold the work. Vacuum

clamping works well for production pieceswhere you need 360 access to the piece.

Special needs call for creativity: Templates

can be made into two-sided jigs or jigs that

box in a pieceanything to get the tem-plate securely in place.

Trim the waste on the bandsawWiththe template attached to the workpiece,

use a bandsaw to cut away the bulk of the

waste. Cut to about 116 in. from the line allaround to reduce routing time. I used to

leave more wood and hog it off with the

router, but those heavy cuts sometimes

raised chips that ran into the grain below

the template edge. For quick trimminges-pecially handy when producing multiple

copies of a templateI attach a fingerguide to the bandsaw tabletop to keep the

template 116 in. from the bandsaw blade.

This also ensures that the cut stays on the

waste side of the workpiece.

Use a router table and two straight

bitsI do as much template routing aspossible on the router table. Only when

the workpiece is too large to be coaxed

across the table will I take the router to the

piece. Setup is very simple: Just mount thebit and raise or lower it until the bearing is

lined up with the template.

As much as possible, rout with the grain.If you think of the grain as a stack of paper,

the cutter should be making the edge of

each sheet lie down, not lift up. This is whyyou need both types of bearing-guided

router bits. To rout with the grain on all

edges of the workpiece, you must fli

the workpiece and alternate betwe

two bearing-guided router bits.One thing to avoid is climb c

which is when the bit is spinning same direction as the workpiece is

fed. This is dangerous and should

tempted only where almost all of the

has been trimmed off. Even so, alwaticipate the workpiece being pulle

ward into the cut, and keep your han

of the bits path.Starting with the pattern bit in a

table, rout all of the areas that you can

out lifting the grain. Change to the

trimming bit, flip the workpiece so thtemplate is on top, and rout the rem

uncut areas, going with the grain. have trouble keeping track of grain

tion, draw arrows on the worksurfa

point in the direction of the grain.

Doug Peterman makes custom furniture in

home workshop in Stratford, Ont., Canada

M A Y / J U N E 2 0 0

Troubleshooting common problems

Burn marks are left w

the workpiece moves

slowly past the bit; the

show up worst on end

grain. To avoid burnin

the finished edge, mo

the workpiece more

quickly past the bit fo

the final pass.

If the router bit slips, t

bearing will lose conta

with the template, and

cutter will dig into theworkpiece. To avoid th

tough-to-repair mistak

make sure the router-

height is locked secur

and keep steady press

on the workpiece whil

cutting.

Tearout results from cut-

ting against the grain,

when the bit lifts fibers

and breaks off small

chips. Routing with the

grain is the simplest

solution. When routing

highly figured wood, you

can avoid tearout by

changing the cutting

direction more frequently.

Bumps occur when the

template loses contact

with the bearing. This often

is caused by chips impair-

ing the edge of the tem-

plate. Also, make sure the

bearing is running against

the template and not the

workpiece, and then take

another pass.

T E A R O U T

B U M P S

B U R N I N G

D I P S