How to Make Your Own Templates
Making your own templates for woodworking or other crafts will allow you to duplicate objects perfectly, as well as to save you time. Once a template is made, it can be used time and time again while ensuring that each recreated object is exactly the same as the last. Use thin MDF (medium density fiberboard) board to make your templates, carefully cutting them out with a coping saw. Remember that making quality templates will translate into making quality crafts.
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Instructions
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Draw the pattern of the template you wish to create on to the surface of your 1/4-inch thick MDF sheet. Use your ruler for straight lines and a compass for curves. Ensure all lines and curves are exactly the way you want the template to be made. The more time spend making a quality template, the more time you will save later with your finished products.
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Cut out the template. Using a coping saw, cut slightly outside the lines you drew, to allow you to later sand the template edges straight and smooth. Keep the blade perpendicular to the surface of the MDF at all times, making even up and down strokes with the saw.
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Sand the edges of your template straight and smooth to the drawn on lines. Wrap a sheet of 220 grit sand paper around a block and sand the edges in even passes, checking straight lines with your ruler and curved lines against the drawn on lines.
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Label your templates with the piece of work they are intended for, as well as the date and keep them with other templates used for similar projects. These templates can be replicated using a router and a template bit, using the template as a guide for the template bit to copy into your wood project.
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Tips & Warnings
Use a drill to provide access to the blade of your coping saw if you need to cut out a section of wood that does not meet an edge on your template design.
Always wear appropriate eye protection when operating power tools.
References
- Photo Credit Jupiterimages/Comstock/Getty Images
