Our bowl and tray templates make it easy to create party trays for those that like to entertain friends and family. Infinity Cutting Tools has a wide variety of designs available for tray-making templates. We feature several classic bowl and tray design templates as well as holiday-themed and sports-related tray templates. Cabinet Door Templates Another primary task for your router is to create the joinery for your woodworking projects. Our selection of joinery guides provides the ultimate in precision for tight-fitting woodworking joints using your hand-held router or router table. From dadoes to dovetails and box joints, you can't beat the ease and precision of our joinery systems. The reason I prefer MDF is that it's perfectly flat and very easy to shape with files and sandpaper. The template I use for making curved rails for cabinet doors shown in the photo above is a good example. To make it, I simply laid out the curve with a compass, cut out the shape at the band saw, and smoothed the curve, first with a file and then with a simple, shop-made sanding strip, seen below.

You can also align by eye. For greater accuracy, keep the same edge of the guide against the template throughout the entire process. Edge Trimming An auxiliary baseplate and guide bushing on your woodworking router extends its capabilities for a wide range of tasks from template routing to joinery. Router Bit Setup Jigs With a little imagination, you can make a template for just about any shape you need for your projects. Whatever the application, you'll find that learning to make and use templates with your router will guarantee top-notch results.Often mistakenly called a flush trim bit, a pattern bit has the bearing on the shank of the bit instead of at the tip. This allows you to secure a template on top of a workpiece and clamp them both to your bench to rout the shape. And pattern-style bits aren't limited to straight cutters. The bowl-routing bit shown below is simply a different profile with a bearing on the shank to follow a template. Infinity Cutting Tools makes it easy for you to create your own signs, inlays, and accents. We offer a wide range of accessories for signmaking and creating your own wood inlays. You might already be familiar with the idea of template routing from using a dovetail jig. In this application, a router equipped with a guide bushing follows the fingers of a dovetail template to cut perfectly spaced, tightfitting dovetails in minutes. This same concept opens up a lot of possibilities for creating matching inlays. Once you learn to make pieces, tight-fitting joints, or seam your own templates and choose the right router bit for the task at hand, there are almost no limits. The thing to keep in mind when using a guide bushing is that it will create an offset between the template and the workpiece. This means you'll need to account for the distance from the edge of the bushing to the cutting edge of the bit in your template design. MDF. Templates can be made from many kinds of material. MDF is a readily available option, and it's usually my first choice.

But in some instances, when using a template with a hand-held router, you'll need to attach the template to the top of the workpiece. For this situation you have a couple of options. Usually, I turn to a pattern bit, also shown in the photo above. OTHER OPTIONS. Hardboard is another commonly used material. And occasionally I use acrylic, especially for those applications where I need to see more of the workpiece to orient the template to the grain of the wood.

Worth a Look: Router Inlay Kit

One of the easiest ways to create a perfect circle is with a router. Our circle-cutting jigs, baseplates, and accessories take the hassle out cutting circles. We offer a variety of Jasper circle guides and jigs that simply replace the baseplate on your router, turning it into a precision compass for cutting and routing circles. Our Oval & Circle-Cutter with Vacuum Base is perfect for cutting circles from wide panels or sheet goods like plywood or MDF. The Milescraft RouterGuide Kit turns your router into a compass, edge guide, or offset-base router. Router Joinery Guides This same combination works in a router table as well. Only at the router table, you can have the template on top of the workpiece instead of below. A good example of this is routing matching top rails for "tombstone" cabinet doors. It's hard to overestimate the value of a router in the workshop. Often, the tasks you can perform in seconds with a router would take much longer with any other tool. And one way to get the most out of your router is to use it for making perfect duplicate or mating parts for a project. Usually this involves working with a template. As woodworkers, we appreciate how having the right tool for the job can take your project to the next level. Our selection of woodworking router jigs, guides, and accessories provide professional results. Circle and Corner Cutting