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Using Templets to Get More out of Your Panel Router

We all know that classic carpentry adage: measure twice, cut once. With templets you can change this rule to measure twice, cut again and again and again. Once a templet has been measured and created, the pattern can then be used over and over for years. Templets not only make the job go faster, they ensure that each piece exactly matches the next.

It's obvious that templets are useful for repetitive work, but templets can also help with custom jobs. Just reverse a templet to create accurate book-matched pairs. If it seems like too much effort to create a templet when you are "only doing a short run", remember another old proverb: a stitch in time saves nine. After creating your templet, take a marker and write what it's for on it. When the same pattern is called for at a later date, you're already set.

All of your templets should be the same thickness; for the manual Panel Router, we recommend 3/4" thick by 2" high. The templets should be about six inches longer than the workpiece. About two and a half inches from the end of a templet, rout a short, shallow groove about halfway (about an inch) across the board and about 3/16" deep. Don't make the groove all the way across; this is where you will hook your tape line for laying out the other grooves and you don't want the indexing block to slip into this first groove. On the opposite side of the templet in the exact same place, make a full 3/4" dado. This is where the stop block will be attached. On the back of the templet (the side with the half-groove) measure from the tape line to the center of the desired dado. Using this method you can use the finished templet with different sized router bits and the dadoes will still be centered. Using a 3/4" router bit, dado along the center of these measurements. When complete, attach the stop block to the front of the templet using nails or screws. (Once attached, the stop block height should be lower than the thickness of your workpiece.) Don't forget to write on the templet what it's for before putting it away. (See illustration and for more ideas read "Endless Possibilities with Templets & Jigs".)

(Templets for Automatic Panel Routers are made differently. See your printed instructions or call Safranek Enterprises if you have questions.)

This page last updated 30-January-2002.