15.0x12.0" Cow Head & Ear Tag Sign Acrylic Router Template
🚚 SHIPS WITHIN 2 DAYS.*
| Overall Size: |
15.0x12.0" |
| Handle Portion Size: |
N/A |
| Material: | Laser Cut 1/4" Cast Acrylic |
Who knew cow heads as door welcome signs was a thing? Apparently you did as you are reading this text... Well, if you are looking to make a depiction of the decapitated head of our bovine friends out of wood (or wood and resin) then this is the router template for you. It even features a secondary template to make the ear tag often found in these signs.
Please note that the center part of the template that represents the lighter/white part of a Holsteins head is only etched in this template, not fully cut through. This is to provide an rough design that you can freehand sketch or create a "tape template" for.
To freehand sketch this, place the template over your workpiece and then little by little, lift the template and mark various points around the perimeter with a pencil, putting it back after each mark to get ready to mark the next point. This is much like a cartoon artist would flip between consecutive pages of an animation.
The other alternative is to apply wide masking or painters tape to the top of the template, overlapping each layer and fully covering the center etched part of the template. You can then use a hobby knife or utility knife to follow the etched/engraving design on the head to mimic this design in your tape. Alternatively you can simply trace the line onto the tape with a pen / pencil / marker, then remove the tape and cut out the shape. You are essentially creating a sticker. Once you have the "tape template" apply it to your workpiece and trace around it, or apply paint or stain to your piece, letting the tape stay in the location where you dont want paint or stain.
Crafted Elements Acrylic Router Templates
The Crafted Elements line of laser cut acrylic router templates are precision cut templates designed especially for woodworkers. Unless you have access to a CNC machine in your shop these templates are the easiest, most accurate and most repeatable way to shape wood and wood+resin pieces into things like charcuterie boards, serving trays, handles, functional art and more.
Like our line of maker molds, we designed these templates to save you time and boost production efficiency. These take the guesswork out of shaping and fabricating. By simply pulling one of these clear templates off the shelf and lining it up on your material you’ll instantly know how your final piece will look before you even start cutting and shaping.
We laser cut all of our templates out of long lasting and durable 1/4” thick cast acrylic to ensure the bearing on your router bit has enough surface area to glide on. These templates can be used over and over and will quickly become a go-to tool in your shop.
Reduce errors, inaccuracy and problems with making complex shapes perfectly symmetrical. We even have templates to match many of our awkwardly shaped silicone molds, so you can cut and shape pieces of wood to fit perfectly snug within our molds before you pour your resin.
All you need is a template, flush trim router bit (like this one) and a router table. Even the most basic routers are capable of shaping materials up to 1.5” thick.
Using our templates is easy:
- Place the template over your material (usually wood or wood & epoxy resin). Trace the shape of the template onto your piece.
- Using a jig saw, scroll saw or a band saw (where appropriate) cut out the rough shape you traced onto your material, leaving between 1/16” and ¼” outside of the perimeter.
- Affix the template to your material using two sided tape or hot glue.
- Install your appropriately sized flush trim bit into the router in your router table such as the Crafted Elements 1/4" High Performance Spiral Down Cut Flush Trim Bit. Be sure your router bit has a blade long enough for the height of your material. Line up the bearing of your router bit with the acrylic template.
- Turn on your router and glide the template along the bearing of your router bit, allowing the router to remove the excess material on your piece, effectively duplicating the shape of the router template.
- Carefully remove the template from your material. Remove the two sided tape or hot glue. Sand any leftover residue off of your project. You can use goo-gone or other adhesive remover on the acrylic templates for any stubborn or sticky residue.
We also have a full tutorial on our YouTube channel which you can find posted below: