16x10.4" USA + Star Inlay Acrylic Router Template

Isn't the north east part of the continental USA the perfect charcuterie board handle? Whether you are making an America shaped charcuterie board or a piece of wall art, the USA template is the quickest way to shape a piece of wood, or wood and resin, into the shape of the good 'ol U.S of A.

This template also includes three different sized star inlays. So you can shape your board, and create a wood star or backfilled resin inlay with the same template. Note that the large and medium sized stars can accommodate a 1/8" diameter router bit in the inner pockets, the smallest will loose its sharp star corners simply due to the inability to get a router bit into the sharp corners of the star. A 1/4" router bit will also work with the large and medium inlay, but you will loose the "sharp edge" of the points of the stars. The example board in the photo illustrates this, the star inlays were done with a 1/4" bit.

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:

1. Place the template over your material (usually wood or wood & epoxy resin). Trace the shape of the template onto your piece.
2. 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.
3. Affix the template to your material using two sided tape or hot glue.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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: