Plastic for knife templates

heijutsu

Active Member
I am looking for some plastic I can can make my knife templates from and need some direction on where to find it and what is it's commercial name?

Thanks for the help,
Michael
 
Try Lowes or Home Depot. You can buy Lexan (plexiglass) in sheets at either store. You could also spend a bit more and buy a bar or aluminum flat stock to use.
 
Plex is difficult to cut cleanly, especially in complex shapes and tight corners like a knife template. It tends to chip and crack. A cut-off wheel in a dremel that's slowed way down works OK for the basic lines and curves. (too fast and the plex will melt a little and make it hard to get a clean edge) Plex is also fairly expensive.

I just use thin mild steel for templates now. Cheap as dirt, easy to work with and lasts basically forever. No worries about it melting when you clamp your template to a workpiece and get to drilling holes and hogging out the profile.
 
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And the winner is Mild Steel. Thanks for the replies.

See if you have a local scrap yard or fab shop in the area. Chances are you can get some scrap/cut offs from them for next to nothing compared to what home depot or any other local box store will sell it to you for.

The thing I like mild steel for is that it gives me a pretty fair representation of what the final knife blade will feel like (minus scales of course): Weight, balance, ergonomics, etc... and I can still adjust it as necessary to get the feel just right.

Another plus is that it's a very durable template that should last you for about as many knives as you'd ever want to make from it. You can clamp it to your blade stock, scribe around the template, and you don't have to worry about damaging it. It's also good for practice grinds if need be.
 
Your local hobby shop will have MYLAR in thin sheets. you can draw on it with a sharpie marker, wipe it down with acetone and cut it with scissors.

they also have different colors.

Steve
 
MSC should have some teflon thin sheets that would work well. I have plexiglass, aluminum, and liner materials for templates.
 
plex, mylar, micarta, teflon, aluminum, liner material, etc...

Can you clamp it to your workpiece and drill/grind at full speed without ruining it?

If you just want a pattern to scribe to, you can use almost anything, including cereal-box cardstock, or better yet save a couple bucks and just scan your design, print it out as needed and glue the paper to your workpiece.

If you want a true template that will guide your tools accurately, won't fall apart and will outlast you (as long as you pay attention and don't grind past the profile)... I gotta go with steel.
 
Counter top material often called Formica is the very best for patterns, It grinds well and holds it shape with lots of use . As well it doesn't chip and often for the sizes we use,can be had for free from a cabinet shop. It's a try it you'll like it material. Frank
 
Counter top material often called Formica is the very best for patterns, It grinds well and holds it shape with lots of use . As well it doesn't chip and often for the sizes we use,can be had for free from a cabinet shop. It's a try it you'll like it material. Frank

Very good tip. Also, the right type of laminate can also be very heat resistant.
 
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