you didn't say if you made or bought the bow tie shield. I have some I bought from Boss Dog and when I got them I bought the templet for them too. You will use a rotorytool of some sort with an end mill to cut the recess into the material. I don't think you can really try burning the shield in because it won't be a tight fit and will look horable for fit and finish. I have used everything from my drill press to my Dremal tocut will. Now that I have used Tracy's temp let, it seems to be pretty straight forward to do.