Easy Patterns and Templates

Today I offer you a great trick for working with extremely precise cuts like scroll work and detailing from a template or drawing. Whether you are working from a purchased plan or are creating a fancy design from scratch for a customer, sometimes one of the hardest things to do is to copy out the details onto your work piece. So, I am going to share with you a great way to do this.

If the pattern you want to replicate on your work comes from a book or pattern pack, or even downloaded off the Internet, you can quickly transfer that image to your wooden stock by doing the following extremely simple steps. Take your pattern to your local library and photocopy the pattern on their laser copier. If you have a laser printer you can even do this at home. Make sure you use the scale feature to make it the right size. If you need you can also flip the pattern in the process (most photocopiers can do this). Once you have your copy take it back to your woodworking shop and lay it, face down, on your stock. Grab your iron (yes, the same one you use on your clothes) and on a low heat iron the back of the paper. The iron will melt the ink and transfer a perfect copy onto your wood.

If working from something you have done by hand, you may need to scan it into your computer and fix it up a bit with a graphics program. MSPaint is good enough for most projects. I have used MSPaint to make patterns, enlarge them, or to make perfectly symmetrical patterns from a half image. For those with more computer mastery you can download a great free program called GIMP. It is like MSPaint on steroids. (I use GIMP as my primary art tool on my computer.)

Using this photocopy and iron technique you can make multiple perfect copies of any pattern. The only thing left is a careful hand on whatever tool you plan to use to cut it out, whether it be a scroll saw, a jig saw or any other machine..