SpiroCrafter Router Template Kit Review

This URL originally covered a decorative router template product. The brand attribution on the old article was not verifiable, so this page covers the technique and points at a current kit that does the job.

The clever bit: inlay bushings

This is worth understanding even if you never buy a kit, because it is one of the more elegant ideas in routing.

An inlay bushing set is a guide bushing with a removable collar that slips over it. You cut the recess with the collar fitted, which makes the bushing effectively larger and the cut correspondingly smaller. Then you remove the collar and cut the plug from your contrasting timber using the same template.

The difference between the two cuts is exactly the collar thickness — which is exactly the amount the plug needs to be oversized to fit the recess with no gap. Both parts come from one template and fit by geometry. There is no measuring, no test fitting and no chance of them being subtly different shapes.

Where it goes wrong

Depth. Cut the recess slightly shallower than the plug’s thickness so the plug stands proud, then sand it flush. A recess cut too deep cannot be fixed.

Grain direction in the plug. A thin inlay with the grain running across a narrow neck will snap when you lift it out of the waste. Orient the template so long grain follows the long direction of the shape.

The router leaving the template. Inlay is done on a finished panel. Clamp the template hard, keep both hands on the router, and never cut toward an unsupported edge.

Cut the recess slightly shy of the line, then pare the corners with a chisel — bushings cannot produce a sharp internal corner because the bit is round.

What to buy

The Milescraft Design and Inlay router template kit, linked below, includes the inlay bushing and collar along with decorative pattern templates. The bushing set is what you are buying; the patterns are a starting point.

If you are after a specific inlaid design rather than a stock pattern, make your own template from 6mm MDF. The bushing system works with any template you can cut.