I wore glasses and a full face shield the 2nd time. Maybe better woodworkers can chime if I did something that I shouldn't have! I made my template to work on my small table router, which is rated at 1.5 HP. I did not make the template very large, so I was sort of committed to the table router and doing a single pass. This worked, but only by removing most of the material first, letting the router come all the way up to speed before cutting, and then going slow.

But FW has me thinking...

In retrospect, I could have made the template large enough to use my 3.25 HP plunge router...and that way I could also have done multiple passes.

I could also have used thinner pieces of maple. The reason I didn't is that I was afraid that thin pieces would be more likely to break while routing.

I am done, for now, and hope I won't have to touch the router again for the duration of the build! but if anyone's done this, I'd be interested in the best way to do it!