for those who keep knife templates?

Perspex is a good cheap alternative to steel, also when making folders you can see inside to look at whats going on.
 
I don’t use them anymore, except for folders. I’ve used generic sheet metal from the scrap pile, and aluminum. I tried g-10 and micarta, but they don’t work well if forging. Great for folders though.
 
Anything rigid. I've cut several from mild steel, old license plates, scrap from old furniture, tv stands, etc..., g10, liner material, and so on.

I recently heard of a maker who buys cheap cutting boards from the dollar store. I've got several feet of .060 carbon fiber that used to be used for roll wiping blades at a hot dip coating line that I make a lot of templates and/or liners out of.
 
I use 15n20, I do have a little bit of it ;). But I don’t do many templates any more. Most knives I do now are one offs so I draw them on the computer and print them out on thick card stock. I buy the big sheets of card stock and cut them into strips that are 22” long by 8.5” wide. I then changed the printer preferences to have a custom sized paper that size. Works really slick and you could do this for any size blade.
 
I use plastic, I have used 1/2 inch thick to 1/8 inch thick Plexiglass, I actually like around 1/4" blue plexiglass.
 
I had a bunch of leftover .25 hardboard left over from building kitchen cabinet backs, which is basically MDF with a coating on either side. I ripped it all into strips and use that for templates. Is fairly durable, and takes no time at all to profile out on the bandsaw and grinder. It’s dirt cheap and also works well for prototyping profiles or designs before I go to steel. In no time I can profile a blade shape, shape some scales, and glue it together with some super glue. In 10 or 15 minutes I have a solid demo piece to get a feel for a new design.
 
I used do them in plexiglass, but nowadays I design them with CAD and print them on adhesive paper for my laser printer. Then I just stick it on a piece of steel and profile. Works great!
 
Inherited a dozen+ 4x8 sheets of plexi when my wifes grandfather passed so it's what i use. If i ever run out(haha yeah right) i'd switch to using mild steel or aluminum, but this plexi costs me nothin so it's what i use.
 
We had a bunch of 2” strips of faux wood blinds we bought for our house. I used the leftovers for stencils.
 
Card stock for my kitchen knife patterns and on a couple of occasions, something I was grinding in mild steel just to see what I could come up with turns into a permanent pattern.
 
Like JT, I use 15N20 as well, having an unlimited free supply. Also have almost all I need.
 
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