Hi Glenmore,
I've had one of these HF dovetail jigs for a couple of years, but have never used it. I got it in a trade for an old junk van.
I have all 3 metal templates with it and all of them look & feel like they have a sandblasted finish. Is your template rough, like a sand blasted finish?
I thought I'd sand them smooth before I used them. I wasn't sure what the roughness would do to my router baseplate.
By the way, if you want to make it into a portable jig, just attatch a couple of intersecting boards about 12" for the vertical & 24" for the horizonal as a substitute for a bench top. Then you can just clamp it to a bench top when in use, then remove it afterward. But don't let this stop you from building the other bench you want.
Thanks,
Chuck