david weaver
That's something i pondered doing - either making templates for comparison, or finding common elements and just making a couple of quick tools to make those elements (pattern beads or the heads of the pawns, etc) because it will be apparent if all of the pieces are done by eye and not exactly matching.

If done really well by eye and very minor variations exist, the result (in my opinion) is very nice and lively, especially if the crispness of the work is good. If the matching is poor, it just looks like cobbled junk.

The danger of making profile tools is that they will not cut as cleanly as a skew and there could be some breakout on sharp elements.