Category: Crucible Tool

Want to make your own or modify an existing tool? Rip off our specifications by reading this blog entry at Crucible Tool.com.

You can read all about it on the Crucible blog if you like.

We’ve just posted a new video at Crucible Tool’s blog on how to create two additional (and useful) tip shapes for your dividers. One tip is designed specifically for scribing arcs. The other is for cutting inlay or recesses.

While we show these tips on our Improved Pattern Dividers, they can be created on any pair of dividers.

Also in the short video, Raney demonstrates a down-and-dirty way to harden and temper the tips with a torch.

— Christopher Schwarz

Note: This is crossposted from Crucible Tool.

Dividers work better if the tips match the job you’re doing. For layout chores, such as scribing arcs or setting out your joinery, the dividers’ tips need to match the wood you are using. Sharper tips will prevent the tips from skating on hard woods. And dull tips are needed in soft woods to prevent from marking the work too deeply.

In this video, Raney demonstrates how to make the tips sharper or duller using fine sandpaper stuck to a flat surface (a granite block in this instance). Changing the tips from dull to sharp takes only about two minutes (I timed him). And the results are worth the extra effort.

These techniques work on almost all dividers, not just our Improved Pattern Dividers.

— Christopher Schwarz

There’s a quick tutorial on laying out a traditional pommel on a seat with a French curve and only two points. Check it out on the Crucible Tool site here.

— Christopher Schwarz