Category: Crucible Tool

I’ve just posted a short video on the machine and hand processes that go into making a pair of Crucible dividers. You can check it out here if you like.

— Christopher Schwarz

At noon EST on Friday, Oct. 14, we will put the first batch of dividers up for sale on the Crucible Tool website: crucibletool.com. We are now in continuous production and Raney Nelson has the mill humming at a fast clip.

If the first batch sells out quickly, don’t fret. We plan on keeping production moving as quickly as possible to meet demand and will offer another batch the following week.

The dividers are $120, which includes domestic shipping. I’m afraid we don’t have the ability to ship internationally. We are working on first opening up sales to Canada in the coming weeks, then we’ll take a look at the rest of the world. Shipping these holdfasts overseas might not make sense.

This week I’ll post some video that shows how we make the dividers, from roughing out the stock to final assembly.

— Christopher Schwarz

During the last 20 years, most woodworkers have adopted 3/4″ as the standard size for holdfasts, bench dogs and other workbench accessories. So why the heck are we making holdfasts at Crucible Tool that have a 1″ shaft?

Simply put: The larger holdfast has more mass, it doesn’t ream out your bench’s holes as fast and we think it just works better.

During the last couple weeks, I’ve written a series of blog entries on the Crucible Tool website that explain our reasoning. Despite this, we continue to get a lot of questions, and so I’ve consolidated all the answers here.

(Side note: We are working on offering a way for you to subscribe to the Crucible Tool blog so you can get updates via email. In the meantime, if you use an RSS reader, you can subscribe to it via this feedburner link: http://feeds.feedburner.com/Crucibletool-CrucibleNews.)

Q: Why did you choose 1″ instead of 3/4″?

A: We do have a good answer. Really. It’s here.

Q: OK, so if I do switch over to 1”, how do I enlarge the 3/4″ holes on my bench?

A: There are many ways to do it. Here is a quick and inexpensive way.

Q: Hmmm. So I use my dog holes for holdfasts sometimes. So I would need to switch to 1″ dogs. That sounds expensive.

A: It’s really not. Here’s how to make an entire set of 1″ dogs for about $11. Wooden dogs are gentler on your tools.

Q: I’m building a new workbench, where should I locate my holdfast holes?

A: We have a map of what we prefer here.

Q: So why does your holdfast fit so tightly in the hole? Other brands just drop in?

A: There is a very good reason for that. Here’s why. And here’s some more.

Q: How do you make your holdfasts? And where?

A: They are ductile iron and made at the Erhart Foundry. You can read all about it here.

— Christopher Schwarz

You can now visit crucibletool.com, and read up on our holdfasts, our new dividers and why we started this company. I’ll be adding a lot more blog entries in the coming week, including:

1. How to retrofit a benchtop to use 1”-diameter holdfast holes.
2. How to carefully ream holdfast holes for a sweet fit with the tool’s shaft.
3. A tour of Chris Erhart Foundry, where our holdfasts are poured.
4. An update on the next batch of dividers.

Note that we are not taking backorders for the dividers. To prevent us from getting into a bad situation that plagues many young businesses, we have decided to sell only what we have in stock. No backorders. No waiting lists.

When we have stock, we will announce in advance when the dividers will go up on the site so everyone has a fair shot. And we think we’ll soon have enough to keep them in continuous stock.

We have plenty of holdfasts and T-shirts in stock.

— Christopher Schwarz

Teaching and exhibiting at Woodworking in America – and launching a tool company – proved to be an around-the-clock yack-fest. As a result, we are just now putting the finishing touches on the Crucible Tool website and will almost certainly launch it this week.

The other news is that we announced our second tool: 6” dividers that are being made on our Haas CNC mill in Raney Nelson’s Indiana shop. We had a handful of dividers to sell at the opening event and sold out of them. Raney is cranking up production shortly so that we have stock on them in the next few weeks.

Thanks to the foundry, we have a fair number of holdfasts to sell on the site when it launches (priced at $130, which includes domestic shipping), plus T-shirts ($25, including domestic shipping).

We’ll have lots more details about the dividers on the Crucible site, but the short version is this:

They are based on early 20th-century blacksmith-made dividers and can be adjusted precisely with one hand. But instead of securing the divider’s hinge with a peened pin, we have designed a mechanism that can be adjusted with a No. 10 spanner drive bit (included) so you can adjust the hinge’s friction when it becomes loose through normal use.

The dividers are made using O1 steel and are machined and hand-finished in our Indiana workshop. The price is $120, which includes domestic shipping.

— Christopher Schwarz