Your cart is currently empty.
Posted on December 13 2016
4 Comments
According to the Cast Metals Institute of the American Foundrymen’s Society: Pipe (about 44 percent of all ductile is used in pipes)Valves and pipe fittingsCrankshaftsAutomotive front wheel spindle supportsSteering knucklesDisc...
Posted on December 10 2016
3 Comments
I like to think of our holdfasts as a “course correction” for this form of tool. During the last 25 years, holdfasts (when you could find them) became lighter, shorter...
Posted on December 08 2016
2 Comments
Clock Your Dividers from Christopher Schwarz on Vimeo. When you received your dividers, were the eyeballs cockeyed? I thought so. We don’t clock the center pivot screw (despite our rampaging...
Posted on November 28 2016
7 Comments
Open Your Dividers from Christopher Schwarz on Vimeo. The Crucible Improved Pattern Dividers are supposed to be set tightly so they will hold their setting in any workshop situation. The...
Posted on November 27 2016
3 Comments
Sharpen Crucible Dividers from Christopher Schwarz on Vimeo. A few customers have commented that their dividers have slightly irregular tips or have difficulty making clean holes in hardwoods. After some...
Posted on November 21 2016
11 Comments
No matter when I talk to Raney at the Crucible lab – Friday night, Sunday morning, whenever – there’s always the sound of the CNC mill going on in the...
Posted on November 11 2016
8 Comments
During the last month we’ve received a lot of questions about the availability of our dividers. Why can’t I order them? Why don’t you have a waiting list? Is this...
Posted on November 10 2016
1 Comments
We’ll have a large batch of improved pattern dividers ready to ship out to customers that will go up for sale at noon EST on Friday, Nov. 18. We apologize...
Posted on October 18 2016
7 Comments
We’ve decided to hold off on offering another batch of dividers until we can get some additional tooling in house this week and build up a bigger inventory so they...
Posted on October 14 2016
3 Comments
We sold out of our first batch of Improved Pattern Dividers today in 38 minutes (we were hoping this first load would last a week). So thanks to everyone who...
Posted on October 13 2016
25 Comments
When Raney Nelson explains to me how he makes dividers on the CNC mill, he makes it sound like he’s just doing some laundry: loading items into a machine,...
Posted on October 10 2016
2 Comments
At noon EST on Friday, Oct. 14, we will put the first batch of dividers up for sale here on the Crucible Tool website. We are now in continuous production...
Posted on September 30 2016
4 Comments
There are a variety of inexpensive and quick ways to enlarge 3/4” holes on your benchtop to 1” (or any other dimension). One of the simplest is to use a...
Posted on September 27 2016
2 Comments
Before the 3/4” brass dogs made by Lee Valley Tools became the de facto standard size (and that 3/4” size seeped into other bits of bench hardware), most workbenches had...
Posted on September 24 2016
5 Comments
Our holdfasts are produced two at a time at the Erhart Foundry, which is in the old industrial quarter of Cincinnati – less than two miles from my workshop. It’s...
Posted on September 21 2016
3 Comments
The No. 1 question we hear about our holdfasts is this: Why did you choose to make a holdfast that needs a 1” hole? Why not 3/4”, which is the...
Posted on September 21 2016
10 Comments
One of the reasons the Crucible Iron Holdfast works so well is there is a close fit between its untapered shaft and its hole in the workbench top. To...
Posted on September 21 2016
6 Comments
No matter where you place your holdfast holes on your benchtop, we recommend you have a reason for each one – not just a vague feeling about its location. The...
Posted on September 20 2016
1 Comments
Most holdfasts do a fine job of clamping the work when it’s 2” or less off the benchtop. But when the work is higher than that, the tool might balk...
Posted on September 20 2016
I’ve often wondered why electric miter saws have tables and fences that are a slick as owl s&*t. I’ve asked the saws’ manufacturers this question many times. Here’s their answer:...
Posted on September 20 2016
5 Comments
The Crucible Iron Holdfast is patterned after a French holdfast that a friend of ours, Brian Anderson, discovered on a dung heap in a barn. Like many French holdfasts from...
Posted on May 13 2016
2 Comments
Here are the earliest dividers I’ve seen in person. These bronze dividers (or “compass” if your name is Peter or Jennie) were found in the ruins of Pompeii, which was...