Crucible Engraving Tool

Crucible Tools engraving tool, a simple tool for slicing straight and curved decorative lines in almost any wooden surface. It was designed for the geometric patterns found on old Scandinavian and Eastern European furniture, but is also excellent for modern geometric patterns and even animal shapes.

It consists of a handle and a replaceable cutter; two cutters are included. Hold the handle like a pencil against a straightedge to engrave shallow lines, about 1/16" deep, in hardwoods or softwoods. The handle also fits any compass that takes a standard pencil (about 0.295") for clean arcs, or a trammel for large arcs. The compass legs must lock; one relying only on friction won't hold its setting while cutting.

The aluminium handle has a round collet at its tip holding the round cutter. The high-carbon steel cutters are easy to sharpen and keep polished with sandpaper and honing compound, and the two included cutters should last more than a lifetime. Instructions for sharpening and use are included.

The tool was developed during Christopher Schwarz's research for The American Peasant, a book on European peasant furniture and the protective spells engraved on it. The originals were made with two tools, a compass with a rounded cutter for arcs and a knife handle with a cutter for straight lines; the Crucible tool does both.