Vol. 64, No. 1 Spring 2019 86


fragile than the older style of hobby cutting tool. However, this slightly reduced strength is not really a practical drawback in that, with a few changes to your cutting techniques, scalpel blades will last as long as older-style blades and, as an extra life- prolonging feature, they easily are re-sharpened with stones or sandpaper. T is re-sharpening returns the blade not quite to new condition, but it still is sharp enough. T ese re-sharpened blades will cut most model wood species and, because the edges have some irregular nicks and generally are less smooth, all the cutter shapes make great scrapers.


Figure 1 illustrates the customized scalpel that has evolved in my shop over the past few years. I have about twenty of them, with diff erent blades, scattered about to minimize time lost in searching for tools and to maximize cutting effi ciency by always having a sharp blade at hand. T e fi rst item ‘A’ is the fl at cast iron handle that you purchase and receive in the mail; two diff erent styles are shown. T ese handles cost about two dollars each. T e metal is very low grade soſt iron. It fi les, drills and epoxies with no eff ort. Since this item is a medical throw-away, it probably makes no economic or medical sense to use a better grade of metal. However, aſt er examining the wear and tear aſt er four years of use, I would say that even these cheap handles will probably outlast me by decades. Two diff erent handles are shown, one handle has an inch scale stamped into it (I have never used this scale to measure anything) and the second handle is without a scale. T ey are identical in function and cost. ‘B’ identifi es the wood pieces I epoxy to the metal handles; I use hard maple because I have a lot of it. T ey are ¼-inch thick by whatever dimensions cover the metal (about ¾-inch wide by 3 inches long). I should state that I do not measure anything when making these handles; all the work is by eye.


Aſt er the wood is epoxied to the metal, a hole is drilled through and a ¼-inch dowel epoxied in it to make sure the handle holds together (though none of my handles have separated to date). Prior to epoxying the wood to the metal, all the metal surfaces are roughed-up on a grinding wheel for better adhesion. ‘C’ shows the wood side pieces jig-sawed to the


rough shape of the handles being used. Jig-sawing removes unwanted wood in bulk and saves a lot of time—and a lot of 1-inch wide sanding belts that would otherwise be expended in shaping the hard maple wood that I use. ‘D’ shows all the components assembled (but not yet epoxied together). ‘E’ are the ¼-inch wood dowels (I usually make a lot of extras of everything when I cut parts in order to minimize setup time when I next have to make more tools of any kind). Aſt er the epoxy sets for a day or two the side pieces are sanded on a one inch wide belt sander to whatever shape suits me at the time. ‘F’ identifi es three of the fi nished scalpels, all essentially identical (the shape of my hand does not change appreciably from month-to-month).


To date, I have painted all my handles black with a spray can. Using black paint has been a mistake. My benches are covered with black things and I waste a lot of time searching for scalpels among the morass of other black objects. I will use pink, Kelly green, orange, light blue, or some other bright color in the future and may well repaint all the handles very soon.


‘G’, ‘H’, ‘I’, and ‘J’ are the four blade shapes I use. Although there are many more shapes available, these four shapes cover my needs nicely. ‘G’ (blade shape #12) has a single cutting edge on the concave face. It is really useful when rigging. You can cut almost anything anywhere with the inside edge using a gentle pulling action; pulling a cutting edge is a much more accurate (and safer) cutting technique than pushing. T is blade is very sharp and has a very fi ne, but fragile, tip that works extremely well when you want a very precise cut on a piece of rigging (it is great for getting rid of overlooked Irish pennants).


‘H’ is the tried and true shape #11. I use it for almost everything. I fi nd it hard to visualize building a fully- planked ship’s boat without a goodly supply of #11 blades. It cuts or scrapes wood, glue, paint, string and pretty much everything else. T is #11 blade will make a precise vertical square cut in 0.002-inch-thick boxwood planking with no eff ort. I use ten times more #11s than all the rest of the blades combined. I buy them in boxes of 100 (actually, I buy all the blades in boxes of 100 since it is much, much less


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100