# a homemade scribing tool?



## joetab24 (Aug 15, 2010)

trying to scribe the profile of vinyl siding to a piece molding. 

bought a compass from depot for a few dollars, the only one they had in stock. and it's really flimsy and keeps closing/folding when I am attempting to get a line.


is there a better scribing tool that can be homemade?

here's a tool called a power butt that purports to be a better scriber, but it costs $30.

http://tinyurl.com/22lwdum

in the comment section to the video linked above, someone said "been using pencil and cotton reel for years… does the same…."

have any of you ever heard of a pencil and cotton reel scriber?


just playing around i put a pencil through a clothes pin and used that to scribe the profile of the siding, not bad to get a line, but i can't control/adjust the width of the line, like i can w/ a compass. 

thanks!


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## joesdad (Nov 1, 2007)

I made this one a while ago. I had a plastic one just like it, so I took it apart and traced the parts and made adjustments for where I wanted things a little different. I bought the brass thumb screws from HD, and the rest was scraps. Works great as long as the base can slide along a smooth surface. The crutial part was the oblong hole where the pencil goes through. It has the be oblong and not too wide to allow the pencil to move up or down for micro adjustments.


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## cabinetman (Jul 5, 2007)

There are variations of drafting compasses that have a threaded spreader *like this*. I use this type of compass. They vary in price and quality, but they work pretty good.


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## unisawyer (May 7, 2010)

This would be a good one.http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...akeTrack=true&ssPageName=VIP:watchlink:top:en


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*this one looks cool*

http://www.cabinetparts.com/p/fastcap-tools-and-templates-FCACCUSCRIBE/  bill


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