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Ember Mezuzah Production

I’ve been creating this mezuzah design for about 5 years. I often create in small batches, and until recently, each batch has varied slightly. Now that I’ve advanced my tooling and procedures, my tolerances are much tighter.

As I’ve gained confidence in the shape, mounting hardware, and scroll compartment, jigs and fixtures have been created to allow for more accuracy and efficiency.

There are not many straight lines in this design and I’ve been grinding/sanding away the bulk of the material quite individually. As we’ve seen this design grow in popularity, it has become clear that finding a more systematic way to produce this complex shape would be quite helpful. I reached out to my friend and incredibly knowledgable woodworker Drew (@mandrewwallace on insta), and he explained that pattern routing would be my best option. I’m now on my 4th iteration of a pattern routing sled and still not quite there. Holding this small of a piece securely and at the correct angle has been extremely difficult. I feel that I’m quite near the end now and how to show the process in a future blog post.

Here is a computerized drawing to identify the exact curves for pattern routing sled.