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This year, DMT is celebrating its 40^th anniversary with pivotal news: it now is under new ownership. In a deal that was completed Feb. 2, DMT’S assets were acquired by Acme United Corporation. Acme United produces a variety of cutting, measuring and safety products for the school, home, office, craft, hardware, sports and industrial markets. Its brands include, among others, Camillus® cutlery; Clauss® scissors, shears and cutting tools; Cuda® fishing tools; FirstAidOnly medical supplies; and Westcott school supplies. Brandon, who will help facilitate the integration of DMT with Acme United, will remain with DMT until June.

He, and Rick Constantine, Acme United’s vice president of marketing and general manager (for Camillus, Clauss, Cuda, Westcott and now DMT brands) sat down with us to share the details.

Reflecting on four decades of innovation, a highlight for Brandon is the many iconic DMT products he’s seen come to market over the years, including the Diamond Whetstone.

“That (product) started the company on a path to today’s wide assortment of sharpeners for almost every edge,” Brandon says. “Along the way, Diafold® brought portability and a wider range of grits, and DuoSharp® delivered a large, very stable surface for woodworkers in particular.

Brandon says DMT has a loyal customer base, and to help celebrate 40 years, customers are invited to share their DMT stories on a special page the company has created on its website (to share a DMT story, click here). Customer reflections will be collected and posted on the website throughout 2016.

DMT also was also honored this week, at the International Hardware Fair (IHF) in Cologne, Germany, with a Loyalty Award. It marks 22 years of exhibiting at IHF.

“We are pleased to be recognized for our decades of participation,” Brandon says. “The International Hardware Fair is an important event for DMT, allowing us to meet our many overseas customers, introduce new products and learn about what our users would like to see next from DMT.”

In that regard, the opportunity to grow DMT product lines both here and abroad was of mutual interest to Brandon and Acme United’s CEO, Walter Johnsen. The two met at a trade show several years ago, and Brandon says synergies between DMT and Acme United were quickly obvious.

“We both recognized early on that DMT would be a good strategic fit with Acme United’s edged product lines, and that Acme, with its greater resources, could help DMT grow even faster,” Brandon says. “Last fall, the timing was good for both companies, and discussions (about acquisition) began in earnest.”

Even now, Acme United is setting brisk new-product goals for DMT, undergirded by better infrastructure. Constantine reports that Acme United will add automation efficiencies to DMT’s day-to-day operations, as well as additional machinery to allow for future growth and production capacity. The net result will benefit both DMT and Acme customers soon.

“We are planning to step up our new product development for DMT dramatically,” Constantine projects, “and the process has already begun. We hope to launch the first round of new and innovative sharpeners before the end of 2016.”

There will be positive crossover effects for both DMT and Acme brands, Constantine explains. With DMT’s family of products now under the Acme United umbrella, sharpeners can be added to its Clauss, Camillus and Cuda cutting tool lines. And, DMT sharpening products will also broaden Acme United’s industrial, hardware and sporting goods brands. Conversely, Acme will begin to market its various cutting tool brands to new customers, such as woodworkers, which it has not done previously.

“For some of our (DMT) retailers,” Brandon adds, “the opportunity to carry other Acme United brands such as Camillus and Cuda knives and Clauss shears will be very interesting.”

But even with all the changes and stepped-up efficiencies, some of DMT’s current processes will remain as they are — and for good reason: Don’t fix what isn’t broken. Constantine assures that DMT’s operations will remain in Marlborough, where it will “continue to build the finest sharpeners in the USA.” And, DMT’s staff will keep their jobs. “(They) are dedicated employees and have contributed to DMT’s growth and success and will continue to do so going forward,” Constantine says.

Forty years of innovation in sharpening products has forged a proud legacy for DMT, and Acme United plans to make the most of that heritage and knowledge base.

“(We’re) pleased to add the DMT brand to our family of brands … We sell millions and millions of cutting implements, and now we have the very best in sharpening products to service those tools,” Constantine says.

To learn more about DMT, click here. To visit Acme United’s website, click here.

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RIDGID also equips it with rubber feet for added stability, a storage tray and two 12-in.-long repositionable work supports. They pull out to a total extension length of 9-1/2-ft. Built-in material stops on the supports help make it easy to set up repeated cuts.

RIDGID’s Mobile Miter Saw Stand (model AC9946) sells for $199 and includes a three-year limited warranty.

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Each set includes 1/4-, 3/8-, 1/2-, 5/8-, 3/4- and 7/8-in. profiles. Use them for smoothing beads, flutes, coves, roundovers, dowels and spindle profiles — virtually any smaller rounded shape on your projects. Diameter designations are molded into the rubber to make selecting the correct grip size easy.

The new Contour Sanding Grips (item 54412, $14.99) are available at Rockler Woodworking and Hardware stores nationwide, at Rockler.com or through the print catalog.

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Tim Inman: Sounds like the cut you need to make is a “compound angle” cut. In my experience, this is more commonly known as a “hopper joint.” To get a specific outcome, as your plans require, you’ll need to consult a hopper joint chart. There are charts and simple calculators available on the Internet if you look up “hopper joint” or “compound angle cuts.” These charts are quite common in woodworking books, too. You need to set the blade angle and also the miter gauge angle to get the correct “hopper” angle.

Chris Marshall: If you use a smartphone or tablet, you can calculate compound miter angles on an app called “The Woodshop Widget.” It’s available in Android and iPhone editions for $3.99. The compound angle calculator included in the app will tell you what the miter angle and bevel tilt of the blade needs to be for the corner angle you are trying to make. The app provides calculators for estimating board volume, wood movement, tabulating shellac ratios and changing decimals to fractions. There’s an extensive wood species comparison chart, too. Very handy stuff! It might be worth adding to your phone or tablet for all sorts of woodworking situations.

I’m sure fellow eZine readers will have other suggestions for references they use to determine compound miter angles.

One other thought: cutting compound miters on a table saw involves swiveling the miter gauge off of square as well as tilting the blade. A tilted miter gauge doesn’t offer as good of workpiece support as when it’s square to the blade. So, I would add a long auxiliary fence to your miter gauge to provide better backup for these cuts. And, you might consider applying a strip of sandpaper or clamping a stop block to the miter gauge fence as well. It will keep the workpiece from possibly creeping along the miter gauge fence as you feed it through a cut. I think they’re good precautions to take, both to ensure accurate cuts and to work as safely as possible.

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-Jack Downer
San Tan Valley, AZ

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