I made this tool, used for making dots in a linocut, from a scrap of oak, a bamboo collar, and a 60mm nail. I don't know what its official name is; I just call it a dot maker.
The blade has a flat top, and a pair of angled facets underneath, creating a three-sided spear-point. Fortunately, the grinding doesn't have to be micron-exact, so I just did it by eye. I guess that if you were more worried about accuracy, it wouldn't be difficult to set up a grinding jig.
You just dig it into the surface of the lino and flick out a divot. There is a certain amount of control possible over the size of the resulting dot, but it's not an especially precise tool.
A while later...
Something I learned from making this is that, for comfort of use, the blade shaft shouldn't protrude from the handle more than about 10-12mm.
For a while I just wrapped it in masking tape, but eventually I made a wooden collar for it and glued it over everything else.
This blade now protrudes only 8mm or so, and I cut a facet on the flat side of the blade for my finger to rest in so I know exactly what orientation the blade is in.
It's all a bit of a kludge, but it's now much more comfortable to use for extended sessions, and I'll know better if I ever make another.
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