Veritas Wheel Marking Gauge

[Pedro Reyes]

I've been looking at both Tite-Mark and Veritas marking gauges, read the reviews here and comments...

I am leaning towards the Veritas, but I do have one little problem...

Tite-Mark offers fixed width morticing attachments, and both Tite-Mark and Verits offer Mortise gauge heads (loose - the kind you adjust). My problem with all of these is that I use Pigstickers for most of my mortises. I have several but I favor two which are a thin 1/4" and a fat 1/4", neither of them clicks in at 1/4". None of the adjustable heads can come closer than 3/8" (on Veritas anyway)... and I am assuming that this is because there is a bevel on the wheels, otherwise it looks like I could flip them in the shaft and make the wheels touch each other if I wanted to.

So does anyone think this is critical? Having the bevel oriented in that is? Today I use an old gauge with 2 pins, which technically have bevels on both sides, after all they are pins... but should I be concerned about this?

Hopefully Rob reads this and offers the mortising heads with the bevel reversed and that way I can sleep better ;)

I may just get them and file notches in them so that when closed together they "interlock" and can come as close as my thin 1/4"

/p

[Don Dorn]

Well, for what it's worth, I have the Veratis wheel gauge and don't care for it at all. It's actually the first Veratis product I've felt that way about. I've tried numerous times to sharpen the wheel but it just doesn't make a distiguishable or consistant mark. It just gathers dust now.

I have the little 4" Veratis brass one that I think is called the "3 in 1" and it comes with several blades and you can angle them to your liking. I really like it. I bought one of the Hamilton gauges because I thought they were supposed to be the ultimate, but frankly, I sold it because it definately wasn't any better than this little brass one.

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=1&p=50440&cat=1,42936

[Joe Hardesty]

I've been looking at both Tite-Mark and Veritas marking gauges

I have both. They are not even in the same ballpark. The Tite-mark is far superior for both locking into position and its micro-adjustment freature.

If you have a local Woodcraft, they may have the Tite-mark in stock. Then, even if you decide to buy the Veritas, you can compare for yourself.

[Greg Crawford]

I have the Veritas, and it works, but it's tricky to use well. Here's the best one I found. Bought it right here on the Creek a few weeks ago from David Gendron. The other end has pins. Sweet!

[Joel Runyan]

I can't really offer any advice on the mortising issue, but after reading the other replies I wanted to be the voice of dissent and say that I've been very pleased with my plain Veritas wheel gauge... the wheel cuts clean and I've had no trouble setting it properly.

[Jim Koepke]

I have the Veritas, and it works, but it's tricky to use well. Here's the best one I found. Bought it right here on the Creek a few weeks ago from David Gendron. The other end has pins. Sweet!

The Stanley 98 is my go to marker for most things. For mortise marking, I have a dual pin marker that works fine.

jim

[Derek Cohen]

I've been looking at both Tite-Mark and Veritas marking gauges, read the reviews here and comments...

I am leaning towards the Veritas, but I do have one little problem...

Tite-Mark offers fixed width morticing attachments, and both Tite-Mark and Verits offer Mortise gauge heads (loose - the kind you adjust). My problem with all of these is that I use Pigstickers for most of my mortises. I have several but I favor two which are a thin 1/4" and a fat 1/4", neither of them clicks in at 1/4". None of the adjustable heads can come closer than 3/8" (on Veritas anyway)... and I am assuming that this is because there is a bevel on the wheels, otherwise it looks like I could flip them in the shaft and make the wheels touch each other if I wanted to.

So does anyone think this is critical? Having the bevel oriented in that is? Today I use an old gauge with 2 pins, which technically have bevels on both sides, after all they are pins... but should I be concerned about this?

Hopefully Rob reads this and offers the mortising heads with the bevel reversed and that way I can sleep better ;)

I may just get them and file notches in them so that when closed together they "interlock" and can come as close as my thin 1/4"

/p

Hi Pedro

I have both the TM (with the individual morticing blades) and the LV (basic without markings).

The TM and LV pieces are all interchangeable.

I have rarely used the TM morticing blades because they are too finicky for my liking. They work well, and are able to be used on any width (I am not sure how you are adjusting them, but I have no issues with this area). It is just that I prefer a Japanese gauge. (.... thinks to self .... mmmm ... idea ... more on this in a moment ...)

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Derek50/Marking%20and%20Measuring/Wheelgauges-VeritasandTiteMark1.jpg

Don't use them like this ...

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Derek50/Marking%20and%20Measuring/Titemarkmorticeblades.jpg

... the blades are reversible as well - i.e. can be any distance yoiu wish.

Here is my favourite gauge (second from left)..

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Derek50/Workbench%20and%20Workshop/Workshoprebuild-markinggauges1.jpg

The way to set up a mortice gauge is to first make a mark on the spot where the mortice will go with the chisel bevel. Then slide the knives (and wheels! this is what occured to me .. time to try the TM again) into these marks, tighten to prevent movement .. and you are ready to go.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Rick Erickson]

I'm with Don and Joe. I own both. They aren't even in the same zipcode. The TM is far superior. The Veritas feels like a toy compared to the TM. Of course the TM is double the price.

BTW: I have a Veritas for sale if you do decide to go that route.

[David Keller NC]

Pedro - I suppose this is obvious, but you could grind down the sides of one of your mortise chisels to make it an exact fit with the Tite-Mark fixed width mortise blades.

But - I do use the TM fixed width mortise blades to mark mortises in my shop, and my comment here is that it doesn't really matter if the guage exactly fits the chisel width so long as the gauge is at least as wide as, and relatively close to, the width of the chisel. What the cut marks do (besides giving you a reference on where to place your chisel) is prevent the wood fibers at the surface from tearing out and uglifying the face of your stile. Once you're below the surface, it doesn't matter much.

[Greg Crawford]

FYI, the Titemark marking guage is on closeout at Woodcraft;

http://www.woodcraft.com/product.aspx?ProductID=820631&FamilyID=3483

[Richard Niemiec]

FWIW, the older style wooden pin markers work just fine with or cross grain, Crown makes them in a simple and fancy style; just file the pins flat on one side. My simplistic view is that wheel markers are a solution to a non-existent problem...... YMMV

[Sean Hughto]

I think it depends upon what you look for a marking gauge to provide and how you form your joints. In my experience at least, pin markers do not slice the wood as cleanly. The slice of a wheel marking gauge, like that of a marking knife is very convenient for chisel registration in paring, or in planing to a line.

For what it is worth for those of you who seem to hate the veritas gauge: I find the veritas version completely satisfactory. It is to the titemark what a bailey 7 might be to a LN 7. They both work fine, but the more expensive and refined version is really nice to use.

[Chris Friesen]

I've got the small 3in1 LV brass one, the Veritas wheel with fine adjust, and the TiteMark. I've had projects with all of them in use, as it's convenient to leave them set in case you forgot to mark something.

The small brass one is inexpensive, and useful for small things.

The Veritas one works fine and locks down solidly. Really wants two hands to adjust and lock it though.

The TiteMark is very convenient to adjust with one hand. On the other hand, I found that the nylon rub-screw is very finicky and hard to adjust to give the right amount of drag.

Both of the bigger ones have a round body, which means that they can roll off a bench. I'm half tempted to file one or two flats on them. The small LV brass one is eccentric, so doesn't roll around.

[Rick Erickson]

Good analogy Sean. My Veritas does what it is suppose to do - just not as nicely as the TM. I like the weight of the TM and it does seem to register a little better on the wood. And, the micro-adjustment is out of this world.

[Jim Koepke]

Having both pin markers and a wheel marker, my preference of late is for the wheel. It seems less likely to wander with the grain. There also seems to be less chatter. The wheel cuts the grain on edges and on the end. The pin markers seem to bounce around a bit. If a wheel snags, it rolls instead of bouncing.

jim

[Mark Roderick]

I agree with the others. I owned the Veritas for a long time and thought it was okay, then got the TM and realized what I had been missing. There's really no comparison. No criticism of Veritas, just a different goal in terms of price and quality.