Marking Gauge

[James Ogle]

I decided to build a marking gauge this weekend instead of buying a new one to replace the one I can not find. I made it out of some left over 8/4 maple that I made my island coutertop out of and I was going to use mesquite for the arm but the only two off cuts I had were both only 1/2 inch thick. I didn't want to laminate anything so went with a piece of Mystery Wood for the arm. I picked it up with some scrap from the local lumber dealer for a bow saw toggle, still need to make that.

The through mortise for the wedge was really hard to cut with a pigsticker. I had to resort to my 1/4" japanese chisel for the last bit on the narrow end. I then cleaned it up with the pigsticker for an even thickness all the way through. The arm mortise was relatively easy although I did crush the edge a little, OK a lot.

I also tried to make the wedge from mesquite but broke the little round end off of two different ones doing final shaping. I went with maple instead. You can even see a little blood on the back in the last picture where I cut myself chopping the mortise.

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[David Gendron]

Look good! Are you palning on using something else than a nail for the pin?

[Chuck Tringo]

Great work....ref. crushing the edge and the bloodstain...remember not all tools have to be perfectly pretty to get the job done, look at Krenov's simple planes then look at his silver chests. I can honestly say that I haven't seen a gauge with a wedge like that before, I think that its a great idea and can even see it being easier than a screw to adjust and hold the arm in place. And I think a sharpened finish nail is perfect for the pin. Again, excellent work, now I have another idea for a shop project for when I get back to working wood.

[James Ogle]

The plans for it are from Pop Woodworking (http://www.popularwoodworking.com/upload/contents/290/0612_Marking_Gauge.pdf). The nail is a stand in. It works but will need to be sharpened more often than I would like. I wanted to use an old drill bit but along with the missing gauge my egg beater and all my little bits are missing.

It does adjust very nice. I can lock/unlock it with one hand. Rapping the wedge on the bench locks/unlocks it. I am thinking about making a couple of more but as mortise gauges. Set them to the widths of my mortise chisels. Also thinking of maybe a cutting gauge once I get the O1 for a marking knife I want to make.

[Jim Koepke]

Nice, you could make the pin out of an old plane blade if you have one too short for a plane.

Also a saw blade might work.

This is making me think of making one with a 1-1/2 inch wheel that came from a paper cutter. That might be too big, but might be fun.

Any chance the mystery wood is oak?

jim

[lowell holmes]

Jig saw blades work quite well.

You can make arms with two pins each in them to match the width of your pig stickers. Cherubini has one in his Art and Mysteries series.

[James Ogle]

Jim, after I finished this all kinds of crazy ideas were running through my head. I thought about the wheel cutters for the Titemark or Veritas gauge. I think your big cutter might make a really nice slitter gauge for veneers, Make a wide body like for a panel gauge and then mount the circle cutter to the end for a really nice slitter.

As to the Mystery wood it isn't oak. It has the open grain of oak but it is really yellow. Planed very nice. Thought it might be canary but the little piece I had didn't have any of the reddish streaks like the pictures I found.

Lowell, that was the plan I was thinking of making them double ended. One chisel thickness on each end. Make two more and I have all my current mortise chisels set. Might even make two for my 1/4" pig sticker. That way I can have an extra in case a project needs two different offsets for the mortises. I think it was something Adam wrote about the Seaton Chest that put that idea in my head.