Handmade mortise marking gauge

[Mark Almeidus]

For 2 years as amateur woodworker marking gauges were one of the essential tools in my list that i was missing. I couldnt find someone in my country using this type of tools neither they were available in stores, and purchasing online wasnt worth because of vat and postal services. So finaly i decided to try and make one.
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The fence is beech and handle is oak. I had problems with the oak cracking when adding the nails. So I think oak its not good option when working small pieces.
The sliding piece except for moving f&b, has a self locking system independent from the fence screw. Next on the list will be cutting and marking gauge.

[ken hatch]

Mark,

Looks good and I expect works as well as any. Good on you.

ken

[Pat Barry]

Nice project! Did you make the body in two pieces or chop it out of one? I had trouble getting a good fit by chopping.

[Mark Almeidus]

Ken, first time i use or own kind of marking gauge so I cant tell you does it work well or not xD. Never compared to other gauges, but it does the job.
Pat, i was mortising it like you do standard mortise from both sides, (one side half the depth) I was using a ruler and combination square to transfer the mortise lines.If you transfere them good then no need to worry. I have tried before with ruler and had some failures, but for small things, where you can gamble like in my case :D, and you have easy replacable material if you do mistake. When you do mortise and tenons you do it to bee good tight fit wich is not good for the marking gauges, so I used handplane just a little so the handle slides better.

[Jim Koepke]

Nice job.

Sometimes the only way to get around high prices is to make your own.

jtk

[Frederick Skelly]

Mark,
Looks like a nice tool that works well. Congratulations on a job well done!
Fred

[Mark Almeidus]

Thanks Jim and Frederick!

[Mike Null]

Nice work. It's always more of a pleasure to use your own handiwork.

[Shawn Pixley]

Nice work! I'd like to suggest you file the nails to a single bevel (to the inside), ratherthan the conical cuts. Itmay help to give a tighter registration.

[Chuck Nickerson]

If the oak cracked when adding the nails, you just need a bigger pilot hole for the nails.

[David Eisenhauer]

Good to go. Nice work.

[Mark Almeidus]

Thanks for the tip Shawn.
Chuck, what is a pilot hole?