Rebuild Project?

[steven c newman]

A while back, picked a Cutting Gauge for $4....Might need a little bit more to get it working...
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List of things to fix...
Thumbscrew is stripped out...
Head has a split
End of the arm with the cutter and wedge, has split...Knife could be better?

New arm? How LONG to make the new one...

Either fix the split in the head...or make a new one?

Threaded insert and new thumbscrew to replace the stripped out one..

Hmmm...would a 12" arm be too long for something like this?

Stay tuned...

[steven c newman]

Threaded insert has been bought, and a thumbscrew to match....made a trip down to Lowes...spent about $2....Maybe tomorrow,might squeeze in a little work on this...

[Jack Dover]

Looks like it blew out some end grain? How about just turning a beam around and using the other end? Or maybe just trim the blown end and cut a new slot for the blade.
Making a new head is pretty much making a new gauge. A clean break should glue well, just check how much dirts went there. A few times I just carefully ran a kerf in a split and glued a wedge in.
The stripped threads can be restored. Some super glue and soda, or very fine sawdust allow building up missing parts over several applications. If the hole is stripped it will be a bit more involving and probably would require a tap, but still possible. But in such a case I'd just make a new gauge, and make it wedged - way more convenient to use than the one with a screw.

[steven c newman]

We'll see how things go....first 3" back from the knife is highly worn down from use....also..the head will not move past the middle of the arm to the other end...

[steven c newman]

Head has completely split apart...now sitting clamped back together, with a bead of glue...

Old Thumbscrew...was not reaching all the way down to the arm...was worn that bad...

A new 12" arm has been milled....will see about chopping a mortise Tuesday...once the lid for a box has been installed...

Cutter is not really in all that great of shape...

Stay tuned...

[steven c newman]

Old parts..
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New cutter was made...
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Head was repaired...last night..
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Brass insert installed this morning..
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And...a new thumbscrew...
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Made sure the new arm will slide..
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Chopped a mortise, that needed an angle for the wedge to work..
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I think this will do, for now..
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Arm is 12" long...so, the cutter should reach out to around 10" or so...
$4 for the Gauge as is...$2 in parts...scrap of Ash for the arm...Old Xacto Blade for the cutter...after a wee bit of grinder work, to match the old cutter..
Not too bad?

[steven c newman]

A coat of varnish was added as a "finish" , looking for a place in the tool cabinet to hang it up.

IF there were any markings on the Original parts...they were long gone when I bought this gauge...The wood in the original arm did not match the wood in the head...both had a lot of small worm holes, too.
Don't know IF it would be worth the trouble to add a ruler's set of markings to the arm...hmmm?

[steven c newman]

Still trying to get the knife sharpened the right way...
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It does cut a wee bit better than the pin type marking gauge I normally used...but, still not a "knifed" cut...

Hmmmm?