Marking gauge question

[David Eisenhauer]

Do the Tite Mark mortising cutter sets have opposing bevels?

[Ted Phillips]

Yes, Tite Mark offers a variety of mortising cutter sets for its gauges. They are all excellent.

[Jason Martin Winnipeg]

Is this what you mean by opposing bevels?

http://www.leevalley.com/en/Wood/pag...66&cat=1,42936

[Rob Luter]

Yes, Tite Mark offers a variety of mortising cutter sets for its gauges. They are all excellent.

This is one of the reasons I’m considering Tite Mark. The projects I undertake usually utilize M&T joinery.

[Derek Cohen]

I cannot recommend the morticing blades for the Tite Mark. The Tite Mark is terrific, and I love wheel gauges. However, one wheel on it own leaves a lightish mark in end grain. Two wheels used together (as the morticing heads are) leave a very light mark in end grain. I not only have tried the dedicated "heads" (not sure what to call them) from TM, but also the individual combinations you set yourself. I have used them on the TM, Veritas, and my own wheel gauge. It is the same. It is the wheel and not the gauge.

Veritas have a double arm gauge, and this works better as each wheel is used on its own. I like the concept, but I have not enjoys the reversed bevel wheel, which does not cut as smoothly for me as the standard wheel. Still, it is a very good gauge.

My opinion is that one does not need a reversed wheel at all since these blades are so thin and leave a thin line (keep them sharp). It is extremely difficult to tell a reversed from standard bevel blade in practice. In fact, I would switch out the reversing wheel on the Veritas for a standard bevel if it did not lose the set up advantage. What I often do is use two single gauges.

The best gauge for a marking mortices is a pin gauge. They leave the clearest marks in end grain. Second to this is the Japanese double cutting gauge. Some would argue that these should be first, however they leave a wider mark owing to a deeper bevel on the blades. They are wonderful when used lightly. That I consign them to third (for mortices only) is painful as I love my Kinshiro.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Jeff Ranck]

so I'm unclear what order you feel works best. 1) pin gauge, 2)? and 3) Japanese double cutting. Is that right? Am I missing something?

Jeff.

[Derek Cohen]

Jeff, for mortices, in order of preference (first to last): pin gauge, Japanese cutting gauge, single wheel gauge, double arm wheel gauge, mortice heads for wheel gauge.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Jeff Ranck]

Perfect. I've always disliked the traditional European pin gauges because there is so much wood that sticks out in front of the gauge that can get in the way of visibility. I like gauges where the cutter is out on the end (wheel, Japanese cutting, etc.).

[Robert Hazelwood]

Wheel gauges leave such a fine line that you can lose sight of it when made along the grain in a wood like oak. If the mark coincides with a pore then it is almost impossible to tell precisely where the mark is. Red oak is absolutely the worst for this, white oak is a little better. Pin gauges, which I don't normally like much, are better here. You can get around the problem with wheel gauges if you place blue tape over the section you want to mark.

[Mike Allen1010]

I have both Tite-Mark and Veritas wheel gauges. Two rules with both: sharpenen the blades regularly, and always make the first stroke light, with progressive pressure over a couple of strokes. Sharp blades leave a cleaner line. I remove the cuttr and lap it a few times across a worn/fine 600 grip diamond stone.

Regards from Perth

Derek

+1 - Marking gauges are some of the most valuable/most used tools in my shop, and I find it extremely helpful to have 3 – 4 available for simultaneous use on any project. Nice to be able to layout DT baselines, tenon shoulders, chamfer guidelines etc. in a smooth workflow without having to reset the marking gauge.

I have both Asian gauges with cutting blades and Western-style gauges with circular cutters and to my mind the biggest difference is the ability with Western/wheel gauges to very accurately adjust the distance from the fence to the blade. IMHO, for most joinery this is the critical dimension. I'm a particular fan of the LV marking gauge with threaded adjustment fittings that allowed dialing in precise measurements. Although the blade style cutters may leave a truer/clearer line both with and cross grain, if I can't put that line exactly where I want it that's not really an advantage for me.


Regarding marking lines > 1" or so off the reference edge, I find a panel gauge with a 9 mm pencil to be my best option. For me, these scenarios are typically marking out width for ripping. The pencil in the panel gauge doesn't follow the grain, and is easier for me to see a pencil mark than a marking gauge cut. Personally, I think panel gauges are one of the most valuable layout tools for hand tool woodworker (no table saw, no rip fence), then again, I'm old and fat, so maybe others see the marking gauge line just fine.


Best, Mike

[Jim Koepke]

[edited]

Regarding marking lines > 1" or so off the reference edge, I find a panel gauge with a 9 mm pencil to be my best option. For me, these scenarios are typically marking out width for ripping. The pencil in the panel gauge doesn't follow the grain, and is easier for me to see a pencil mark than a marking gauge cut. Personally, I think panel gauges are one of the most valuable layout tools for hand tool woodworker (no table saw, no rip fence), then again, I'm old and fat, so maybe others see the marking gauge line just fine.


Best, Mike

For pencil marks, either a sharp pencil is used to follow a gauged line or my Odd Jobs is used to make the pencil line.]

In some situations a Stanley #45 with a slitting blade is used for a panel gauge.

jtk