Thread: Marking gauge suggestions

Originally Posted by Luke Maddux

...Can't comment on wheel vs pin style, but wheel seems fundamentally better to me.

Horses for courses, Luke. There are things a wheel can't do, like marking a series of centre points, or a 'stop' point, & marking precisely to a fixed point ain't as easy as it is with a pin. All styles have their places & advocates....

Cheers,

Wow, who knew there was so much too it.

Thanks for the very detailed response Derek and Ian. I guess i will have to try out a couple more different styles of gauges and work on my technique.

Thanks again!

Originally Posted by marphlix

Wow, who knew there was so much too it.

Thanks for the very detailed response Derek and Ian. I guess i will have to try out a couple more different styles of gauges and work on my technique.

Thanks again!

Great reply! I did not realise there was so much too it either.
Perhaps you should just buy a regular run of the mill marking gauge to start off with. It's all you really need.
If you are hopeless at woodwork I doubt it is because of your zircon encrusted , brass inlaid marking gauge.
No offence intended for the great shots of all the alternatives.
Surprised there is not a "Marking gauge magazine available"

Originally Posted by artful bodger

.....No offence intended for the great shots of all the alternatives.....

No offense taken here, Artful. As I've said above, a few nails & a couple of sticks can do the job (& I've done just that, in the past!). I'm well aware that polish & fancy wood aren't essential. But it is nice to use tools that we find attractive as well as functional, isn't it?

Originally Posted by artful bodger

.....Surprised there is not a "Marking gauge magazine available"

That might be just slightly OTT. But now you've come to mention it.....

Cheers,

One of my favourites is just a block of wood with a woodscrew driven in and the head sharpened.

The block of wood acts as the fence.

Screwing in-and-out sets the depth of cut.

The round section of the screw will mark like a cutting gauge.

Turned to the slot section, it will cut a thin groove.

One does not need expensive or advantaged tools to build most things.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Thanks for the encouragement artful bodger,

The one comment i will make, is that as a newbie, i personally find it easier to start out using a quality tool for learning. I have had experience buying 2nd hand tools off ebay etc, and not really knowing how to use/tune them and getting really frustrated with the result. When i end up buying a new, quality tool to replace it, its amazing the difference, and i can see why i was struggling so much.

I hope that in a few months/years, i will be able to resort to simple thing like a screw and block of wood that Derek uses, but based on my experience, i would probably find it helpful to start out with something i know is supposed to work straight away. That way if it doesn't i can point the finger straight at me, rather than wondering if the tool is not tuned/setup correctly.

That and as Ian says: "But it is nice to use tools that we find attractive as well as functional, isn't it? "

In that light, i think i will purchase a veritas wheel gauge. I'm tossing up between the dual gauge and the micro adjust single one. For me i think the deciding factor would be how useful the micro adjust is? Do people have any experience with this?

Thanks for all the advice everyone!

Originally Posted by artful bodger

....
Surprised there is not a "Marking gauge magazine available"

We just about have one called Woodworkforums.com

Originally Posted by marphlix

....The one comment i will make, is that as a newbie, i personally find it easier to start out using a quality tool for learning. I have had experience buying 2nd hand tools off ebay etc, and not really knowing how to use/tune them and getting really frustrated with the result. When i end up buying a new, quality tool to replace it, its amazing the difference, and i can see why i was struggling so much.
....

While making or doing something it gives you more experience and it does get better.

Originally Posted by marphlix

......In that light, i think i will purchase a veritas wheel gauge. I'm tossing up between the dual gauge and the micro adjust single one. For me i think the deciding factor would be how useful the micro adjust is? Do people have any experience with this?.....

I have the micro adjust marking gauge and I find that I don't use this function. So it is used only as a standard marking gauge that has the extra function. I have not used the dual marking gauge so can not say anything about it.

So I got one of the Japanese marking gauge sthat Derek showed in his post and website. One thing I can't work out; is there a functional reason for the extra lamination on the fence? It looks good, and I for me that would be a good reason, but just wondering if there was something else I was missing?

Thanks

The extra lamination does two things: firstly, it increases the thickness of the fence, which improves the grip. Secondly, I converted the double blade configuration to single blade. To do so the bed was raised (to replace the second blade) and the "gap" at the fence was covered.

Note that the blades need much tuning: flattening and re-bevelling to make them work well. Grinding removes the brittleness in this blades, and the bevel angles are lowered (from about 30 degrees to about 20 degrees) to increase penetration (sharper line).

Regards from Perth

Derek

Thanks Derek! I will ensure that I tune up the blades too.

Cheers