Thread: A little Grasshopper Gauge

Cracker Rob! Any wax on it, or have you taken it all off?

http://woodtools.nov.ru/projects2/Wo...own_marker.htm

Grasshopper Guage, Theirs looks a lot different.

Hmm, why are some things so bleeding obvious after someone clever shows us the solution! I've always struggled with placing the nails or screws accurately in the backs of drawers, particularly as I like to work with thin side components. Now, after all these years you've just shown me the solution is sooo simple.

Gotta make me one of those, and to make amends for all those years of not having one, I will make a flash one from brass. At least I won't have to worry about short grain.....

Thanks, Rob!
Cheers,

Originally Posted by DSEL74

http://woodtools.nov.ru/projects2/Wo...own_marker.htm

Grasshopper Guage, Theirs looks a lot different.

That's because they have added complications like a sliding rod arrangement....looks like from a mortice gauge.
So it has, by my count, at least 9 parts (including screws) to make it....that's 8 more than Rob's ... and it won't lay flat in the bottom of a draw.



I wouldn't bother googling to find a better solution..

I love Rob's for its absolute simplicity!

Peter

Originally Posted by lightwood

That's because they have added complications like a sliding rod arrangement....looks like from a mortice gauge.
So it has, by my count, at least 9 parts (including screws) to make it....that's 8 more than Rob's ... and it won't lay flat in the bottom of a draw.



I wouldn't bother googling to find a better solution..

I love Rob's for its absolute simplicity!

Peter

It wasn't mean as a criticism of Robs. I think his is quite simple and elegant.
I was just curious to see more and some history, use etc. That was the only reference I could find last night.

The one I posted seems to me to be a plate to fit an existing gauge. As it shows, pencil, pin and mortice gauges.

That is so sophisticated in its simplicity.
I'm hoping that I can find an excuse to "need" to make one
for wood carving.

I think I'd fake it with a piece of rule glued along the side.
My measuring and marking skills are not up to Stone Age yet.

No criticism taken Dale , I do like the KISS approach . Like Peter says . all those moving parts , not only that but the one in their picture is resting on a small block which is the part that has to be most stable for the pencil to lay an accurate mark . The one in the picture because of its adjust ability maybe more uses can be found for it , I don't know ?

My little one is just for the drawer bottom use . pushing it down flat to the upturned bottom is what keeps it easy to use , then just slide it in till it hits the back . Before I do this , with the drawer turned up the right way I hold it to the back and count in the number of marks in from the main mid line.
With the larger ones I have , there is a mid line cut into it , to the left on the upper side I can work out over hangs ,to the right , peg positions depending on rail thickness, and it's just marked with pen or pencil . They all work the same way for me . By holding the top part of the gauge down flat and sliding it in till the bottom part hits the rail or back or whatever .

Like Ian says as well, thin sides and back is what I like if it's right for the job , between 7 and 9.5 for small table size, with half rounded tops, Queen Anne style, Beautiful !! Bureau internals are way smaller again , I haven't made one of those for twenty years though.

Rob

Originally Posted by auscab

A little Grasshopper gauge .
I have needed a small one like this for a long time.
I use larger ones of these for the positioning of tops to bases for stools and tables where
they will be pegged down,and for getting the over hang even .

This is the smallest one I have made and probably the one I put the most effort in to so far . Its pear wood and its for getting the spot where you want a nail to go through a drawer bottom in to the middle of the drawer back. Even if the back is bowed I can now find the middle . Or if the back edge of the drawer bottom is roughly hand planed and wanders , It's the same thing to find the middle . The markings could have been a little more accurate, they work though , better on the next one maybe , this was my prototype . I thought there was a little to much short grain in it, but it's ended up lasting, the Pear wood is quite tight and tough. On the larger ones it's a pencil mark or a scribe line when it gets to messy they get spoke shaved off ,and we start again on a fresh patch of wood .
Plenty of times I have wished for a small one for drawers because I got it wrong and sent a nail out the side of the back . This works very well .
I showed a friend this one and he told me the name Grasshopper gauge , he'd seen it named that in a book somewhere.
A gauge for marking out over or on the other side of a projection. the projection being the bottom overhanging of the back , which is always a good idea to have.

Rob

Rob,
That is just rude, making me feel stupid like that, why have I never made one of those.

Thanks for sharing!!

Cheers,

Camo

Rob

That is a very nice little gauge, well considered and executed.

I find that as I acquire more tools either by making or purchase the greater difficulty I have in locating the tool I want and the tool board is fast approaching the size of a small backyard.

Another option and the one I use is a small double square such as the Vesper version, here https://www.vespertools.com.au/index...mart&Itemid=34

These tools are easily set to the position you wish to have a nail or screw and a line marked along the bottom of the drawer or other component.

Obviously purchasing a double square for this purpose alone may be a bit over the top, but I find this type of square to be very versatile and it sets in my pocket whilst I work.

Regards

Yes Basilg, I have come across the same problem in finding what I want when I need it. One solution I like was buying two of every thing when I cant find the second one then I start muttering cuss words

Actually I feel I need a directory to my work shop, no kidding .
I do remember a time of perfection when I only owned a bench worth of tools and a shelf full to the right, and I was younger and of a sharper mind set and I could just about have worked with a blind fold and found every tool at arms length.
Things changed though , it 's not really the bench tools it's things like the tools for machines , the grease gun get's lost for a month or two, or a bench tool gets put away in a different part of the work shop, at different work space.
It's an interesting subject , "Finding your tools"

I have used a combination square for the drawer back over hang / find the center of the back . It works, but if your over hang changes you have to re set it , but that's fine it does work.

That's a nice little square you show. And it will do other things as well .

One thing I like about my little gauge is , it's the type of thing that when found in a tool box ,has people scratching their heads as to what it was used for . I like that, ha ha

A little gauge like mine is a one job tool , it does that one job better than any thing else I have ever tried though.

Rob

Originally Posted by auscab

Yes Basilg, I have come across the same problem in finding what I want when I need it. One solution I like was buying two of every thing when I cant find the second one then I start muttering cuss words

Nice idea, but then I would need a bigger workshop, which would then mean greater inventory management issues, and goodness knows what it would take to pacify the financial controller.

Actually I feel I need a directory to my work shop, no kidding .

Yes, the thought of electronic tags has crossed my mind on more than one occasion.

I do remember a time of perfection when I only owned a bench worth of tools and a shelf full to the right, and I was younger and of a sharper mind set and I could just about have worked with a blind fold and found every tool at arms length.
Things changed though , it 's not really the bench tools it's things like the tools for machines , the grease gun get's lost for a month or two, or a bench tool gets put away in a different part of the work shop, at different work space.
It's an interesting subject , "Finding your tools"
I now have all machine tools on boards next to each machine, which seems to be working, and so far I have not mislaid a bandsaw or jointer

I have used a combination square for the drawer back over hang / find the center of the back . It works, but if your over hang changes you have to re set it , but that's fine it does work.

That's a nice little square you show. And it will do other things as well, The square is very versatile and one of my favourite tools

One thing I like about my little gauge is , it's the type of thing that when found in a tool box ,has people scratching their heads as to what it was used for . I like that, ha ha

A little gauge like mine is a one job tool , it does that one job better than any thing else I have ever tried though.

​I really like making tools as it provides ongoing satisfaction each time it is used, and there is always the point that can be made to the financial controller , that a large amount of cost has already been offset in the making of tools, when an essential tool must be purchased

Rob

Regards

Originally Posted by auscab

....... I have come across the same problem in finding what I want when I need it. One solution I like was buying two of every thing ......

Actually I feel I need a directory to my work shop......

Hmmm, seems to be an epidemic, or is it just the vintage showing?

Don't think a directory would help me, I'm afraid. I'd spend even more time looking for the directory than searching for the tool, which I can't find because I was silly enough not to put it back where it lives as soon as I finished using it last time, so when I do find the directory, it will only frustrate me further.....

There is too much truth in that old joke that goes something like "I finally got my life together, and now I can't remember where I put it!"

Avagooday finding things,

I put things back here is me being tidy
See , three marking gauges , three sliding bevels there is two or three scribes in there some where.
It's more than just losing them actually, it's for when I do big jobs as well .
If making a chair, two or three sliding bevels can be handy , scribes , well there an easily misplaced tool .


Rob

thanks. and for the workbench pic. Puts my work area to shame.

… off topic, but I noticed the moulding planes… do you have any astragal profiles spare I could buy/swap ? kinda fond of them.