Marking Gauge

[RedShirtGuy]

A recent issue of Australian Woodsmith had the basic plans for this marking gauge. I did mine differently by laminating the handle together with the blade hole pre-cut for the wedge and used a dirty great big chunk of 1/4" brass instead of a thin strip. I also added a wooden head to the bolt (instead of purchasing the recommended fancy bolt) by laminating the three layers together so they fit tightly on the original bolt head after I squared up the sides for some better grip.

The pale timber is self-milled yellow box (I think) and specifically taken from just under the sap wood where it has a really crazy grain pattern. It comes straight off the saw blade feeling like glass and I love the stuff. The dark stuff is just redgum from an old fence post.

After sanding to 1200, each piece has copped a couple of coats of Danish oil and when that's dry it will get some wax to finish it off.

I may have to remake the fence as it started cracking on the back and one side after I had done the shaping to it. I love the face of it so much that I just filled the cracks with super glue until they stopped growing in the hope that it will still be fine to use. There is also a brass shim on one side inside the fence as the handle had some wiggle even when screwed down.

I love this thing and the cruddy phone pictures don't do it justice. It feels like silk to hold and it's almost a shame to use it, but then what was the point of making it :)

[Geekgirl]

Very Nice, I agree about the being to go to use ;)

I may have to go to the newsagent to check out the woodworking mags :)

Kat.

[lightwood]

A recent issue of Australian Woodsmith had the basic plans for this marking gauge. I did mine differently by laminating the handle together with the blade hole pre-cut for the wedge and used a dirty great big chunk of 1/4" brass instead of a thin strip. I also added a wooden head to the bolt (instead of purchasing the recommended fancy bolt) by laminating the three layers together so they fit tightly on the original bolt head after I squared up the sides for some better grip.

The pale timber is self-milled yellow box (I think) and specifically taken from just under the sap wood where it has a really crazy grain pattern. It comes straight off the saw blade feeling like glass and I love the stuff. The dark stuff is just redgum from an old fence post.

After sanding to 1200, each piece has copped a couple of coats of Danish oil and when that's dry it will get some wax to finish it off.

I may have to remake the fence as it started cracking on the back and one side after I had done the shaping to it. I love the face of it so much that I just filled the cracks with super glue until they stopped growing in the hope that it will still be fine to use. There is also a brass shim on one side inside the fence as the handle had some wiggle even when screwed down.

I love this thing and the cruddy phone pictures don't do it justice. It feels like silk to hold and it's almost a shame to use it, but then what was the point of making it :)
RSG,
That is a nifty idea for the head of the screw...might store that way for future use.
It's a joy to use tools of your own making, and that one looks pretty sweet.

Regards,
Peter

[IanW]

Yep, +1...

Be careful, though, making tools is the most slippery slope of all - DAMKIK!

If you have any of that Box left, you'll need a pencil gauge, & maybe even further down the track, a mortise gauge, so you're far from done, yet. :U

Getting the hole for the beam square & snug is always a challenge in hard woods like you used, but if you take it nice & steady & sneak up on it, you can get it pretty close. Or, next time you could try halving the fence piece, pre-cutting the hole & laminating back together with a piece of brass or contrasting strip, so it looks like you meant it that way...

Cheers,

[RedShirtGuy]

If you have any of that Box left...

There is stacks of it left...unfortunately still in downed tree form. The remaining full trunk is about 3m long and about 800mm average diameter the whole length and it's so hard that it's a major effort to slab it out so I've been pretty slack on getting it done.

If I can get a hold of a suitable piece of hollow brass I'm going to frankenstein a mechanical pencil to suit this gauge. I've also thought of doing the fence in a couple of pieces like you suggest to get the hole spot on without having to shim it and so it's a bit easier to do some fancy brassing to it.

I ended up laminating the handle (redgum centre) because the box was slaughtering my 6mm chisel when I was trying to knock out the angle for the wedge. The chisel was razor sharp and the timber didn't just make it go blunt...it would bend the whole edge over!! Still, it's gorgeous to have if I can get stable feature pieces.

[Christos]

I like what you have made. :2tsup:

[Mr Brush]

Nicely done :2tsup: