Thread: marking gauge components

Hi Labs,

If you look at page 73 of that issue, under the marking gauge heading it gives you the names of the stores they sourced the parts. It looks like J. James sell kits which contain all the parts required to make the gauge.

Cheers,

Evan

Hi Labs....
I have made a couple of guages based on the article in Aus woodsmith...I got my brass knobs from the supplier they mention in the magazine..."The Do it yourself shop". they are In QLD but do mail order

cheers
BD

Have a read of this post by Derek Cohen and you may decide to make your gauge even more unique & personal.

Or you can make a wedged gauge.





This gauge isn't mine. A regular contributor to this forum might recognise it though. The WIP saw handles in the background of the first picture might give a clue as to the gauge's true owner.

On this thread you will see details of some home made brass knobs.

This one on the right below is a brass cabinet knob soldered to a piece of 3/16" allthread brass rod. The one on the left is a stubby piece of 3/4" tapped brass rod soldered to a piece of allthread brass. Then you place the threaded portion in a portable drill and run it while shaping it on a belt sander.



Since then I jump on the lathes at work and make a half dozen of different sizes to keep me going like these.

Nice work Bob.

Hi Labs,

I was going to suggest something along similar lines to Mirboo

How comfortable are you at cutting a mortise

If you make the wedge about 6° - 10° it should hold well

Here's a good book - search for hayward

http://www.oldtoolsshop.com/storageBin/index.asp (link down now, but working a week or two ago - maybe US server outage.)

http://www.tnet.com.au/~warrigal/techn.html

Cheers,

eddie

[QUOTE=BobL;497642]
Since then I jump on the lathes at work and make a half dozen of different sizes to keep me going like these.
QUOTE]

Oi, Bob - I stared at the last pic for some time trying to figure it out. I thought it was a morticing gauge, but can see only one pin, then I thought the screw must be a 'micro-adjustor' for your fence. Is that right???

Done quite a few home-made gauges myself - I used wooden thumbscrews, which don't mark the stem too badly. Nice knurled brass sure looks more spiffy!

This was my attempt at a mortice gauge - works nicely, but now I want to make one like the old Stanley 77. However, haven't yet figured out how to make the internal travelling block. Gunnadoit project # 2,364, I think.

Cheers,

Some good ideas there. . . thanks

went into my local wood supply yard - XXXXX TIMBERS and asked about marking or mortice gauges
showed me a marking gauge - $52
I musta looked surprised. . .
the guy went "It's made of hardwood. . ." then added "that's a pure steel marking pin. . ."
Strange thing was - I actually felt EMBARRASSED making excuses about not buying it "just yet". . .
Jedo

Originally Posted by IanW

Oi, Bob - I stared at the last pic for some time trying to figure it out. I thought it was a morticing gauge, but can see only one pin, then I thought the screw must be a 'micro-adjustor' for your fence. Is that right???

Ka - Ching - correct. What I wanted to make in the first place was a twin-micro-adjustable-screw, morticing gauge - ie make the second pin and the fence microadjustable. However, I thought this would be too challenging to attempt as a first up so I thought I would have a go at a micro-adjustable-fence. It was not as easy as I thought especially as I tried to do everything at home (sans - lathe). In the end I couldn't achieve the precision of fit I wanted and used the lathe at work to make accurately centred knobs etc. The micro adjustable fence ended up working extremely well.

Originally Posted by IanW

I used wooden thumbscrews, which don't mark the stem too badly. Nice knurled brass sure looks more spiffy!

Mine have a 1.6mm brass plate with a 5 mm brass lug silver soldered onto them hidden inside the fence which prevents the brass screw driving directly into the fence which also does not mark the stem. All my gauges (actually vitrually all my tools) come completely apart for reshining of the brass bits on a buff if required. Some of them are a bit like jigsaw puzzles, I hope I remember how they come apart when the time comes to do this.

Originally Posted by IanW

This was my attempt at a mortice gauge - works nicely, but now I want to make one like the old Stanley 77. However, haven't yet figured out how to make the internal travelling block. Gunnadoit project # 2,364, I think.

Looks good, I also must get back to the twin-micro-adjustable-screw, morticing gauge - the wooden bits are all cut up and ready to go - just need to do the metal work!

Thanks for the info all,

For my first post it is terrific to have had this type of response. Thanks for the links which have given me some great ideas!

On a change of subject I was reading a previous post and one of the members asked for ideas on how to make use of small off-cut timber. Personally I couldn't think of anything better than to utilise it making marking gauges which is why I started out on this project. It doesn't require a lot and you are left with something that can service you for years to come.

Labs

Originally Posted by Jedo_03

"It's made of hardwood. . ." then added "that's a pure steel marking pin. . ."

You did well to retain your composure, Jedo - I think I would have fallen about laughing. The rediculous price is one thing, but worse, most are butt-ugly things with unfriendly square edges that cry out to be left in a drawer!

My home-mades all have pure steel pins, too. A 1.2mm nail chucked in the battery drill and spun against the grinder gives a nice even taper. Clean it up with wet'n'dry and it looks like a bought one. Some folk use old broken twist drills, but they don't really need to be that hard to mark wood successfully. I use bits of old hacksaw blades for cutting gauges - they hold a good edge!

Doing your own gauges is a good entry into the satisfying habit of making toools - they can be simple like the all-wood wedge-fixed ones or nice mixes of wood & metal like Bob's, or Major P's, and as plain or decorated as you choose. Only takes a small amount of material, and there are hundreds (thousands?) of suitable species - our hard acacias & casaurinas are beaut. Lee Valley sell 1/4" brass screws with knurled heads which would make good thumb screws. Small bits of brass plate and angle cost peanuts if you are anywhere near a supplier (but about the same price as gold, in Bunnies, I notice) and brass is dead easy to work (with a newish, sharp file).

Bob - a screw-adjustable fence is a nice touch, but it would make setting a bit slow for an impatient creature like me. Have you thought about a system like the LV gauge, where the fine adjustment is built onto the fence? It would make the travelling pin mechanism easier to incorporate.
I do like having the screw-adjusted travelling pin - for years I had the kind with a travelling pin on a strip of brass that floats in a dovetail groove & gets fixed in place when you tighten the fence screw. Getting the pin and fence in the right places simultaneously was an exercise in frustration. The screw-feed on mine turned out with zero backlash (more by good luck than good management) so I can set the mortice width (usualy from the chisel I intend to use), then jam both points into the wood where I want them to mark, run the fence up against the reference face and tighten down - voila - takes about 5 seconds.

Cheers,

Originally Posted by Labs1

Personally I couldn't think of anything better than to utilise it making marking gauges which is why I started out on this project. It doesn't require a lot and you are left with something that can service you for years to come. Labs

The people I show my stuff to are amazed that it is made basically out of firewood. Literally off my firewood pile.

thanks Ian - y'might of inspired me to try and make my own
cheers
Jedo