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Thread: A dovetail marker...
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27th November 2012, 09:59 PM #1
A dovetail marker...
For more years than I can remember, I've used this simple & relatively crude dovetail marker, It has the two angles I use almost exclusively, and is a very convenient size for laying out medium to small components.
Original marker2.jpg
Now this gadget is perfectly adequate, and I would quite happily use it for the rest of my life. A few years ago, I made some markers out of brass angle, but despite the convenience of being able to mark the tail & the square line in one go, they just aren't as intuitive to me as my old faithful clunker.
Brass DT gauges.jpg
For some time, I have been working away on a set of Ringed-Gidgee tools, all made from the one block of RG I bought a few years ago. The stuff isn't given away, & I'm an economical old bloke (aka mean!), so I wanted to use every last scrap of the stuff. There were a couple of trimmings that were so small I couldn't think what to do with them, until I realised I could make a matching dovetail marker with them. But it needed to be a bit more blingy than my old friend, if it was to keep company with the rest of the wood from the block. So after some thought, I decided to put the blade in the centre of the stock, and inlay a couple of brass wear strips in each face.
As it happened, I had a length of 1/16" x 3/4" brass for the blade, and I reckone that thickness was about right for the strips as well. I also had a 1/16" router bit, which I have used very sparingly for inlay strips, but only in relatively soft woods. I was a bit dubious about how the tool-steel bit would stand up in hard wood, so took a gentle practice run in some she-oak. Within about 50mm the bit stopped cutting, and this is why:
Busted bit.jpg
I guess it overheated, despite what I thought was a light cut, and softened and pffft, no more 1/16th part. Originally, it looked like the 1/8" bit beside it, so you can se it was always a flimsy piece of engineering. So it was a choice of going out & trying to find a carbide bit, or going back to good old hand tools. A quick rummage in the scraper drawer, and I had a stock and some scraper steel to make a scratch stock.
Scratch stock.jpg
I had assembled a couple of bits of She-oak for prototyping, and my scratch-stock cut a pretty good groove in a very short time.
Stock grooved.jpg
So I went ahead and finished the she-oak version to iron out any bugs. That was a good move, as it turned out. Plan A was to make the grooves tight enough to hold the brass without glue, but I split one a bit when hammering in the strip, so decided in future to make them just a good press fit & use epoxy to secure them.
The She-oak version turned out ok, a couple of minor imperfections, but acceptable,and certainly more glamorous than its predecessor. I turned a retaining bolt with a very long "head" which goes right through the top piece of wood and butts against the blade, holding it firmly in place. The blade is adjustable over a very small raange, just enough to get the blade symmetrical.
New marker.jpg
And I'm even happier with the RG version. Besides getting the strips neater, I made the retaining bolt tighter, so it doesn't need a slot, just a split nut on the other end. :
Ring Gidgee marker.jpg
So all's well as ends well, & I've now pushed the boundary of how small a scrap of precious wood is useable......
Cheers,IW
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28th November 2012, 09:55 AM #2
A dovetail marker...
I reckon you could sell one and shout yourself a new lump of wood to play with. Looks absolutely tops, Ian.
...i have to say I always like it when a piece of wood beats a power tool. Gidgee 1 : Router 0...I'll just make the other bits smaller.
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28th November 2012, 11:32 AM #3
In fairness, Matt, I think we ought to say Router +/- and router-bit -1.
I'm not allowed to buy any more wood 'til the current pile is reduced to something that will fit in a wheelbarrow.
Fortunately, LOML doesn't go under the house (snakes & spiders lurk there!) so I could sneak the odd bit past the front window as long as it's small.....
Cheers,IW
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28th November 2012, 12:27 PM #4
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28th November 2012, 06:02 PM #5
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28th November 2012, 08:29 PM #6furn maker
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Dovetail marker
Brilliant
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1st December 2012, 11:52 PM #7Member
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Good evening Ian,
They look much better than my Veritas saddle markers
Best regards.
...behai.
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2nd December 2012, 05:30 PM #8
A dovetail marker...
That's a pretty darn useful tool there Ian.
Well done.
Kev
PS I'm looking forward to a few pics of the complete set of RG tools. I think we have made reference to it a few times over the last few years.
My little stock is almost dry enough now. I just need to finish ...a few other projects.
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2nd December 2012, 08:28 PM #9
Hi Kev - ok, as a matter of fact, I have just this week completed the ring-Gidgee set I started some time ago - just posted some pics....
Cheers,IW
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