Thread: Finding the Toyota Camry of Sliding Bevel Gauges

Bought my almost pristine Stanley #18 for $25 last year. Great unit!

Lance,

You bought the "Japanese" Shinwa gauge. They make another gauge that looks to be a copy of the Stanley that you could not find.
(I know, I know, both are technically Japanese. The one you have is a Japanese style)

This is, I believe, what most people are recommending when they offer Shinwa as an alternative:
shinwa.jpg

You can buy these in Oz from "The Woodworks"
https://www.thewoodworks.com.au/shop...-shinwa-detail

Axminster have them cheaper at about $AU35, but you pay international shipping:
Japanese Shinwa Sliding Bevel - Bevels - Squares, Bevels & Angle Measuring - Marking, Measuring & Levels - Hand Tools | Axminster Tools & Machinery

These are ROCK SOLID !

Lance,
Would you mind sharing where you bought the igaging bevel from?

Maybe Ian W can be persuaded to make a batch of his sliding bevels. They are a joy to use.

Regards,

Adam

@cjbfisher, from Amazon. Note that you need to spend $50 to get free shipping, so just leave it in your shopping cart until you have something else to get I guess.
https://www.amazon.com.au/gp/product...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

@Lappa, that's an outstanding deal. Congrats!

@RossM, it was a tight context between the two Shinwa bevels when deciding what to buy. It's good to know yours works well.

Originally Posted by taz01

Maybe Ian W can be persuaded to make a batch of his sliding bevels....

Adam, thanks for the compliment, but my gauges are just copies of the found-under-every-rock (to quote Patrick Leach) Stanley 25. They are probably a bit easier to lock solidly because of the longish arm I put on the locking lever - you can apply more torque easier than with a knurled nut. But as with any gauge of this type, you can knock them out of set if you try!

I posted a 'how to' a couple of years ago, for anyone wanting to have a go at rolling their own.

There was a longish discussion on sliding bevels a year or three back (just searchd for it, but couldn't find it) and I think the jury found in favour of the type Ross linked to above. I'm having a senior moment & cannot remember atm, who patented the mechanism (one of you young fellas who still has some random-access memory will know), but once the patent ran out, it was duly copied by lots of people. A copy was sold by Silex in Aus (who weren't actually the manufacturers, it seems) and much more latterly, Chris Vesper has taken up the standard. The locking mechanism consists of a wedge which is pushed between blade & case by the screw sticking out the bottom of the stock. It's simple & very effective, and doesn't require any great precision to manufacture, but it requires a solid metal stock, so that the wedge doesn't spread the top when the wedge is forced under the blade to lock it. I have an old Silex and it's brilliant, locks as solid as anyone could ever wish and shrugs off hard knocks like a veteran front-rower. If you are hard on your bevel gauges & need something that can take a bit of rough-&-tumble, look out for one of these, they pop up quite frequently, and sometimes even at very reasonable prices.

However, the Silex is a rather cold lump of metal that just doesn't feel friendly in my hands, so I only use it outside the shed on carpentry jobs, where robustness is the key selection criterion. In the shed, where I can be a bit more careful, I much prefer to use one of my 3 sizes of Stanley 25 knock-offs.....

Cheers,

Originally Posted by IanW

..... I think the jury found in favour of the type Ross linked to above. I'm having a senior moment & cannot remember atm, who patented the mechanism (one of you young fellas who still has some random-access memory will know), but once the patent ran out, it was duly copied by lots of people. A copy was sold by Silex in Aus (who weren't actually the manufacturers, it seems) and much more latterly, Chris Vesper has taken up the standard. The locking mechanism consists of a wedge which is pushed between blade & case by the screw sticking out the bottom of the stock. It's simple & very effective, ......

I can also remember this debate, Ian, but not where it was. Somehow I think Chris Vesper's website was involved..... including a reference to an American patent circa.1900. Do remember finding it fairly easily and then poring over it.

Memory might work better tomorrow?????

I think this is the thread you two are referring too. I know because I've read about every thread on sliding bevels in the past month

Sliding bevel

Originally Posted by IanW

A copy was sold by Silex in Aus (who weren't actually the manufacturers, it seems) and much more latterly, Chris Vesper has taken up the standard.

Someone say Silex?



Got this in a bulk lot from a deceased estate, this was one of the pieces I kept. Definitely has a heft to it like Ian mentioned and locks down really solid. Doubt I'll ever replace it.

The patent was Isaiah Robonson and Henry Fairbanks in 1873
US136714A - Improvement in carpenters bevels - Google Patents

Originally Posted by RossM

The patent was Isaiah Robonson and Henry Fairbanks in 1873
US136714A - Improvement in carpenters bevels - Google Patents

Thanks, Ross.

Just had a look on Chris Vesper's website and he says "...This design was inspired by the Isaiah J Robinson patent of 1876..."
https://www.vespertools.com.au/vesper-tools-history/

I managed to find the following patents granted to Robinson for improvements to sliding bevels:

• US104206A, 14-6-1870, Isaiah J Robinson (only),
• US136714A, 11-3-1873, Fairbanks and Robinson (as quoted by you),
• US Patent: RE8,058, 29-1-1878, Isaiah J Robinson.

The latter patent apparently addressed ambiguities in the first patent, and probably extended the patent period.

I was not able to find any reference to a patent granted in 1876 (see Vesper), but there was a Court decision in 1874 relating to "Improvement in the process of tempering the blades of squares":

• Second Circuit Case Number 153,115 of 14-7-1874.

United States Courts of Appeals Reports: Cases Adjudged in the United States ... - United States. Courts of Appeals, Samuel Appleton Blatchford - Google Books

Here are copies of Isaiah J Robinson's original 1870 patent for a sliding bevel and Chris Vesper's current version, 150 years later. Remarkably similar; a pedigree acknowledged by Vesper.

Sliding Bevel - Robinson.jpg


Sliding Bevel - Vesper.jpg