Marking knives for joinery

These are some the knives I have collected over the years and use for laying out joinery. Obviously not all at the same time :)


Three popular knives - these ones get a lot of use. From the top down ... Swann-Morton fixed blade, Stanley swivel blade, and a Swann-Morton craft knife which was my grandfather's. This one is about 60 years old (except for the screw). They all use disposable blades (which are easy to resharpen, which I do) ...


https://i.postimg.cc/W1hjhYSn/Knife2a.jpg


These ones are a little more up market. All made by Chris Vesper. The top two are heavy duty knives, one in Tasmanian Blackwood and the other in 10000 year-old Black Red Gum. The lower two are dovetail knives, designed (by myself) for marking dovetails. The lower one has an extra thin blade for the slimmest dovetails. These knives are the ones I tend to use when dovetailing ...


https://i.postimg.cc/6QZXh7k4/Knife5a.jpg


The last three here are Japanese kiridashi. The top is one I handled. The middle one is the one I prefer and use mostly. The lower one is used for reaching into small areas. The advantage of the unhandled kiridashi is that they can more easily register on the backs of the blades ...


https://i.postimg.cc/dVpFdRxK/Knife3a.jpg


Regards from Perth


Derek

Hi Derek. I was particularly inspired by your article on your website about making marking knives from jigsaw blades and have been using a pair, to much effect and with even more self satsfaction, that I plagarised without shame. Thanks for all your content and the effort you obviously put into documenting your journey.

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Originally Posted by Mountain Ash

Hi Derek. I was particularly inspired by your article on your website about making marking knives from jigsaw blades and have been using a pair, to much effect and with even more self satsfaction, that I plagarised without shame. Thanks for all your content and the effort you obviously put into documenting your journey.

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Power hacksaw blades make very good knife blades.

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Originally Posted by Chris Parks

Power hacksaw blades make very good knife blades.

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Chris, it very much depends on what you want to use the knife to do.

Marking pins from skinny tails with a knife requires a thin blade. Some of the dovetails I make, with a pointy end, require the thinnest possible blade. A power hacksaw blade is not suitable for this purpose, but make good general purpose knives. The best blades for a skinny knife are HSS jigsaw blades as you can grind them without concern for heat affecting the temper of the steel.

That red handled Swann-Morton is a great general purpose knife. It is double bevelled, but it does not take long to adjust to this.

Regards from Perth

Derek

I recently purchased the Stanley 10-958 and love it. I also have a more robust HSS spear point knife for rougher stuff.

I think you have officially moved into collector status :)

That is a nice set of knives.