Marking Gauge

Re: Marking Gauge

Jeremy Osner

>Steve -- one that would mark two lines is a mortise gauge, not necessary for marking dovetails. I like the Veritas gauge a lot and have used it every time I have cut dovetails though lately I have been preferring to use a pin gauge and may well use it on my next dovetail project.

Re: Marking Gauge

Sean Evoy

>I haven't used the new Veritas guage, but I really like my Tite-mark. It was pricey, but worth it.

Why?

Scott in Douglassville, PA

>I've got a pin gauge, and have been pondering getting the Veritas micro-adjust. Now I'm curious why you're preferring the pin gauge lately...

Scott

Re: Marking Gauge *LINK*

Ed in Arizona

>Steve, I have the veratis old version marking guage. works great! I would think the newer version with the micro adjust is even better..As far as mortising guage is concerned I have a wooden crown mortise guage with the pins ( i have never been impressed with it as the pins follow the grain of the wood to much and the brass screw when tightened, the slide will creep

Just recently I got the Japanese version mortise guage (see link) and I really like the ease of adjustmant and larger fence, plus this guage is using 2 knife edges instead of pins AND you can just use it with one blade only as well..


http://japanwoodworker.com/product.asp?s=JapanWoodworker&pf_id=15.260.2&dept_id=11693

Re: Marking Gauge

Ernie Miller Topeka

>I have the old modle and use it alot I like it very much. I got it as a present from a ponder last Christmas. It dosent have the graduated marks on it and think you would be much happier if you get one with them. My next favorite is an Goodall Pratt just like it but it is octagon in shape and dosent roll on the bench. You will be happy.

Re: Why?

Jeremy Osner

>I'm not sure why -- something about the motion of pushing it to make a mark feels a little more comfortable to me. I have not done any kind of side-by-side comparison, this is a purely subjective impression and I may go back to circular gauges in the future.

Re: Marking Gauge

Roger Nixon

>For cross grain work I prefer a pin type gauge over the circular cutter ones. I like the circular ones for marking with the grain.

There is a lot of personal perference with gauges. I don't care for micro-adjust features on a gauge at all but there are probably as many or more people who do.

Re: Marking Gauge

George Makowski

>Steve, Since this is the "Quiet" and I might add quirky side, I have to put a word in for the basic solution to obtaining a marking gauge--make one. Making a simple marking gauge is an interesting project involving mortice work. Use a shallow angle wedge to secure the beam in the stock. A nail set in a hole at the end of the beam and filed to your prefered shape makes a good marking point.

Good luck!

George in AL

Re: Marking Gauge

John in NY

>I've always used a cutting guage for cross grain work, such as marking dovetails, and find the Crown rosewood guage to be great, but it did need the cutter reshaping and turning the right way around when I bought it...

Re: Marking Gauge *LINK*

Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX

>What am I missing here? You don't need a marking gauge for dovetails, a marking knife will do all you need. In fact, I'd think a marking gauge would get in the way.

Pam


LV Striking Knife

Re: Question on your Japanese Mortise Gauge

William R. Duffield, on the Cohansey

>The gauge for which you provide the link has one thumb screw to hold two knives in place. It seems to me that this would be a major disadvantage, because every time you have to adjust the fence, the spacing between the knives, which needs to be set exactly to the width of your mortise chisel, gets out of adjustment. I think the spacing between the knives should be a "set and forget" adjustment. Even better would be to have a separate mortise gauge set up for every one of your commonly used mortise chisels. Is there something I am missing that allows you to work around this problem?

Re: Marking Gauge

William R. Duffield, on the Cohansey

>IMHO, cutting gauges are for tenon cheeks, but are inappropriate for dovetails, because, especially in fine work, they have a strong tendency to cut too deeply, thus weakening the pins and the tails. This consideration is critical with "single entry" tails, like those shown in Rob's student's pictures in another post, in which the pins have marginally enough strength to begin with. And, if you follow the Krenovian school, where the dovetailing makes an artisitic statement, as well as being functional, the deep cut made by a cutting gauge is almost impossible to plane away later.

Re: Marking Gauge

Ed in Arizona

>not a need - a preferance? I like to use the marking guage to make the depth line for making the dovetails (I make them first) I suppose you can use a knife or pencil with a square but I like it this way.

Good question...

Ed in Arizona

>Something I haven't thought about till you asked...Since I just recieved this tool this week, I have only tried it out on a scrap piece of Mahogony..I can say that both of the knifes slide easily together or apart and when I tightened the thumb screw it felt like they stayed put where i set it..I think first you set the two knifes apart to the distance you want, then holding the two together you can slide them out from the fence.

Re: Marking Gauge

Jim in Burlington Ontario

>You do need a marking knife but that one does not work for small dovetails like the one posted above by Rob Cosman. A good pocket knife that's not to sharp works better it actually doesn't cut in and follow the grain. As for a marking gauge I bought the old LV one and the titemark and took the LV one back because the cutter was dull and wouldn't cut hardwood. The round cutter actually cuts the cross grain so there is no blowout on the corners and a good sharp place to put your chisel for the final cut. When you take the Rob Cosman dovetail course he has you plane the lines away when your done. He makes it look simple but after 10,000 I hope to have it mastered also(with luck)

What I did to solve this problem

GolfSteve in Calgary

>To overcome this problem, I added a small bolt that ties the two metal knives together. The bolt is located at the far end of the knives. The bolt head is recessed into the bottom knife. The upper knife has a 1/2" long slot cut into it. I used a butterfly nut for ease of adjustment.

Without removing the bolt, I can adjust the knifes for a 1/4" up to a 1/2" mortising chisel.

With this slight modification, I can move the fence without changing the relative distance between the knives.

found basically the same thing

John Truxell-Svenson (jvs)

>I bought both of the JW mortise gauges; wanted something different from my old pin gauge, and was tempted by a link Pam or Wiley put up to Hiraide a few months back. That was to some beautiful stuff, but I wasn't quite wiling to cough up the $$; even the knives alone make Tite-Marks look cheap.

Not perfect, but they both work pretty well. Once the cut is measured, it's not too hard to hold the knives in relative place while sliding the bottom one to adjust the offset. You have to be careful, but it can be done, and once the are screwed tight, the lock in that position is positive. Never needed more than two for a particular project to be set at the same time, so spending a few minutes adjusting them and then locking things down until done works fine.

Still looking for the perfect mortise gauge, though. The Tite-Mark or Hiraide's gauge may be it, but the JW's work well enough to push another purchase down the list for now.




/jvs

Re: Marking Gauge

sroxberg

>Well, now I'm confused, but lots of great information. I'll have more money in hand cutting these things before I know it.

Thanks again for all the suggestions.

Same here...

Ted Owen, Pittsburgh

>but I also like to file my pins to a canted knife shape, such that they draw the gauge body against the workpiece during the stroke. I remember someone (William, maybe?) saying he specifically does NOT like to file the pins.

FWIW, I also find myself marking less and less on dovetails, and just cutting away.

Best, Ted

Re: Marking Gauge

Ted Owen, Pittsburgh

>I've read that the visible line on the drawer side is a value-adding sign of handcut dovetails. But I don't like the line, myself. So I mark only where the chopping occurs--at least I try to mark only there.

Best, Ted

Tite-Mark! *LINK*

Harold Blair - Traditional Craftsman

>Checkout the Tite-mark. I have used a number of different gauges over the years and this one is by far the best.


Tite-Mark Marking Gauge

Re: Marking Gauge

William R. Duffield, on the Cohansey

>There's another way to make sure they are recognized as hand cut, especially since I've heard of weasels going back and scoring their machine-cut tails, and weasels² who apply dovetail inlay banding to nailed drawers. Oh, the horror! Just make sure the outside ends of the spaces between your tails are a little narrower than the minimum diameter of a shank on a dovetail router bit. You don't have to make them narrow enough to be classified "single-entry" if you are worried about a drawer or a carcase that will get a lot of stess.

Re: Marking Gauge

Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX

>Granted that a marking gauge of some sort is better for marking the base line; but I'd say it's counter productive for marking the pins from the tails or vice versa.

Pam

Re: base lines

Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX

>Oh, yes, and what's the point to planing away the base lines? I only mark the insides of the boards, which are pretty well hidden by the joint.

Pam