Est. 1998 — 27 years of woodworking knowledge
Want to repair a mortising gauge
Jeremy Osner
>Hi all, I've got a marking/mortising gauge that I bought a few years back from Garrett Wade. I normally just use the marking side, i.e. the single point. Today I wanted to use the mortising side and I realized there is a problem -- the second point, the adjustable one, is only about half as long as the fixed point. So when I try and mark a board, only the fixed point cuts. What should I do about this? -- file down the fixed point til they are even?
Re: Want to repair a mortising gauge
Bill Houghton, Sebastopol, CA
>If the points aren't easy to move/remove, that seems like your only choice, unless you want to test Garrett Wade's customer service (which is actually the approach I'd try first).
Re: Want to repair a mortising gauge
Jeremy Osner
>Actually this gauge was the floor model of a line that they were discontinuing and was given to me gratis, so I hesitate to brave the waters of customer service. Reckon I will take a file to it as I do not see any way of taking it apart.
Re: tricks
paul womack
>It's very difficult to file the points of a gauge without cutting into the body parts.
If you've seen old gauges you'll know this is true; they're often quite extensively marked.
In order to minimise damage use a safe edge file. If the store doesn't have the size/shape/cut of safe edge file you need, just buy a normal file and render the relevant edges/faces safe by grinding off the undesired teeth.
Then make a filing shield. Since the points are quote small, this is just a sheet of metal (perhaps a piece of drink can) with a hole for the point. This will reduce the damage of a stray stroke, but you try not make stray strokes.
File carefully, and check often - otherwise it'll go like levelling a table by sawing off a bit of leg...
BugBear
Re: tricks
Jeremy Osner
>... cutting into the body parts.
... sawing off a bit of leg...
Please Paul, I'm tryin to do surgery on my tools not myself... :^)