Handy tools #12: Fixed 3/8" marking gauge

Nice, Dave!

-- Chuck, Pullman, WA

Thanks, Chuck. Sometimes it’s the simplest things that make life easier…

-- Dave - Santa Fe

Nice build, now for the big question: how will you sharpen the tip of the pin?, or won’t you?

Reason I ask, I use similar marking gauges that I secured from various places, and I’m never completely satisfied with the results, my scribed lines always seem to either follow the grain on the sides of boards, or jump all over the place on end grain.

I’ve done a little research on this, seems to be as many opinions as there are google finds. I took one of my old marking gauges & adapted it to hold a sharp knife, like an X-acto blade. but trial & error indicates it should only be used across the grain where it works better than a round pin that splinters a board when going across the grain.

So I ask, what is your preferred marking gauge point?

-- "I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The point is to bring them the real facts." - Abraham Lincoln

Thanks, Tom.

For now, the tip of the nail is plenty sharp. It’s a 1d brad (or equivalent) so 3/4 inch long. No modifications from the factory point on the nail yet.

There’s enough sticking out of the wood that I’ll be able to clamp it with a needle-nose vise grips and file the end sharp if I need to. I figure I might have to sharpen it a time or two before I screw up and bend the nail or lose it behind my workbench. But I don’t expect it to get dull very fast since I’m using it on pine. Pretty soft stuff.

The pin wants to follow the grain sometimes when I’m marking the rabbets long edge, but I generally solve that by turning around and marking from the other direction, and that gets good enough. Since I darken that line with a pencil and then cut with a circular saw, a little wander isn’t the end of the world.

As for what I prefer, the round discs that are on my fancy marking gauges seem to be the best for all-around marking. Next is a pin. And when marking end-grain for dovetails, I will either use a spear-point marking knife or a pencil. For my pine bookcases, I’m marking all the dovetails with a pencil, and getting reasonably good results.

-- Dave - Santa Fe

Simple, functional and does the job well, can’t ask for more than that!

-- Lifes good, Enjoy each new day...... Cheers from "On Top DownUnder" Crowie

Thanks, Peter!

-- Dave - Santa Fe

Less is plenty!
Best thoughts,
Mads

-- MAD F, the fanatical rhykenologist and vintage architect.

Thanks, Mads! It’s looking like I may need to replace the brad every hundred lines or so. It’s starting to bend a little. Perhaps I should’ve used steel rather than brass.

-- Dave - Santa Fe

Yes a hardened steel nail is preferable.
You can buy a picture hook for concrete, these white plastic once, they usually have three extremely hard nails.

-- MAD F, the fanatical rhykenologist and vintage architect.

Agreed, but perhaps I’ll make another with a thicker turning and a small piece of old file ground to a sharp point instead. Tom got me thinking about what point I prefer, and while the nail is working well, I may want to try a knife-point marking gauge at some point. Perhaps this one will keep working until that time.

-- Dave - Santa Fe

The two types are working different and makes different results.
The knife pint, cuts and leave a sharp line, good for dovetails and so on.
The nails, tear and makes a groove, so these are fine for resawing, or where you want a visual line.
I use both types, but a wheel version is my favourite for the sharp edges.

-- MAD F, the fanatical rhykenologist and vintage architect.