Marking gauge in Maple

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BillK
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Marking gauge in Maple

Post by BillK »

Saw a YouTube maker making some marking gauges out of wood blobs and I thought that’s something that I can make a nice looking gauge out of.

There is a company called Taylor Toolworks (taytools.com) where I purchased a marking gauge a few years ago. This is the wheel type of cutter with a brass head. Now they are selling a great kit at https://taytools.com/collections/tools- ... humb-screw that includes everything you need plus extra parts.

So my design was to fit my large hand and so I could hold the gauge in more than 2 or 3 fingers. I always liked drawing mechanical type parts with some respect to old style tools. So this is what I came up with in Aspire. Got a nice chunk of two tone maple, hand planed the back flat, ran my tap files. Lapped the back nice and flat on my granite plate. Then I added the hole and countersink on top with a beveled lead in for the threaded inset that the brass screw goes in.

Got a little bit of green flecks that showed up in the web in the light wood. Thought maybe it was some fresh spalt mold so I thought WWSD? (What would Scott Do) got out the Clorox and applied a little with a q-tip. Tried it twice, didn’t really improve much, so its there.

Really nice to use this. The large face area keeps great contact with the wood to be marked. Great control with my whole hand engaged and feels great in the hand. I’ll use this when laying out dovetails or mortise and tenons.

Thanks for looking!
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BillK
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Holzarbeiter
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Re: Marking gauge in Maple

Post by Holzarbeiter »

What a great project, Bill! And very nicely made.
Thanks for the link info...you have me thinking.
Joe

I have a chip on my shoulder....several more in my hair and lots more all over my shop floor.

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Re: Marking gauge in Maple

Post by wood_fly »

That is extraordinarily cool. Nice job!

BillK
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Re: Marking gauge in Maple

Post by BillK »

Thank you both. Fun build for sure. Their instructions and what to watch out for are really good. Nothing dresses up a wood tool like a beautiful brass knob.
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Re: Marking gauge in Maple

Post by Tailmaker »

Great tool! I like that.
Are you sure this is maple? Looks like the pieces I cut from a mulberry tree with the distinct heart/sapwood boundary and the fine medullary rays. But fabulous wood anyway :D
But if it is mulberry the green spots are not likely to be spalting. I forgot a bunch of turning blanks sitting on the wet ground for years and they did not decay. No fungus, no termites.
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BillK
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Re: Marking gauge in Maple

Post by BillK »

Feel it’s definitely maple. Here’s another shot of another smaller gauge I was making from the same chunk of wood. Just missed that bark inclusion.
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Re: Marking gauge in Maple

Post by Tailmaker »

BillK wrote:
Wed Dec 16, 2020 4:16 am
Feel it’s definitely maple. Here’s another shot of another smaller gauge I was making from the same chunk of wood. Just missed that bark inclusion.
Agree, that does look like maple....
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scottp55
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Re: Marking gauge in Maple

Post by scottp55 »

Beautiful Heirloom tool Bill!!
Looks like it fits Very comfortably in your hands!

(WWSD :) He'd probably muck it up!) :)
DID try to tone down a black spalt line once in Sugar Maple Sleeping Angel.
Household bleach didn't do it...so made a couple Xacto slices into it...
QTipped a little peroxide into razor cuts....then turned on fan and Qtipped it with bleach...
Did get a little bit of black off with QTips while it foamed....
but not really worth the trouble for the color change.
(and bleach usually softens wood)

Green spots are weird, but unless you stick it under a grow-light.....
think it will change into the similarly shaped brown/tan spots in that spot?

NICELY done!!
scott
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Re: Marking gauge in Maple

Post by Savannahdan »

Really looks nice and they are very useful. The green could be mineral stains/deposits.

BillK
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Re: Marking gauge in Maple

Post by BillK »

Thank you for the kind comments. I guess the green spots will be something to look at for a few years to see what they do. The gauge scribes very true, the cutting wheel is very easy to sharpen.It really has that fine tool feel.
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Re: Marking gauge in Maple

Post by KNOT ON WOOD »

Very nicely done. Not only beautiful but usefull.
Michael(Mickey) McCollor

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BillK
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Re: Marking gauge in Maple

Post by BillK »

Thanks. After 7 months of use, I find this gauge is my “go to”. Probably because it was made to fit my hand. Also holds the position solidly. Thinking of making a double rod style for marking mortices in the fall. Highly recommend the kit for this style gauge.
BillK
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