Sunday, November 25, 2007

19th Century Marking Gauge

This interesting marking gauge turned up in an old joiners chest. For some reason this type of marking gauge is no longer seen. At least I have not seen one like it, certainly not commercially.

The gauge is very simple to operate. you wind the fence to the distance you want from the pin (you can see the pin towards the end of the gauge), then you lock the fence with the locking nut. The locking is solid.

From the full length photo you will see that the threaded section has bowed along the flat.

This is an old gauge, but the threads are perfect, and the fence and lock work well. One disadvantage of this gauge compared to the wedging lock gauge you cannot simply knock each end to move the fence.

This style of gauge is simple to make (if you have a thread box), and deserves to make a comeback.

Peter Evans

19th Century Marking Gauge


This shows the full size. The threaded rod is 14" long, and can obviously be any length you want (within the limitations of the timber and usability.