Making a Marking Gauge

Or more accurately, making part of a marking gauge.

After my false start on making a marking gauge I cleaned up, cleared my head and started again.

First I made the beam out of a piece of figured maple.  And I gave it a few coats of oil.  I’m not planning on bleeding on this piece, but it can’t hurt to take some precautions.

I also planed up a piece of Walnut scrap I had for the sliding stop.  That went really well, what a great confidence builder.  Then I laid out the mortise for the Maple beam to fit.  While I was planing the Walnut my new Glen-Drake Tite-Mark arrived, so I put it right to use.  The cutter on it is great, it makes nice, crisp lines.  I’ll have to post a review once I get some more seat time with it, but I can tell I’m going to love it.

I bored a hole using a 5/8″ auger bit in my brace (the beam is 3/4″ thick) and carefully chopped out the waste.  I don’t have a mortice chisel (yet) so I took little bites and snuck up on the scribe lines.  Success!  It’s not perfect, but it’s snug and doesn’t wiggle.

I’m still thinking about how I want to make the cutter, I’ll finish this off when I get some more shop time.

(note that not only are there no unsightly gaps, there aren’t any embarrassing drops of blood either)