Marking Gauges

http://thewoodwhisperer.com
If you're not using marking gauges or some sort of blade to lay out your joinery, you are really missing out! I remember a conversation I had with William Ng at the William Ng School when he told me, "If you want to make good joinery, use a pencil. But if you want to make great joinery, using a knife!"
Marking gauges come in several forms but they are all fundamentally similar. They consist of a post, a moveable fence, and a blade or scratch pin. My personal preference is for blades and you can see a fairly standard traditional marking gauge to the left. So why should you use one? Keep reading.
Accuracy
When you cut with a knife, the resulting line is maybe a couple thousandths of an inch wide. Compared to a big chunky pencil line, its much easier to know when you're exactly where you need to be in reference to that line. Additionally, marking gauges have fences which allow us to be consistent when marking multiple sides of a single workpiece for dovetails and tenons.
Tearout
No doubt you are very familiar with the concept of tearout. When you cut wood across the grain, you'll inevitably notice small bits of wood tearing out at the end of the board where the fibers are unsupported. So if you actually cut that grain ahead of time with a blade and then cut right up to the line with your saw, you end up with a nice clean crisp shoulder with absolutely no tearout.
Tool Guides
If you use scribe lines, you'll have a perfect place to lay the tip of your chisel or saw blade with absolute accuracy and consistency. If you try to line up the tool with a pencil line, you will almost always end up on one side of the line or the other. There's just too much variability there. But if you have a little trough from a marking gauge or knife, you'll have a no-brainer aid for locating the tool in the proper place.

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• woodworking
• marking gauges
• marking knife

[sarshfield]

I watched one of your videos a while back in which you were using a 'marking gauge' and bought one. Thanks for that. 2 questions... Does the beveled side of the blade need to face the waste side of the cut? And, Is there a recommended length for the blade to protrude from the gauge?

[TheWoodWhisperer]

@sarshfield It is definitely a good idea to face the bevel toward the waste, as a general rule of thumb. And for the length, I think its pretty much whatever you find comfortable. Try a few settings and you'll quickly find the sweet spot.

[TheDeltaFlight]

Hey Mark, thanks for the feedback on my computer desk question. Also, when putting together the two sides/legs of a desk, should I use a 1" x 1" piece of wood and screw that into the bottom of the desk and also screw it into the inside part of the legs?(I hope I make sense) It will be to attach both pieces together.

[TheWoodWhisperer]

@TheDeltaFlight Might not be necessary but it couldn't hurt.

[rrdster]

Great video. How often do you sharpen the knife? Sharpen it like a chisel? Presumably the circle cutter is replaceable, as I can't think of a way to sharpen it.

[TheWoodWhisperer]

@rrdster I just sharpen as needed. How often just depends on how much I use it. But I can tell you it really isn't all that often at all. And yes, the companies that sell the circle gagues also sell the replacement blades.

[smfield]

Thanks, just like to have perspective.

[TheWoodWhisperer]

@smfield I don't feel there really are any major negatives. Other than the fact that you can easily erase a pencil, but you can't erase a cut line.

[abenacchio]

Great video!

[smfield]

ie., the problems with using a marking gauge or knife.