Marking gauges are used to mark an offset line in relation to the edge of the wood. In this article, I will go over the different uses for marking gauges, types of marking gauges, and how to use a marking gauge.
Directory
- 3 Uses for marking gauges
- Do I need a marking gauge?
- 3 Types of Marking Gauges
- Traditional marking gauges vs cutting gauges cutters
- How to draw straight lines in the wood
- How to find the center of wood using a marking gauge
3 Uses for marking gauges
As mentioned before, marking gauges are used to mark an offset line in the wood. With this, you can mark lines for joinery, to mark the thickness of the wood, and to find the center of wood.
- Mark joinery lines
- Marking lines for joinery is by far the most common use for marking gauges.
- You can get consistent and precise lines in the wood that will result in a tight-fitting joint.
- Mark line for wood thickness
- A less common use of marking gauges are to mark the wood thickness and plane the wood to the marked line.
- This is useful when using a hand planar and when you want a specific thickness in the wood.
- Find the center of the wood
- Another possible use for marking gauges is to find the center of wood. However, there are other, and often simpler, methods to achieve this.
Skip to this section to learn how to create consistent and precise line using a marking gauge.
Skip to this section to learn how to find the center of wood using a marking gauge.
Do I need a marking gauge?
Marking gauges are very useful in woodworking to mark consistent lines offset to the edge of the wood. However, marking gauges may not be needed for every type of woodworker.
Marking gauge benefits
- Mark the same line on many pieces of wood
- With marking gauges, you can lock in your settings and create the same cut on multiple pieces of wood without having to remeasure and recut.
- It makes it less likely to make an error when marking and cutting wood.
- Mark precise lines to create tight joinery
- You can make very consistent and accurate lines to create tight joinery that will be stronger.
You need a marking gauge if you…
- Creating traditional joinery
- Most forms of traditional joinery can benefit from a marking or cutting gauge of some sort.
- You can mark precise dados, mortise and tenon joints, dovetail joints, and many others with a marking gauge.
- The only joints that are not needed with a marking gauge are butt joints.
- Using hand tools like a handsaw and chisel
- It is important to create straight and accurate lines when using hand tools.
- Power tools often have a measurement, or a straight-line feature built into the saw. However, hand tools do not have that luxury
- Want precise and consistent repeatable measurements
You do not need a marking gauge if you..
- Only use pocket hole or butt joints
- Pocket hole and butt joints do not need a marking gauge to create a clean joint.
- Pocket hole and butt joints are very similar. Butt joints are when the faces of two pieces of wood are joined together with glue.
- Pocket holes are very similar, but use pocket hole screws to secure the wood.
- You need a pocket hole jig to create a pocket hole joint, but you do not need any special tools to create a butt joint.
- Only use power cutting tools
- Most power tools have a measurement or straight-line feature to create consistent straight cuts.
- You have fences and measurement dials for table and miter saws.
- You have fences for circular and jig saws that allow for straight cuts with the help of storebought or handmade jigs.
Conclusion:
As you can see, not every woodworker needs a marking gauge.
Woodworkers who do not create joinery, like woodturners and woodcarvers, then you will not need a marking gauge.
If you only use power tools for cutting or if you only create pocket hole and butt joints, then you will not need a marking gauge.
However, if you create traditional joinery and use hand tools, then you will definitely benefit from a marking gauge.
Read On
So far, we have learned the 3 uses for a marking gauge and how to determine if you need one in your workshop.
Now we will discuss the types of marking gauges, how to draw straight lines using a marking gauge, and how to find the center of wood using a marking gauge.
3 Types of Marking Gauges
There are 3 main types of marking gauges, but many variations of those types of marking gauges.
| Traditional Marking gauge | Wheel marking gauge | Cutting gauge | ||
| Price | $$ | $ | $$ | |
| Cutter | Pin shaped cutter | Wheel cutter | T-shaped cutter | |
| Cross-grain or along grain | Better along grain | Both | Better cross-grain | |
| Benefits | Pin shaped cutter allows for clean cuts along grain | Wheel cutter allows for smooth cuts that gradually get deeper with each pass | T-shaped cutter allows for easy precise chiseling | |
| Drawbacks | Pin shaped cutter does not produce as precise chiseling | T-shaped cutter may be more inaccurate with along grain cuts |
The 3 main types of marking gauges are..
- Traditional marking gauge
- Traditional marking gauges have a pin like cutting tip to mark the wood.
- Some traditional marking gauges have one pin on one side and two pins on the other. These types of marking gauges allow for precise mortise and tenon cuts.
- Traditional marking gauges produce a valley-like cut that isn’t the easiest to chisel.
- Wheel marking gauge
- Wheel marking gauges are more modern types of marking gauges that use a cutting wheel to scribe the wood.
- Cutting gauge
- Cutting marking gauges are much like traditional marking gauges, however, instead of having a pin shaped cutter, you have a triangle shaped cutter.
- Cutting gauges produce a straight cut that is easier to chisel.
Mortise marking gauge variations
Each marking gauge type has their mortise gauge counterparts. The mortise versions of traditional marking gauges and cutting gauges have one cutter/pin on one side and two cutters/pins on the other.
The mortise version of wheel marking gauges is called a dual wheel marking gauge. These gauges have two wheels instead of one.
The mortise versions allow for the user to cut tenons and mortises with the same configurations.
Mortise and dual marking gauges are beneficial because you can use them as regular marking gauges or use the dual/mortise feature.
Traditional marking gauges vs cutting gauges cutters
Traditional marking gauges have pin shaped cutters that produce a valley-like cut.
Cutting gauges have a T-shaped cutter that creates an acute angled cut.
| Traditional marking gauges cutter | Cutting gauge cutter | |
| Cutter | Pin shaped cutter | T-shaped cutter |
| Cut shape | Valley shaped cut | Acute angled cut |
| Grain direction | Cuts better along grain | Cuts better across grain |
| Chiseling use | More difficult to chisel | Easier to chisel |
Chiseling
Traditional marking gauges are not as accurate or easy to use with chiseling because you do not start out with a straight wall as a reference.
Cutting gauges are easier to chisel because the chisel can follow the wall from the start.
Straight grain
Traditional marking gauges do better cuts straight grain, or along the grain.
Cutting gauges are more likely to catch the grain and veer off, thus creating an uneven line.
To prevent the blade from veering off, you can cut in small passes, increasing each pass as you move along.
How to draw straight lines in the wood
There are 3 ways to draw straight lines in the wood. You can draw a straight line in wood by using a ruler, a square, or a marking gauge.
The ruler method is pretty straight forward, so I will explain the combination square and marking gauge methods to creating straight lines.
Draw a straight line using a combination square
- Place face of combination square along wood edge
- Trace the line
You can create a straight, right angle, line using a combination square by placing the face, or anvil, along the edge of the wood.
You can create a 45-degree angle line the same way, but by placing the shoulder along the edge of the wood.
Draw a straight line using a marking gauge
- Loosen the screw
- First, you need to loosen the marking gauge screw to allow the fence to move along the pin.
- Place the cutter at the desired location
- Place the cutter along the line of the wood or at the desired location
- Level the pin
- Level the pin. The pin should not be resting on the wood since the cutter protrudes the pin.
- Push the fence against the wood
- Push the marking gauge fence along the edge of the wood.
- Wheel gauges have micro-adjusters to get a more precise depth
- Tighten the screw
- Score lightly
- In a pushing or pulling direction, score the wood very lightly to get an initial cut that doesn’t veer away from the line.
- Keep on scoring pushing slightly harder with each pass
- Note:
- Scoring in a pulling direction may be easier to control, but there is an increased risk of you cutting yourself.
- Scoring in a pulling direction is harder to control but you are less likely to cut yourself.
- Scoring lightly is essential when scoring along the wood grain, because the wheel or pin can easily lose track.
Bonus:
For straight grain cuts, start in small increments and increase the stroke with each pass. This will prevent the blade from veering off-course.
How to find the center of wood using a marking gauge
Another use for marking gauges is to find the center of wood.
- Mark line close to the wood center
- Keeping the same adjustments, do it to the other side
- If there is a gap, mark closer to the center
Conclusion
In this article, we learned how what a marking gauge is and the uses for marking gauges.
You can use marking gauges to create joinery, mark wood thickness, and to find the center of wood.
Additionally, we went over the 3 main types of marking gauges, the traditional marking gauge, wheel marking gauge, and cutting gauge. We then went over the differences and pros and cons for each.
We went over the mortise/dual marking gauge version for each type of marking gauge and its pros and cons.
Afterwards, we learned how to draw straight lines in wood and how to find the center of the wood using a marking gauge.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read this article and I wish you luck on your woodworking journeys!
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