Marking Gauges

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what is a marking gauge?

 

When working with wood using hand tools, the marking gauge is one of the most important tools for marking out. Almost all wood joints are made with one or more cuts at a predetermined distance from a face or edge of the workpiece. To mark these cuts parallel to an edge, the carpenter and joiner reaches for the marking gauge.

what are the components of a marking gauge?


The marking tool consists of a fence and a tongue that can be moved in the fence. A steel pin, needle or blade is attached to the tongue, which is used to scribe a line. On some models you can also insert a pencil. The tongue is pushed into the fence and locked in place until a mark is made at the desired distance from and parallel to the edge of the workpiece. For many joints - e.g. grooves, slot & tenon - two parallel walls are cut. In this case, it is advisable to scribe with a double or tenon marking gauge, where two cracks are marked simultaneously at a predetermined distance from each other and from the workpiece edge. This speeds up the scribing process and gives consistent results.

The distance from the workpiece edge at which scribing can take place is determined by the length of the tongue. For very large workpieces, it may be necessary to use other aids (such as a chalk line) to mark parallel to the edge of the workpiece.