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Thread: Marking gauge cutter material?

  1. #1
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    Marking gauge cutter material?

    I'm thinking about making a small panel gauge. Around 16" capacity works for my needs and I'm going to probably go with a triangular bean and a wedge to lock it in place. I want a knife style cutter. A wheel shape or a flat cutter would work equally well in my mind. I'd really like a thin cutter with a slot in the middle. I could mount it in the end with a screw and have a bit of depth adjustment.

    However I'm open to any ideas on what to use and how to attach a knife cutter to my panel gauge.
    -- Dan Rode

    "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit." - Aristotle

  2. #2
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    Hi Dan

    A shallow mortice to prevent any twisting, and a machine screw tapped into the hardwood beam ...





    The blade is from a Veritas beader blank - ground and sharpened. Try it with a pointed and a rounded end. You will prefer one.

    Regards from Perth

    Derek

  3. #3
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    Thanks Derek! The size, shape and slot are perfect for what I had in mind. Just sharpen it up and I'd be ready to go. I always want to order from LV, but the shipping is often more than the items. In this case several times more

    Maybe I can find something similar elsewhere.

    BTW - Your gauge is gorgeous. Anything you'd do different after living with it for a while?
    -- Dan Rode

    "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit." - Aristotle

  4. #4
    I think you could use a piece of an old jigsaw blade, or perhaps a section of an old hacksaw blade, or a piece of scraper or crapped out saw plate. I don't think it takes anything all that special.

  5. #5
    Dan,
    If you want a slotted cutter, I would get one from Hamilton:

    http://www.hamiltontools.com/categor...acement-Blade/

    Old jointer knives, plane irons, jigsaw blades all make good marking gauge/marking knife cutters, but not if you want a slot.

  6. #6
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    you could make a slot in a jig saw blade or the like with a cutoff wheel in a dremel tool or even a regular angle grinder if you're careful. I don't know how well it would file, but you can get cheep diamond files which is theory should do it. I also plan on make some like this but I will leave the blade a bit longer for easy honing.

    if using a softer steel like a beading blank or a scraper steel, filing a slot would be easy.
    Last edited by Matthew N. Masail; 04-20-2014 at 6:30 PM.

  7. #7
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    Why wouldn't you just pop an Xacto knife blade in there? They come in all sorts of shapes, they have a slot that could be used with a screw.

  8. #8
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    Hi Daniel

    What would I do differently? Keep in mind that this is a cutting gauge not a panel gauge. The head of a panel gauge typically has a rebate to rest and guide it at a distance. This would require more area under the beam. This cutting cutting could do with more area there as well. It works well as there is a wider-than-typical fence for stability, but this might improve it.

    The blade can be made out of any scrap steel that you can harden. An open slot is easier to form than a closed slot (a Dremel works for me). I had on hand a bead blank. I would not use an Exacto blade, or similar, since they are double beveled (front and back), and you want to grind a single bevel. If you use an Exacto blade you will need to re-grind it.

    One of the reasons for this particular design is that I use fit the LN inlay blades for stringing ...



    Regards from Perth

    Derek

  9. #9
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    http://www.lionop.com/nt-cutters-and...ter-bc501p.asp

    Most fabric or craft stores carry something like these.

  10. #10
    I use jigsaw blades with the teeth ground off. I make a 1/4" tapered hole and a tapered wedge to hold the cutter. I think it is important to use a cutter that you can sharpen. If you cannot make it you probably can't sharpen it.

  11. #11
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    I'm buying a 10pack of no. 40 scalpel Blades to try out. these are high carbon steel and seem the have a good profile, though there is enough metal to make a rounded edge if one wishes.
    I think the thin about 0.4mm blade might be nicer than a jigsaw blade, but we'll see.
    http://www.scalpelsandblades.co.uk/b...ct-no-0240.php

    seems to me if I want to make many gauges such as dedicated ones for a given size mortice chisel, it makes sense to have blades that need none or only minimal effort to prepare.

  12. #12
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    A hacksaw blade is not very hard steel,but it would be good enough to make a cutter like you desire. It has some temper to it,but is still soft enough that you can file it to shape. A cutter like this is not going to see hard use just scribing lines occasionally.

    If you use harder steel,like a jointer knife of HSS,it's going to be a lot more work. Everything will have to be ground,and the HSS is way too thick.

    In the old patterns of marking gauge,the cutter was just a flat piece of steel with a little taper to it. It went through a little square hole and was secured by a little wedge. No slot or holes were needed. The taper was to help keep the cutter snugly jammed in the mortise.

    You might find Exacto blades or scalpel blades too thin and easy to flex. Plus,as Derek mentioned,beveled on both sides. A hacksaw blade would be better.

    I use the Dispoz-a-Blade blades on my jointer. They are made of HSS,and are .040" thick. You could make some nice bench knives from dull ones. I would not discard my used ones. They have too many potential uses, like marking gauge blades,among other things.
    Last edited by george wilson; 08-16-2014 at 9:39 AM.

  13. #13
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    Thanks George. I never realized the used for work hacksaw blades, jointer knives and such.

    I was able to pick up a few of the beading blanks the Derek described. I'll need to shape the cutting edge and give it a hone. I haven't started on the gauge yet but at least I have all the materials ready.
    -- Dan Rode

    "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit." - Aristotle

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by george wilson View Post
    A hacksaw blade is not very hard steel,but it would be good enough to make a cutter like you desire. It has some temper to it,but is still soft enough that you can file it to shape. A cutter like this is not going to see hard use just scribing lines occasionally.

    If you use harder steel,like a jointer knife of HSS,it's going to be a lot more work. Everything will have to be ground,and the HSS is way too thick.

    In the old patterns of marking gauge,the cutter was just a flat piece of steel with a little taper to it. It went through a little square hole and was secured by a little wedge. No slot or holes were needed. The taper was to help keep the cutter snugly jammed in the mortise.

    You might find Exacto blades or scalpel blades too thin and easy to flex. Plus,as Derek mentioned,beveled on both sides. A hacksaw blade would be better.

    I use the Dispoz-a-Blade blades on my jointer. They are made of HSS,and are .040" thick. You could make some nice bench knives from dull ones. I would not discard my used ones. They have too many potential uses, like marking gauge blades,among other things.
    I did a small experiment with a razor blade, it's about half as thick as the scalpel blade at 0.2mm and it cut very cleanly. I has a double bevel, but judging from the line it left I seriously wonder how much it matters when it come to a blade this thin? didn't they used to use round scribe pins? those for sure don't leave a "square edge".


    The plan is to make a mortice and use a wedge to hold the blade, with only about 1-2mm of blade protruding. I can always regrind it to a single rounded or spear point bevel if I wanted to. what I'm getting at is that maybe a thin blade held securely can do a fine job? somehow I imagine a thicker jigsaw blade having more cutting resistance.

  15. #15
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    Too thin a blade,especially a razor blade,can bend to follow the grain. It will likely snap off too.

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