A couple of weeks ago during a midnight prowl of Japanese tools I ordered a Kinshiro marking Gauge, It showed up yesterday. It's a beautiful tool.
A couple of weeks ago during a midnight prowl of Japanese tools I ordered a Kinshiro marking Gauge, It showed up yesterday. It's a beautiful tool.
Last edited by Keith Outten; 12-03-2014 at 7:09 AM.
And where, pray tell, did you find it?
Thnx,
Tony
High roller!
Ken, now you are in trouble! Nothing else will satisfy
Regards from Perth
Derek
It would appear that you received that which you ordered -- in what way, shape or form, was this a surprise?
Dang you! I heard they stopped making those? Very nice! I wonder how it compares to the Vernier "kegaki" marking gauges available through Tools from Japan. The single blade kegaki appears to be made from similar woods in the same shape, except for the metal scale. The double blade "kegaki" Stu sells looks similar too, but the main body is all one wood, no harder wood insert in the wear area. I bought a Les Outils Cullen Tools, Mortise Gauge, from LV. So far it want lock up square though. I think a brass pieces just needs to be ground down a little, so I have not returned it yet. What I don't have is a marking gauge with a very accurate scale, like the Vernier kegaki marking gauges. I'm not sure I need a gauge with a scale but it does seem like it would be faster and helpful in a number of instances.
Last edited by Mike Holbrook; 10-22-2014 at 10:29 AM.
Good score Ken. It looks like it will leave a well defined line on just about any work piece.
The scale on a marking gauge intrigues me as to its usefulness. Most likely the usefulness of a scale would come from methods of work different than mine. Some of my Stanley marking gauges have scales but they do not seem to make the gauges any easier to set up or use.I'm not sure I need a gauge with a scale but it does seem like it would be faster and helpful in a number of instances.
jtk
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
Derek,
And that's the truth.
I have a gauge from the 70's I've been trying to find a replacement for but no joy. Spent a few USDs for less than perfect gauges and finally decided I'd better buy while there were still a few left.
ken
Jim,
I have several old Stanley gauges with scales as well. I can't see that the scales have much practical use....but that could just be me, like I'm guessing you do, my method of work is more marking off from other pieces rather than measuring.
ken
I guess the scale question is relative. Unless we mark everything off with dividers, we need to figure where a mortise and the tenon need to be located on given pieces of wood don't we? Sure we can mark the locations with a ruler or other measuring devise that has some scale we can measure from, but wouldn't it be easier to have a scale on the marking devise? Sure we can mark based on chisel width, but which chisel if we don't have any kind of scale to get a rough idea of scale? If we use a story board isn't that a scale too?
I may have made a slight measuring mistake or two today working on some cabinets. Maybe I need to take just a little more off something to get a snug fit. Wouldn't it be convenient to use the gauge to measure and have it set for the right marking distance at the same time? Want I get the most accurate setting by setting the distance with the actual knife blade I will mark the piece with? It just seems to me that less transposing of distances between devises results in less error.
Relatively speaking the more different scales one uses the more room for errors.
In the case of a mortise and tenon, an easy solution is to make all of the stock for the piece match and then make sure all the marking is done from the face side. This is so if there is any slight difference in the stock thickness it is to the back side.
Set the mortise gage to the chisel. Then use your mortise gauge to find center. This is done by first setting it from the face side to approximate center, make a small mark in a waste area or piece of scrap. Then check it from the back side and adjust as needed.
My work used to have a lot more measuring mistakes. My solution is to do less measuring and more setting gauges to the workpiece or working to the mating part of a joint. If a panel fits in its slot, it doesn't matter what tick on a scale it matches.
Possibly one of my most used measuring devices is a small Lufkin caliper.
jtk
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
Jim I wasn't thinking about using multiple scales just trying to decide if one scale, on one of my marking devises, might in some instances be useful and eliminate the need for other measuring tools. All the marking devices I have now do not have scales, for all the reasons you mention. I am reading my copy of "By Hand and Eye", learning to use dividers & calipers & lay out projects on a story board. I am fascinated with the idea of getting away from the confines of of marking everything by an inch scale. I have both metric and imperial chisels and measuring devices. Still I am wondering if some sort of scale, imperial or metric, might come in handy on a marking device on occasion? It occurred to me that having some sort of scale on my marking device might even save me from needing a tape measure, scaled square, dividers or calipers in some instances. My objective is to reduce reliance on scales and all measuring devices.
Did it come from Tomohito Iida? Iida and So Yamashita both have some left.