The Best Marking Gauges
A marking gauge scores a line parallel to an edge -- the line that a saw, chisel, or plane works to. Joinery without layout tools is guesswork; joinery with a sharp marking gauge is precise. The gauge scribes a line that tells the tool where to stop, and the tool stops there. This is how hand-cut dovetails fit without gaps.
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How to Choose
The two main types are the cutting gauge (a knife blade in the fence) and the pin gauge (a sharpened steel pin). Cutting gauges produce a cleaner line in hardwood because the blade severs the fibers rather than tearing them. Pin gauges are slightly easier to set and work well in softwood. The fence must lock firmly -- a gauge that slips mid-use produces a tapered line. Mortise gauges have two pins for scoring both sides of a mortise simultaneously.
Veritas Micro-Adjust Wheel Marking Gauge
Veritas in Ottawa makes the wheel marking gauge that has replaced the traditional pin gauge in most serious workshops. A small hardened steel wheel with a sharpened edge scores a line cleanly in any direction without tearing grain. The micro-adjust mechanism sets the fence to the thousandth of an inch. The locking knob is accessible with one hand. This is the marking gauge for anyone who cuts dovetails.
The wheel cutter scores a clean line in any grain direction. A pin gauge tears end grain; the wheel does not.
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Starrett 147 Combination Marking Gauge
The Starrett 147 is a traditional hardwood and brass marking gauge from L.S. Starrett Company in Athol, Massachusetts -- in continuous production since 1880. Rosewood fence, brass fittings, hardened steel pin. The combination model includes a mortise pin for setting two lines simultaneously. It is the gauge that appears in every serious woodworker's toolkit because the fit and finish have not changed in 140 years.
Starrett has been making precision tools in Massachusetts since 1880. The construction is unchanged because there is nothing to improve.
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Crown Tools Mortise Gauge
Crown Tools in Sheffield makes a traditional mortise gauge with two adjustable steel pins and a rosewood fence. The dual-pin configuration scores both walls of a mortise simultaneously, ensuring that the mortise is parallel and the chisel works between two reference lines rather than one. The Sheffield steel pins are replaceable. For anyone cutting mortise-and-tenon joinery, the mortise gauge is not optional.
Two parallel lines define a mortise precisely. Scoring them simultaneously with a dual-pin gauge ensures they are exactly parallel.
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