For the longest time I managed to convince myself that I just don’t have the skills required to make anything by hand. I’ve always pictured the ‘hand-tool’ woodworker as being a special elite unit of men, ones that scoffed at the mere mortals who need a power switch on all their tools.
And I’ve spent so much time complaining that I never have enough time to enjoy this hobby of mine.
Well, when all my projects require me to setup, turn on and then clean up after a multitude of different saws and sanders, there’s no wonder I struggle for time! I need to change the way I work. One thing I can do to help in that regard, is learn to use more hand tools. The simple result will be that I can work in the shop each night after the kids go to bed, knowing that I’m not going to wake them with the table saw going off.
To that end, I’m starting to change my thinking and working. I’ve made my mallet, have finished my workbench (video still to come, ugh, don’t ask), and now I’ve made myself a little marking gauge. This is the first one I’ve ever made but I think i’ll make a couple more, especially useful would be one with two points for marking mortises in one shot.
It was made by referencing a photo I found online of a similar style one. Had I planned it out I would have come up with a better design for the captive wedge. It’s probably twice as long as is required, though the more I see it, the more I like the look. It doesn’t seem to be in the way when I use it which is the main concern.
Originally I was going to make one with a thumb screw turn to lock the fence in, but after checking the shop, I didn’t have a thumb screw or wing nut spare! So I looked up these wedge designs, and to be honest, this is probably easier to use anyway.
I demo how I use it at the end of the video, it’s actually pretty fun.
You set the depth to be shorter than you want and press the wedge up to lock it in. Then you just tap the bottom of the gauge on the bench. Vibrations send the fence down a little bit, increasing the length you will be marking. It also tightens the wedge in place. Just tap with the one hand until you have the desired depth. The fence will not wiggle or move at all, it will stay at that setting until you are finished with it.
Then you just tap the wedge from the other direction when done and it loosens itself up. Great fun!
I’ve a project for Christmas which involves a number of mortise and tenons to be cut. It is a bit outside my comfort zone but if I don’t start doing stuff like this now I may as well give up the hobby. Here’s hoping that learning how to cut and work properly with hand tools helps me to spend more time doing what I actually love to do, make.
Oh, and any thoughts on what other tools I can be or should be making myself?