Japanese kebiki marking gauge I made from kit.

[SteveMP]

Got this kit from a guy that sources the blade and hardware from Japan. Forged laminated blade gets as sharp as a Japanese chisel. Made from QSWO from stability. In theory you can make the beam as long as you need but i rarely mark over a couple of inches. Cuts probably 3-4 times deeper than my Veritas wheel markijng gauge. Tried to get pic but hard to focus up close. Kebiki line on left and Veritas on right.

 

[AJB Temple]

Nice. I have one of these made for me by a person unknown at the other place as a secret santa. Very fine it is too. On his design, there is a brass wear plate added at the far end of the handle slot, which is a good idea, and an anti indent block of strip brass in the handle.

 

[Doug]

. Cuts probably 3-4 times deeper than my Veritas wheel markijng gauge.

The spur of the wheel cutter only projects 0.9 of a millimetre from the shaft so not designed for deep cuts merely marking out, I imagine any traditional marking gauge could cut deeper than 0.9mm.

 

[Woodbloke]

Nice. I have one of these made for me by a person unknown at the other place as a secret santa. Very fine it is too. On his design, there is a brass wear plate added at the far end of the handle slot, which is a good idea, and an anti indent block of strip brass in the handle.

I've made a few of these as well:



Unless you can find a bolt with a 'paddle' attached, the tricky bit is to silver solder one onto a suitable piece of 6mm studding. I even managed to find some proper, pukka Japanese marking gauge blades on our last trip to Tokyo. There are, apparently, left handed blades wot I was about to purchase before the owner very kindly informed me that I was buying the wrong thing- Rob

 

[Cabinetman]

I've made a few of these as well:

View attachment 57088

Unless you can find a bolt with a 'paddle' attached, the tricky bit is to silver solder one onto a suitable piece of 6mm studding. I even managed to find some proper, pukka Japanese marking gauge blades on our last trip to Tokyo. There are, apparently, left handed blades wot I was about to purchase before the owner very kindly informed me that I was buying the wrong thing- Rob

That’s very nice Rob, I like the shape too, but for those of us without a means of soldering a small mortice could be dug in the side for a captive nut and the the end of the bolt could bear onto a brass shoe as Adrian said.
Ian

 

[SteveMP]

That’s very nice Rob, I like the shape too, but for those of us without a means of soldering a small mortice could be dug in the side for a captive nut and the the end of the bolt could bear onto a brass shoe as Adrian said.
Ian

Right. This kit came with the wingnut bolt, a captive nut that i put into a mortise, and then a backing plate that the screw presses against to lock the beam in place. Here is the other kit (i ordered a second kit to make another one put of some fancy schmancy wood down the road). You can see the wings of the plate kind of cover the captive nit mortise.

 

[Cabinetman]

Excellent, but then I would have to say that after what I wrote haha. Would it be possible for you to share a link?
Ian

 

[SteveMP]

Excellent, but then I would have to say that after what I wrote haha. Would it be possible for you to share a link?
Ian

This is the guy I ordered from.

YRTi

www.yrti.net

He has a pretty nice youtube channel too showing him make stuff. Only problem is he is in the US so i don’t know if he shops to UK. But he is very helpful, i message him on reddit and he even sends me links to other places to buy products from Japan etc.

 

[Sheffield Tony]

Nice. I have one of these made for me by a person unknown at the other place as a secret santa. Very fine it is too. On his design, there is a brass wear plate added at the far end of the handle slot, which is a good idea, and an anti indent block of strip brass in the handle.

Ho ho ! Adrian has a marking gauge looking quite like this, I think



Rather than a nut in a mortice, the screw goes into a brass cross-dowel. The screw is a knurled brass nut, countersunk with a brass contersunk bolt screwed in with a bit of solder paste on the thread and sweated on. The end of the bolt bears on the cutter via a loose brass disk, not so much to prevent marking as to prevent the bolts rotation disturbing the knife position.

 

[Woodbloke]

Here's another one; this is a slightly bigger version with a longer stem, so could be used as a panel gauge if needed but I realised:



...that the thread wasn't quite long enough, so I made it a bit longer. This was made some years ago in Holly and Oak:



...shown with the component parts; a bolt, square 6mm nut and a bit of bent galvanised steel as I couldn't find any Unobtanium in the scrap box. The pin is a ground down masonry nail, which is quite tricky to do and requires a small grinding wheel in a Dremel drill:



....and it was a favourite little trick of St.David of Charlesworth for those lucky enough to own:



...the Stanley 5061 gauge (I have a pair)

I may well replace the pin in the Holly stem with one of my marking blades brought recently in Tokyo. Not difficult to make provided you can fix the turn handle to the threaded bit - Rob

 

[Cabinetman]

This is the guy I ordered from.

YRTi

www.yrti.net

He has a pretty nice youtube channel too showing him make stuff. Only problem is he is in the US so i don’t know if he shops to UK. But he is very helpful, i message him on reddit and he even sends me links to other places to buy products from Japan etc.

Thanks Steve, it’s ok as I’m in the States anyway. Very comprehensive on the website btw.
Unfortunately for all of you in the uk he doesn’t ship.

 

[Woodbloke]

Unfortunately for all of you in the uk he doesn’t ship.

As I was trying to imply (badly as it happens) there's no need to import any Japanese gauge making kit from the US of A. Any half competent wood mangler would find one of these gauges dead easy to make; even the turn thingie on the end of the screw thread could quite easily be epoxied (Araldite 'old skool' slooooow setting stuff) in place. In fact I've still got:



...some 6mm bolts that I purchased to make these Japanese gauges from our local hardware shop (we still have one!) in Wilton - Rob

Edit - you might struggle to find some Unobtanium...

 

[SteveMP]

Thanks Steve, it’s ok as I’m in the States anyway. Very comprehensive on the website btw.
Unfortunately for all of you in the uk he doesn’t ship.

For those that wish to order straight from Japan, i have ordered many tools from this place. The sell just the baishinshi blades for anyone that can make the rest of the hardware but want a forged laminated blade:

https://shop.kurashige-tools.com/en-us/collections/marking-gauge-kehiki?filter.v.availability=1

 

[SteveMP]

As I was trying to imply (badly as it happens) there's no need to import any Japanese gauge making kit from the US of A. Any half competent wood mangler would find one of these gauges dead easy to make; even the turn thingie on the end of the screw thread could quite easily be epoxied (Araldite 'old skool' slooooow setting stuff) in place. In fact I've still got:

View attachment 57173

...some 6mm bolts that I purchased to make these Japanese gauges from our local hardware shop (we still have one!) in Wilton - Rob

Edit - you might struggle to find some Unobtanium...

I sometimes will buy old tools that are in rough shape cheap to harvest the hardware bits. I really like the old vintage screws that were produced with interesting wingnut details. I find that old vintage German and Japanese hardware often has really interesting details

 

[SteveMP]

Ho ho ! Adrian has a marking gauge looking quite like this, I think

View attachment 57167

Rather than a nut in a mortice, the screw goes into a brass cross-dowel. The screw is a knurled brass nut, countersunk with a brass contersunk bolt screwed in with a bit of solder paste on the thread and sweated on. The end of the bolt bears on the cutter via a loose brass disk, not so much to prevent marking as to prevent the bolts rotation disturbing the knife position.

That is a beautiful marking gauge! Who made it?
The style is similar to my Matsui one. For those unfamiliar with Matsui its basically Japanese version of Starrett or Moore & Wright etc. but they still up until recently made wooden kebiki gauges. Unfortunately no longer made. Not the cheapest option out there, probably cost 5 times what my Veritas wheel gauge costed. It is however also a mortise gauge as well as single.

 

[Woodbloke]

This is one I bought recently in Tokyo:



There are plenty of cutting gauges around of all sorts, but this one for me is even more useful; a clutch mechanism pencil gauge that accepts standard 0.5mm leads. Normal pencil gauges are a genuine, 100% cast iron pita 'cos the pencil constantly needs to be taken out to sharpen the lead....not with this one! Works an absolute treat - Rob

 

[SteveMP]

This is one I bought recently in Tokyo:

View attachment 57187

There are plenty of cutting gauges around of all sorts, but this one for me is even more useful; a clutch mechanism pencil gauge that accepts standard 0.5mm leads. Normal pencil gauges are a genuine, 100% cast iron pita 'cos the pencil constantly needs to be taken out to sharpen the lead....not with this one! Works an absolute treat - Rob

that is awesome! love it. looks really well made. (a visit to Japan is on my bucket list some day) Yeah I have been wanting to make one for pencils. May make one with that other kit and stick a GraphGear pencil into the beam or something.

This one is a slitting gauge i bought for kumiko work. It will slice easily through softer woods like pine, poplar, etc. great for ripping a bunch of thin strips of material repeatedly. Will slice through 6mm poplar with ease. Notice the sole of the body is curved allowing for easy pulling across apiece for slicing.

 

[Pete Maddex]

These are the ones I make.

Marking gauges by Pete Maddex, on Flickr

I make the wedges out of two different woods Box and Rosewood which makes identification easer.

 

[SteveMP]

These are the ones I make.

Marking gauges by Pete Maddex, on Flickr

I make the wedges out of two different woods Box and Rosewood which makes identification easer.

Beautiful work! Where do you get the boxwood? I never see that around here, unless it some vintage tool. For the wedge do you just shove it the other direction to lock?

 

[Pete Maddex]

I get mine from woodwork shows or eBay etc.
To adjust you set it slightly smaller than you need and push the wedge up to grip slightly, then tap the bottom of the shaft until it set right, A tap on the bottom of the wedge locks it place, a tap on the top loosens it.

Broken yard sticks, wooden rules are often available on car boot sales etc.

Pete

 

[Cabinetman]

These are the ones I make.

Marking gauges by Pete Maddex, on Flickr

I make the wedges out of two different woods Box and Rosewood which makes identification easer.

Yes they look very nice indeed. You mentioned a pencil gauge, jfyi to hold the pencil steady in the shaft I glue a mouse tail of leather to the shaft and let it drop into the hole, works a treat.
Ian

 

[Cabinetman]

That is a beautiful marking gauge! Who made it?
The style is similar to my Matsui one. For those unfamiliar with Matsui its basically Japanese version of Starrett or Moore & Wright etc. but they still up until recently made wooden kebiki gauges. Unfortunately no longer made. Not the cheapest option out there, probably cost 5 times what my Veritas wheel gauge costed. It is however also a mortise gauge as well as single.

View attachment 57184


View attachment 57186View attachment 57185

Just in case Tony doesn’t step up and take the credit it was made by himself @Sheffieldtony , the clue was the hohoho as it was given away in a strange English thing called a secret Santa, and Adrian was the lucky recipient. I just hope that Tony received something as beautiful.

 

[AJB Temple]

Just in case Tony doesn’t step up and take the credit it was made by himself @Sheffieldtony , the clue was the hohoho as it was given away in a strange English thing called a secret Santa, and Adrian was the lucky recipient. I just hope that Tony received something as beautiful.

Well, I never knew who made it. It is treasured actually. Thank you Tony. I will break my no picture habit and fetch it now.

 

[AJB Temple]

This is it. Despite appearances it has been used a great deal and rewaxed because of that. As you can see it has two steel knive blades that can each be slid out as required, and locked, and then they slide neatly back into the recess. Thanks Sheffield Tony. I never knew who made it (this is when Phil who is no longer with us ran secret santa). Workmanship is super crisp and first class. I produced a special engraved trowel as my SS and it went to a guy who had a business making kitchens. Forget his name now. He had just lost his favourite dog and the trowel was a tribute. (Dogs dig).