605-1250 Beechwood Mortise/Marking Gauge

Nice little gauge, works great. I just thought I'd comment because I read a few negative reviews and bought it with hesitation. My two concerns were that the screw would not tighten the gauge enough, causing it to shift and cause inaccuracies and that the plastic screw was of poor quality. The screw works great and there haven't really been any problems. I found that it can be a little hard to set when holding it against a ruler, but that's just my poor technique. Mark a scrap piece of wood first, then set the gauge to those markings and it works great. The plastic might look cheaper than a metal screw, but honestly it might be the best material for this product. Definitely recommend this.

This is a good gauge. The recess for the sliding pin on the mortise side is accurate so there is no binding. The head is square to the beam, which is great. There’s also no slippage when marking lines. I filed my pins on both sides to chisel points for a better cut.

I am giving this 5 stars because I like it, and because once I get it set, it does a good job of marking. I have been using it for mortises and tenons to make a table. In both cases I set the pins just a hair over 3/8 inch aqpart. For the mortises, I set the outside pin to 3/4 inch from the fence. For the tenons I set the outside pin to 9/16 inch from the fence. If I use this marker again, I will organize my work so that I do all the mortises first, and then do all the tenons. This is my first mortise gauge, but I thought the pins were set first and locked, and then the pins were set relative to the fence and locked. With this gauge when you loosen the set screw, both the setting between the pins and the fence setting are free and everything has to be set a once, which is a real pain.

Skylark's review is right on the money. This has the potential to be an heirloom tool except for the silly thumbscrew. I did the upgrade that he recommended and it's now a very nice product. (Thanks Skylark). Pity that the manufacturer didn't do it properly. By the way aside from being cheap looking, the "fisher price thumbscrew" does work just fine. That's why I gave it a 4 star instead of 3.

People complain about the plastic screw, it’s not well finished, but it works great. It’s an accurate gauge and the wood and finishing is otherwise excellent. Paul Sellers would be happy.

Fast delivery. Quality product and does the job it's supposed to do. Only drawback is its smaller that I imagined. Anyone with big hands may find it a bit uncomfortable to handle. The scribing pins are not stainless steel so rust will form on them if they are not maintained and wiped well.

I’ve seen old mortising gauges with clear amber thumbscrews, so wasn’t too concerned about this, but it actually came with a cheap soft plastic screw complete with manufacturing seams. Also, no attempt was made to ease the sharp edges of the wood, making it uncomfortable to use. Despite this, it has the basic qualities of a good tool. Although a bit short, the beam is tight in the fence, both perpendicular to each other, the brass slide holding the second pin is a perfect fit—not too stiff, not loose—making setting a mortise width hassle-free. The minimum width between pins is ¼”—small enough to cover most jobs. And, as advertised, it is made of European Beech. So, I decided it was worth fiddling with. The original thumbscrew hole was too wide to do anything with, so I drilled a new one in the fence on the opposite side to accept a ¼”-20 brass threaded insert (Lowes for 75 cents). See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIhEqoKE8Dc for how to install one--slotted end goes in first. This fit a ¾” knurled brass screw (Home Depot online $1.54/pair, plus shipping). To cover the original hole, rather than a futile attempt at matching the beech, I re-drilled the hole to 5/8” and epoxied in a contrasting ebony disk. After paring and sanding it down flush, I eased the all the edges of the tool, sanded out the minor machining ridges on the flat surfaces, and sprayed a couple coats of Deft Interior Clear Wood Finish Semi-Gloss Spray, 12.25-Ounce Aerosol . Very happy with the result. It was well worth the effort, although for a few cents more Robert Larson would have a high quality tool for which that anyone would pay several dollars more.

Quality is good and it works to my expectations - an invaluable tool to achieve accuracy in marking out woodworking joints.