Panel gauge

[marcros]

I have some raised panels to mark out which are to be about 14" x 14". The obvious thing to use would be a panel gauge. But I do not have one.

How useful a tool are they? I could make one in a couple of hours but will make do without if they are not that useful.

 

[Cheshirechappie]

Without wishing to be in any way facetious, the only person who can decide whether or not you need a particular tool is you.

Perhaps a bit more helpfully, Joseph Marples make a panel gauge (Thomas Flinn stock them) but at £37 a pop or so, they ain't exactly cheap for an 'occasional use' tool.

If you expect to need one only very occasionally, perhaps you could knock something up from a short length of (say) 3" x 1" with a rebate along one edge and a hole through the middle for a length of dowelling. Arrange some sort of clamp for the dowel in the 'fence' (a wedge, maybe?), and stick a pencil through the end of the dowel, and Bob's your auntie. Cheap as chips.

 

[marcros]

CC,

I had a similar idea. The alternative is similar to the lie nielsen one- screw fixing or wedge, the rest seems similar whether square or dowel. I certainly dont "need" one. I was hoping to see whether people generally came back with the feedback that the panel gauge is the best way to mark out panels and sheet materials, or alternatively people were to say "dont bother, i do it this way". Maybe a ruler and pencil, marking knife, or even flipstops on a table saw.

Mark

 

[AndyT]

For a_long time, I didn't have one. If I needed to cut a panel, it was generally from plywood and I could do a good enough job by starting from a factory corner and marking with ruler and pencil. Second and later panels could be marked by drawing round the first one.

I've recently bought a couple of old panel gauges - a large and a small - but not really needed to use them!

That said, it would be easy to make something rough but functional for a one off use. The key design features are a nice long rebate to bear against the edge of the panel, a stiff beam and a small sharp pin that will mark without being rolled or tilted over (ie the way an ordinary marking gauge is used.)

 

[marcros]

thanks Andy. I think it may be a project for a session when task 1 is gluing something and task 2 is waiting for the glue to dry. It should only need to be a handle, a head with a mortice, something to mark with (knife one end, pin the other?) and a means of securing the head.

 

[DTR]

I use a home made one (nothing pretty) and given a choice, I wouldn't want to be without it. I made mine with a pencil hole at one end of the stem and a marking gauge pin at the other.

 

[marcros]

can we see a pic Dave?

 

[KevM]

Steve Maskery recently wrote a piece for British Woodworking on making a panel gauge - might be worth seeing if anybody has the copy kicking around, or ping Steve directly and see if he can post some pics?

 

[DTR]

can we see a pic Dave?

Like I said, it's nothing pretty

I made it from some offcuts of sapele(?) that I had knocking about. The wedge is oak, and the pencil was kindly supplied for free by Ikea :devil: I intended to cut a profile onto the stock but I never got around to it. Somewhere I have a brass wear strip for it too...