We use pencil gauges as much as marking gauges or cutting gauges. That’s because a pencil line is sometimes the better choice, especially when marking out bevels or curves.
When we construct our shop-made pencil gauges, we include a “face plate” or “curve attachment” to one face of the gauge’s head. The face plate – basically two bumps – allows the gauge to mark both inside and outside curves. You can also use the gauge against a straight, flat edge. The face plate is an incredibly handy feature that was patented by Stanley in 1886 (the patent has long expired).
For years, I’ve wanted to make a Crucible pencil gauge with a face plate, but we have never found a way to manufacture it economically. During the pandemic, however, I devised a way to make an inexpensive gauge by MacGyvering a British marking gauge made by Joseph Marples.
Marples agreed to sell us 200 basic gauges at wholesale for an experiment. When the gauges arrived, we pulled out the steel pin (it’s included in the package if you want it). Then we drilled a hole in the gauge’s beam that will hold most pencils with a tight compression fit (and we’re including a pencil). And we added a stainless steel face plate (a part that we sourced from the kennel-making industry).
The result is our Crucible Redneck Pencil Gauge that works like a charm and fits your hand beautifully, thanks to the half-round shape of the head. But it is a little rednecky (I can say that because I’m from the Ozarks). If I were going to design the gauge from scratch I would use a brass thumbscrew and machine the face plate from solid brass. It would look nicer, but it wouldn’t function any better and it would cost you three or four times more.
Now available in our store for $37 plus shipping.
Specifications:
Beam: 3/4” x 3/4” x 8-1/2”
Head: 1-1/16” x 2-3/16” x 2-5/8”
Weight: 4 ounces
Pencil: Made by Musgrave USA, included
Finally a use for all those ikea and mini golf pencils.
You had me at Red Neck!
Ordered and thanks. I wanted the Goodell Pratt version but the collector price was too painful.
Derek Jones has a very clever wheeze for making a pencil both securely held and adjustable in the beam of the gauges he make and sell: he taps the hole through the beam to M8, and then grabs one end of the pencil in a cordless drill and runs it at not-too-high speed through a M8 nut, held in a vise or whatever. This puts a shallow M8 thread on a standard size pencil, so that it can then be screwed into the beam, held firmly in place there and adjusted in and out as needed.
What size thread, tap and nut would do the same job in non-metric-land, I wot not, but I’m sure some simple experiments would soon find out.
Cheers,
Mattias
That is pretty neat! It will put a blue collar on the red neck, though.
Forehead slap. Thanks, Mattias
As someone who’s already got that exact marking guage- I’d be very interested to know where the curved face plate portion was sourced from!
OK, send it me!
So…this device gauges redneck pencils? How can I resist?
Ordered. I would like to know how the kennel industry uses that McGyvered piece. And how did you come across it? Fascinating.
Could you tell me where to get the kennel part in case I have a marking gauge hanging around that I’m not otherwise using?
i was going to suggest buying a copy of Robert Wearing’s The Solution at Hand but it seems to have disappeared from the LAP store. in the book RW shows how to make one of these marking gauges for curves. iirc he uses shaved down dowels glued to the face.
Good catch. Chris or Megan if you’re reading this, do you still carry “The Solution at Hand”?
We’re out of it right now; evaluating whether or not to reprint. Lee Valley appears to still have some in stock.
imo Sol@Hand is a must have for every shop. it’s not my favorite LAP book, but it’s the one i keep reaching for as shop reference.
Google 1/4” steel duplex clamp
Love it! This reminds me of some of the Jenny Alexander tools, which weren’t particularly pretty, but fit the purpose exactly~
I see you are already out of stock for this item. How about selling the face plate alone so we can make our own?
I like the colors
One tool I dream you will do a run of is a 12″ steel beam for my engineering square that is black with white markings and has no finer measurements than 1/16″. I bought the similar rulers you mentioned like this an love them. I’m sure one of the manufacturers would do a special run for you.
Try Googling: Metal Conduit Double Bracket
Just noticed the screw appears to be clocked a Chris ritual. Megan did he go and clock all of the screws or, happenstance.
I trained our crew how to do it. It’s easy.