Andy Kev.":1rqb2n7f said:
Thank you all very much indeed for your replies.
D_W and Derek: I tried a Japanese gauge when I went on a course, exactly like the one on the right in Derek's first picture, and it drove me absolutely nuts in frustration. Try as I might, I just couldn't get the thing to work properly. The one in the last two pics looks like a dream though as well as extremely practical and I'll file that away for future reference.
Meanwhile, it looks like Marples is the answer for the time being. This one seems to be the best:
http://www.flinn-garlick-saws.co.uk/aca ... ml#SID=537
And it's probably what I'll be choosing unless anyone knows of any serious drawbacks with it.
Peter, the Veritas dual gauge was the other solution that occurred to me and I'm very pleased with my single wheel Veritas gauges. I quite like the idea of trying something more traditional though.
It's quite a while on and I missed this, but the setup is different, as Derek shows. I usually set mine up to the mortice chisel and if they are good quality, then you can just slide the head while holding both blades and there's no issue.
The cheap ones don't work as well because the fit between the blades isn't good.
There are several levels of them
* cheap (like 10 pounds) which will require a lot of work, and the irons aren't particularly thick
* 100 pounds new (stu has one of that type at Tools from japan, can't remember the brand but I have it) - those work like a dream, but they are not on the cheap side.
* 250 pounds (kinshiro). I can't comment on how the kinshiro works, but it is a sought after maker. If it works better than the 100 pound version, I'd be surprised, but maker name counts in japan and people will pay, I just can't bring myself to it
* a used version of a quality gauge from the last few decades - they bring almost nothing here in the states, equivalence of 10 pounds or so, and if they've been taken care of, they work smoothly and easily and have good quality metal parts
All of that said, i started with the cheapest ones, and now I have one of the second and fourth each. I have a different opinion of them now, but even so, I think there are some people who won't favor the fact that the blades can move.
Type #2 above actually has a thumb screw that sets the two blades to a fixed position so that it's easy to set, but i'm not keen on the idea of recommend someone buy something that would cost what's equivalent to $125 to us.
Also, i've seen warren mickley suggest that it's not historically inaccurate to create fixed width gauges for each chisel that you use on a regular basis (if you only use two or three mortice chisels on a regular basis, which is the case for me, that may be the most practical and inexpensive way to go).
