Another Scrap Wood Project
Yesterday I wrote about the marking gauge made here at 173. It was a fun little project, again made of scraps:
The first thing I did was laminate the two pieces of scraps leftover from the sled rebuild...
Which ended up being the fence for the gauge:
But that fence didn't use the entirety of those laminated boards, and I must confess that I did obsess just a little about what to do with the little 4"x4" scrap that was left over. I don't usually worry about such a small piece, but it was such nice wood I just had to do something! So I got to thinking, why not make an even simpler, but smaller marking gauge?
As you can see, this only required that little scrap, a 5" piece of scrap dowel, a finish nail, and a brass screw. One of the fun things at 173 is that there was a small host of things that were inherited from the Moshers. In this case, among others, I inherited an old coffee can half full of variously sized brass screws!
There's just something nostalgic about the old Maxwell House can, and that's Mr. Mosher's handwriting - from the original patriarch at 173! Anyway, I chose a nice little brass screw and pulled out the Brasso - also inherited from the Moshers...
The smell of Brasso and the exercise of polishing brass brought on such pleasant memories of Sunday nights in my Army barracks, polishing for weekly inspections. While reminiscing. I put a quick shine on the screw...why not, right?
Then it was just a matter of applying the ol' Minwax Gunstock stain, and assembling the little gadget...
Here's a look with the original gauge, just to give perspective:
And to prove that this is not an obsession - that's the last of the marking gauges Made at 173!