Why does nobody talk about the right way to use a marking gauge?

I spent 10 years marking lines with the spur facing the wrong direction until an old timer at a job site in Portland set me straight... He said I was wasting time because the gauge was just scratching instead of cutting clean fibers. Has anyone else had a simple habit change like that totally improve their joinery?

2 comments

2 Comments

hernandez.ben23d ago

@kim.wren that medieval torture pattern bit cracked me up because I did the exact same thing on a set of walnut nightstands. Had score lines all over the place. Soon as I flipped the spur around everything just clicked. Its wild how one tiny detail makes or breaks your joinery.

kim.wren23d ago

Man... I did the same thing for about eight years before I figured it out. Built a whole set of dining chairs with scratch marks on every single tenon shoulder like some kind of medieval torture pattern. The old guy who finally told me just laughed and handed me a beer while I stared at my ruined mortises. Now I check my gauge orientation three times before I even touch it to wood, feels like a weird little ritual.