How To scribe centerlines and bevel widths

C

Cushing H.

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Jun 3, 2019
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What are the best/reasonable tools to buy/make to scribe edge centerlines and bevel widths? I know people have made things with edges consisting of carbide .... but what do you use for the carbide? How attach to t he "widget" that sets the gaps .... and just what kind of "widgets" can be reasonably made that allows the kind of precision needed to hit the edge centerline?

so far I have been using a caliper - I know, not the best idea, but it works well enough, and it is what I had. Time to get something more reasonable though....
 
Cushing H. said:
What are the best/reasonable tools to buy/make to scribe edge centerlines and bevel widths? I know people have made things with edges consisting of carbide .... but what do you use for the carbide? How attach to t he "widget" that sets the gaps .... and just what kind of "widgets" can be reasonably made that allows the kind of precision needed to hit the edge centerline?

so far I have been using a caliper - I know, not the best idea, but it works well enough, and it is what I had. Time to get something more reasonable though....
Click to expand...
https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/diy-edge-marking-tool.1722415/ :)
eric brinkerhoff said:
I still use my old calipers. Natlek has some neat shop-made ones.
Click to expand...
 
I think it would be easiest for me to make natleks design #3.

Any similar ideas for scribing a line for a fixed distance from the edge (to mark width of bevel?)
 
I use a machinist plate/table and a height gauge.
using the height gauge you can easily get a precise edge thickness.
 
Before I got a digital height gauge, I would clamp a drill bit to a granite plate and drag the profiled piece across it. You can choose a drill size such that doing both sides leaves two lines say 0.03" apart to grind to before HT.
 
I use a height gauge with a carbide tip. Like Richard, I also used drill bits in the past, as well as a carbide scribe clamped to a 1-2-3 block and sometimes even calipers. Those methods worked ok on soft steel, but if you grind post HT, the scriber on the height gauge leaves a much cleaner line. A surface plate is really useful for so many things, I would recommend you get one if you don't have one already. The height gauge I use is an analog one from Shars (~$55) and I use it for all kinds of layout tasks.
 
I hate to ask … what is a height gauge?

Sorry , that ignorance is one of the reasons I asked the question in the first place…. 😔
 
Cushing H. said:
I hate to ask … what is a height gauge?

Sorry , that ignorance is one of the reasons I asked the question in the first place…. 😔
Click to expand...

Essentially, an upright caliper with the fixed tine converted to a base and the moving tine has a scribe tip on it.

My first height gauge was a kit with a base and tine add on that you supplied the caliper for. I tried to find a modern version to offer you but couldn’t. There are height guage choices as low as $40 at Uncle Amazon’s.

If you use a height guage, you need a flat surface. Really flat. The best option is a standard surface plate around $60+. A cheaper but still pretty flat alternative is a piece of 1/2” float plate glass from your local glass place. If you go that route, tell them to “break the edges” so you don’t slice yourself.
 
granite surface plate and height gage with carbide scribe
here in France I don't have that and a carbide drill bit works perfectly fine (the appropriate drill bit size for your stock.)
 
I use a centre scribe like the one from Jantz mostly. To scribe bevel height I use dykem and these calipers. They have a carbide tip and a roller on the opposite side, works well for centre line scribing too. They are appr 30 euros.

VPgmq7s.jpeg
 
I also use carbide tipped calipers. I was using regular steel jaws and then upgraded a few months ago. What a big improvement!
 
Scaniaman said:
I use a centre scribe like the one from Jantz mostly. To scribe bevel height I use dykem and these calipers. They have a carbide tip and a roller on the opposite side, works well for centre line scribing too. They are appr 30 euros.

VPgmq7s.jpeg
Click to expand...
I like it but sometimes can be problem when we scribe bevel height line with that hard carbide .I mean we can end up /by mistake/ with lower height of bevel and then you have that scratch/line to deal with .When i use I use permanent marker for that line
 
Natlek said:
I like it but sometimes can be problem when we scribe bevel height line with that hard carbide .I mean we can end up /by mistake/ with lower height of bevel and then you have that scratch/line to deal with .When i use I use permanent marker for that line
Click to expand...

I only scribe ever so gently through the dykem, and always at appr 1 mm below expected final bevel height to avoid any problems
 
Scaniaman said:
I use a centre scribe like the one from Jantz mostly. To scribe bevel height I use dykem and these calipers. They have a carbide tip and a roller on the opposite side, works well for centre line scribing too. They are appr 30 euros.

VPgmq7s.jpeg
Click to expand...
I also use dykem, and will continue to use it. Its just that the plain metal of the calipers sometimes has trouble scratching through the dye (its tough stuff!)
 
Is there a cheap/fast place to get some carbide rod? Amazon is one place, but it takes a while. Im only used to seeing it as drill bits ... but surely there is something that can be picked up at home depot, HF or similar?
 
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