Best marking gauge?

the mortise gauges are nice, having the two cutters, but I think that in general the wheel gauges are better, they work much nicer going across the grain, because they dont tear the grain the way the little pin does on a mortise gauge. If you can get a mortise gauge with the blade style cutter, that should work well( I have never used one, but seen them). woodcraft has a less expensive wheel marking gauge the veritas is certainly a bit nicer, but either is a good tool to start, and a mortise gauge will be a good addition down the line if you find that you ar marking a lot of double lines for mortises, tennons, dadoes, etc.

a marking gauge is a layout tool,and should be quality if you want to do quality work
I recommend
http://play-glen-drake.com/v-web/ecommerce/os/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=24&products_id=37&osCsid=6d893580f46ccfe16640749653e7a53a

what I use

-- Junior -Quality is never an accident-it is the reward for the effort involved.

I’m not wild about the gauges with the pins. I prefer the style with
a knife. I have a bunch of marking and mortise gauges – they can
be left setup for a particular joint you make several times on a piece,
so it’s worth buying old ones when you find them at flee markets
and such.

I have one of these from Lee Valley.

I prefer the Japanese kebiki. Here’s two from Lee Valley.

Here’s where I generally order Japanese tools: Japan Woodworker.

-- 温故知新

I have been happy with this one from Rockler. I doubt that it’s “the best”, but still a solid performer.

-- Greg D. -- the price of freedom is tolerance

Now don’t get me wrong here, I’m not a HF hater. I have lots of their stuff and I’m satisfied with the vast majority of it. So with that said….....

The HF mortise gauge I bought was 1000% crap. The beam was warped, and even if it weren’t, the mortise that the beam rides in was drilled at a 10* angle. I’ll definitely be hesitent to buy something like that online again.

I bought a rockler wheel/cutting gauge when they were marked down to $7.50, and am happy with it. However, I’ll probably upgrade to the Veritas wheel gauge at some point. The Veritas looks to be a few notches up from the rockler in terms of quality and performance.

Make one. It’ll be yours alone, and you’ll like it.

-- When the moderator chooses sides, his site sucks.