MARKING TOOLS

Your shop may be filled with the finest cutting and shaping tools money can buy, but if you don't measure and mark precisely, your project parts will fit like a cheap suit. Perhaps that's why woodworking catalogs offer page after page of products promising to make you a more accurate woodworker. To help you sort it all out, here are the marking  tools we find very useful

marking knife

These are indispensable in a woodshop for tasks such as marking
tenon shoulders and cutting cardboard templates.
Knives are a preference, pocket knives, box cutters; utility
knives with a retractable blade are all useful in a woodworking shop. The marking knife that I  use a lot is like the one pictured above, with the beveled  blade tip is useful for transferring dovetails in tight quarters. Although I use a marking knife from Pfeil which is slightly more expensive it was one of the tools or instruments I chose from the higher end of the market as I use it on almost every projects.

pencil's

Every shop needs pencils for marking out your designs and
marking wood in order to keep track of jointed surfaces and which piece fits together where. Depending what I am doing I have a few types of pencils. For very detailed work like laying out a mortise or tenon I use a pencil like about with a very fine and small piece of lead, for bigger tasks I usually use a carpenters pencil which is huge in comparison, I use that for measuring out rip cuts or breaking down a board to rough size.
 

marking gauge

The purpose of the gauge is to scribe a line parallel to a reference edge or surface. It is used in joinery and operations.

The gauge consists of a beam, a headstock, and a scribing or marking implement, typically a pin, knife, pen or wheel. The headstock slides along the beam, and is locked in place by various means: a locking screw, cam lever, or a wedge. The marking implement is fixed to one end of the beam.The marking implement is chosen depending upon the operation to be performed. Some marking gauges have the capability to allow a number of implements to be fitted, others do not; and a woodworker will often have a number of different types. A steel pin is used when scribing with the grain. A steel knife is used when scribing across the grain. The pen or pencil is used when the woodworker does not wish the surface to be marred. Generally speaking, the pin and knife yield more accurate marking than do the pen or pencil. It is also used to mark parallel lines to the face side and edge side.

awl

– these are sharp, pointed instruments with a variety of uses. They differ in the fineness of their points and the thickness of their shafts. A fine-pointed awl is useful for marking out joinery
and scribing lines and a thick-shanked, broad-pointed awl is good for making pilot holes in wood prior to drilling. The dimple it leaves when tapped with a mallet forms an exact starting point for a drill bit.