Do any of you use a height gauge to scribe your steel stock before grinding?

LARRYZ10

LARRYZ10

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Feb 6, 2010
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Hi, I have been using dial calipers to scribe the edge of my stock before grinding. It works well but the calipers lose their sharp edge pretty quick from doing this. I found a 6 inch high Grizzly height gauge with a carbide tipped scriber for $62.95 plus $12 shipping. Do I need this? I already have a piece of marble and can read most dials. What do you guys do? I know that some of you make little blocks with a piece of broken drill bits or taps to scribe the edges on 5/32, and 3/16 bar stock but I almost always have have different thicknesses of steel on hand and like to change the space for the edge From .030 to .040 on some projects. I have four dial calipers on the bench now. Am I making too big a deal about my reference marks? My hollow grinds look great from the bottom because I mark the blades. Larry Lehman, Bakersfield, Ca
 
You are spot on. In fact with forged blades a height gauge is the very best tool I know of to use to scribe the blades center line. Square up the ricasso and use it to determine your blades center line.
This I learned from Nick Wheeler's WIP and later was shown in person. My second ever forged knife started .25" and ended up .105" after chasing the center line around... Lol.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...Wheeler-s-Steel-*-Stuck-in-the-metal-with-you
 
Granite surface plate + height gage == win!


Grizzly has the best price on a B-grade surface plate "shipped". I've got a cheap import height gage like grizzly sells, and I'm not particularly happy with it. Is it accurate enough for our work? Yes. However, I'd much rather a knob adjusted Mitutoyo style replacement, for ease of use. Fine adjustment on the "caliper" style dial height gages is a PITA when locking the reading or doing fine adjustment.

A piece of marble will work "ok"ish, but you have zilch idea what the accuracy is, and a dip or dive in the surface can cause you to wonder why you're chasing your scribe line in some spot. A b-grade surface plate is inexpensive, and will give you a lot more confidence.


Centerline should be scribed from a known vector, such as a surface ground or lapped riccasso. Using a hand held scribe following forged or ground stock "divided" thickness introduces a myriad of variables, which can likely play out poorly. Same with using caliper jaws, which also add another level of operator error.
 
Yep, height gauge is the best tool for this job. I have two different purpose built center scribes, and I will occasionally use them to mark unground stock, but nothing beats a height gauge for ease of use when marking the center on a forged blade.

--Nathan
 
Oddly enough, I never use a scribe for my bevels. I eyeball almost everything and only use a straight edge to true things up when forging. :o
 
javand said:
Granite surface plate + height gage == win!


Grizzly has the best price on a B-grade surface plate "shipped".
Click to expand...

If you're in the USA and can use the Enco coupons, you can get a free shipping coupon code from them on that.
 
Every slipjoint I build. Very important for that blade tip to lay centered on a folder. Using a granite surface plate and height gauge makes a lot of sense to me. I use many different blade thicknesses on many of my knives. It is fast to measure with a mic the blade thickness, divide in half, set the height gauge and start grinding. I grind post heat thread , flat with almost a zero grind, so I just run one center line.
 
I agree with all the guys here. :) I use mine all the time (for a lot of things non-knife related too!).

For the money you're talking about, I would recommend what Javan said, and get a higher quality dual beam gauge. I had always been extremely happy with my little Chicom unit, but when I got sent back to school--- they only had dual beam gauges in the machine shop. They had a Mitutoyo and a couple Chinese knock-offs. For a knife maker, the Chinese version would do anything you want for the rest of your days.

If you want to save a few bucks, just keep an eye out for that small unit like I still have/use. I see it come up in the seasonal Grizzly flyers for $40. I bought mine from Enco during a sale and spent about $44.

And +1 for Grizzly's plates. I have a 18X24X3" for lay-out, and a 9X12X3 on the hand-work bench for a sanding surface. There hasn't been a knife out of my shop in the last few years that didn't see some work on both plates!!! :)


FWIW- A cheap surface gauge is money well spent as well. I use one on every knife for marking the parts that I don't want gouged by the carbide tip of the height gauge. Don't waste your time on ebay if you decide to get one. They sell for about $25 + $12 shipping there. You can buy one on sale at Enco for about $17 and usually free shipping. :)

Like Brian mentioned (thanks Brian!) if you go through the link in my signature, you'll see quite a few pics of me using the plates, height gauge, and surface gauge. :)
 
Heck I use mine for mixing drinks!

The Grizzly one does look nice for the money...
 
NickWheeler said:
I agree with all the guys here. :) I use mine all the time (for a lot of things non-knife related too!).
Click to expand...
You would throw up in your mouth a bit watching me work, Nick. I worked for 15 years in tool and die and was used to thinking and working in tenths of thou... Now, I do everything by eye and feel. I draw on stuff with a stick of soapstone and fine tune with a flat bastard.... lol:p
 
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