# Combination Gauge Hewn Tool Library · https://hewn.build/tools/combination-gauge Corrected: An independent reviewer read this entry and found corrections. They have been applied to the text, and the reviewer re-checked the correction that mattered most for safety and found it done; the others have not been re-checked yet. The list at the end is the record of what changed. Cite as: "Combination Gauge." Hewn Tool Library, hewn.build/tools/combination-gauge. Reviewed 2026-09-04. --- ## identity **Name**: Combination Gauge **Regional / alternate names**: Combination Marking Gauge; Combination Mortise Gauge; "mortise and marking gauge" (Stanley's 1934 catalogue section heading; Joseph Marples's current rosewood range) [CG18][CG19]. Retail listings blur "combination gauge" and "mortise gauge" [MOG3][MOG18]. **Family / category**: Layout and marking tools → edge-referenced scribing gauges → [[Marking Gauge]] family, dual-function branch (sibling to [[Butt Gauge]]) **One line**: A gauge that combines a single marking spur and an adjustable mortise pair on one beam, with **one shared stock** — "Combination gauges typically have three cutters: a single cutter on one side of the beam for use as a marking gauge and an additional pair on the other side of the beam for laying out mortises" [CG15]. --- ## ✦ how NOT to use it ### Not-for - Jobs needing several independent fence offsets live at once — use more gauges or reset between steps [CG11]. ### Dangerous — rebuilt (review fix 7, the holding finding) The tool has **exposed sharp spurs**. No injury anecdote was found in the Run 511 search; that is a research result, not a reason to omit controls. - **Inspect** the lock and pins; stop if a pin or lock is loose, cracked or damaged — a loose pin can break or release [CG22]. - **Secure the work** when control is uncertain; **keep the free hand and body out of the scribing path**; **trail with light pressure** so the spur does not slip abruptly [CG14][CG22]. - **Cover or orient points safely** in storage and transport [CG22]. - **Pin-making or retrofit work is a small metalworking operation.** Sellers describes retrofitting a pin made from a hardened combination-square pin [CG10][CG11]; **this entry does not reproduce "snap the pin" as a quick method** — hardened steel can eject fragments when snapped. If a reader modifies a gauge: wear eye protection and contain fragments; secure the metal and cut it with a suitable metal-cutting tool; deburr and shape the pin; **clamp the wooden part for drilling**; and verify a secure fit — or follow a complete, competent procedure [CG22]. ### Damaging - **Disc cutters (attributed and scoped, review fix 8).** Common Woodworking's buying guide says the disc-style cutters it observed "tend to be brittle and fracture in places around the circumference... difficult to re-sharpen and if broken can be impossible" [CG13]. Sellers/Common Woodworking's observation about those products — not a property of all wheel or disc cutters. - **Wear plates.** The same source reports wear plates that "can protrude above the wooden surface" with humidity, "and this can affect the accuracy of your marking" [CG13] — scoped to the products observed. - **Mis-set from the shared stock.** Flipping to the other face without noticing that the stock offset serves both can put a line in the wrong place. ### Beginner-trap - **Assuming two independent settings survive a flip.** The pin spacing survives; the fence offset is shared. - **Pressing instead of trailing** — the pin follows the grain [CG14]. ### Lineage-misuse - **Treating it as a full replacement for a set of gauges** — Sellers's own shop runs on several dedicated gauges [CG11]. - **Treating Williams's or Sholl's patents as its proven ancestors** — they are antecedents; descent is not established [CG1][CG2]. - **Treating a Stanley No. 65 or 5061 as a combination gauge** — both are marking gauges [CG18][CG21]. --- ## correct use **Before use.** Inspect the beam, stock lock, mortise slide and pins. **Do not use a cracked body, a loose lock, or a loose or broken spur** [CG22][CG13]. **Setting.** Set the mortise pair to the chisel you will use. Remember the stock is shared: after setting the stock for the mortise pair, the marking spur is at that same fence offset; resetting the stock for a marking line changes the mortise layout offset. **Marking.** - **Register the stock fully against a straight, prepared reference face** [CG14]. - **Trail** the pins with light, controlled pressure; pressing down lets a spur follow the grain or slip abruptly [CG14]. - **Secure the work** in a vise or against a reliable stop when holding it one-handed would reduce control [CG22]. - **Keep the free hand and body out of the likely path of the pins.** **Tool condition (review fix 6).** Check that the tool is sound and that its geometry lets the pins engage and track consistently; **return or correct a materially misaligned new gauge** [CG13]. **Storage.** Cover or safely orient the points; do not carry the gauge loose in a pocket or tool bag where the spurs can contact a hand [CG22]. --- ## ✦ matching **does**: makes one edge-parallel marking line, and a pair of edge-referenced mortise/tenon lines, from one beam — **one shared fence offset at a time**; reduces tool count for simple joinery kits. **suits**: one edge-referenced single line; one mortise/tenon width; prepared wood reference faces; repeated joinery using one shared fence offset; general bench joinery, cabinetmaking, training, travel, and compact or budget kits [CG11]. **kit-fit**: PAIRS WITH the mortise chisel used to set the pin spacing, layout references and workholding (a separate marking knife is adjacent, not required). SUBSTITUTES FOR a basic marking gauge plus a basic mortise gauge for many tasks [CG11] — **not** for multiple independently preserved offsets, and not for every cutting-gauge application. **not-for (project-keyed)**: layouts requiring **multiple independent fence offsets** at once — e.g. Sellers's hinge case, one setting for hinge thickness and another for hinge width [CG11]; deep or cross-grain knife-quality cuts where a cutting gauge is preferred; work whose reference edge is not prepared and stable. **access**: cheap and conceptually simple; the real gates are understanding the shared stock and trailing rather than pressing [CG14]. **revival**: a common single-purchase entry into gauge work for beginners and travelling makers [CG11]. --- ## anatomy - **Beam/stem** — one shaft, typically rosewood or beech; some later models use plastic parts (e.g. a plastic thumbscrew) [CG15]. - **Single marking spur** — on one face of the beam. - **Mortise pair** — on the other face: one fixed pin and one sliding pin, adjusted by its own screw or slide, set to the mortise chisel. - **Stock/fence** — slides on the beam and locks with a thumbscrew. **It is shared by both faces.** - **Shared setting (review fix 1):** the mortise-pin **spacing** can stay set while the tool is flipped, but the ordinary marking pin has **no independent fence offset**. Moving the stock to set one face changes the fence-to-pin relationship used by the other. A second independent fence offset requires resetting the stock or using another gauge. - **Wear plates** — some stocks carry brass wear plates [CG13]. --- ## variations | Variant | What differs | Evidence | |---|---|---| | **Stanley No. 77** | Slide-type mortise-and-marking gauge | 1934 catalogue [CG18]; Fox [CG5] | | **William Marples (1938)** | Mortise gauges with an extra marking pin; combined marking-and-mortise models | catalogue scan [CG20] | | **Marples beech (2003)** | Beech body, plastic thumbscrew; also rosewood/brass | *Fine Woodworking* [CG15] | | **Joseph Marples rosewood (current)** | Mortise-and-marking models with a marking pin underneath | maker page [CG19] | | *Antecedent, not a variant:* **Williams compound gauge / Stanley No. 90** | Four functions on one stem | patent [CG1]; collector [CG4] | *The earlier rows for Stanley No. 65, Stanley 5061 and "disc-cutter combination gauges" are withdrawn: No. 65 and the 5061 are marking gauges [CG18][CG21], and no named product with a disc cutter plus a mortise pair was documented.* --- ## trades - **Joinery / cabinetmaking** [CG11][CG15]. - **On-site / travel carpentry** [CG11]. - **Collecting** — period Stanley No. 77 examples [CG16]. --- ## lineage **Ancestors** - **The plain [[Marking Gauge]] and the twin-pin mortise gauge.** The combination gauge puts one of each marking arrangement on one beam. - **Early patented multi-function-gauge antecedents (review fix 4).** - **Albert Williams, US 17,403, "Compound Gage," 26 May 1857** — a four-function gauge: mortise gage, reversible two-face head (metal and wood marking), machinist's point, and wood marking/cutting point, "all operating on the same end of the stem" [CG1]. Per Hank Allen's collector article, it became Stanley's No. 90 [CG4]; that product fact rests on collector evidence and is kept distinct from the modern form. - **Christian Sholl, US 41,867, "Improvement in Joiners' Gages," 8 March 1864** — three or four separate, independently adjustable stems plus a sliding mortise gauge, held under one head and screw. Its rationale: *"Experience has taught me the necessity of having three or four separate gauges at hand for certain work. In order to economize the expense… I was induced to invent this combined gauge"* [CG2]. (The patent is signed "Christian Sholl"; [[Marking Gauge]]'s [MG10] "Charles Sholl" is an error.) - These are mechanically different from each other and from the modern opposite-face three-pin tool. **A direct line from either to the modern combination gauge was not established.** Shared economic reasoning — fewer gauges, less expense — shows analogy, not genealogy. **Related later forms** - **Stanley No. 77** — listed in Stanley's 1934 catalogue (No. 34) under **Mortise and Marking Gauges**, as a slide-type gauge [CG18]; per Jim Fox, Stanley's default mortise gauge from 1917 [CG5]. - **Stanley No. 65 / 65½** — listed in the same catalogue under **Marking Gauges** [CG18]. Not a combination gauge. - **Traut's US 141,475 (1873)** — an adjustable/tooth-clamping improvement (a slit beam and screw for adjusting or replacing a gauge tooth) [CG3]. It is not evidence of a mortise pair or of any specific model's combination architecture. - **Marples** — William Marples's 1938 catalogue lists mortise gauges with an extra marking pin and combined marking-and-mortise models [CG20]; Joseph Marples's current rosewood mortise gauges have a marking pin underneath [CG19]; *Fine Woodworking* reviewed a Marples beech combination gauge in 2003 [CG15]. - **Lee Valley/Veritas Dual Marking Gauge** — two independently adjustable wheel cutters; a different answer to needing two settings at once [CG7, search summary only]. **Contemporaries** - The dedicated [[Marking Gauge]] and the dedicated mortise gauge, used as a set. - The [[Wheel Marking Gauge]] and [[Wari-Kebiki (Splitting Gauge)]] — different mechanisms, not combination tools. - **Stanley 5061** — a dedicated **marking gauge** Sellers preferred; he contrasts it with the combination gauges he used for mortising [CG21]. Related, not a combination gauge and not a descendant. --- ## history **Recurring commercial evidence, not continuous descent (review fix 5).** Dated points, kept separate: - 1857 — Williams's compound gauge patent [CG1]; Stanley No. 90 per collector evidence (1867 catalogue price $22/dozen per Allen) [CG4]. - 1864 — Sholl's combined joiner's gauge patent [CG2]. - 1934 — Stanley No. 77 listed as a mortise-and-marking (slide) gauge [CG18]. - 1938 — William Marples catalogue: mortise gauges with an extra marking pin; combined marking-and-mortise models [CG20]. - 2003 — *Fine Woodworking* review of a Marples combination gauge [CG15]. - Current — Joseph Marples mortise-and-marking models [CG19]. These show the idea recurring commercially. They do not prove continuous manufacture of one product line or descent from Williams or Sholl. **The failure the tool answers.** Williams and Sholl both state the cost and clutter of several single-purpose gauges [CG1][CG2]. Sellers restates the economics: *"Mortise gauges tend to be more expensive because of the addition of the adjustable extra pin point and so we find a unique gauge we call the combination gauge... you get the extra marking gauge for free"* [CG11]. He also names the cost of the combination: when several settings are needed, you end up "losing one for the other" [CG11]. --- ## ✦ human side **Paul Sellers.** Recommends the combination gauge as a minimalist/travel tool for its cost and compactness [CG11], while his own working kit is *"two mortise gauges and three or four marking gauges"* [CG11]. His 2026 account of the Stanley 5061 treats it as a marking gauge, distinct from the combination gauges he used for mortising [CG21]. **A collector's find.** "The Duke" (Gerald van Wyngaarden), quoting Norse Woodsmith: *"The Stanley #77 marking gauges are some of the best designed marking gauges out there, but unfortunately are no longer available..."*; he pulled a circa-1910 rosewood-and-brass No. 77 from a free pile [CG16]. **Teaching community.** Common Woodworking's reader Q&A: a reader ("Nick") struggling to keep lines straight is told that pressing down, rather than trailing, lets the pin follow the grain [CG14]. On squareness, the currently accessible buying-guide Q&A says Paul recommends returning and reordering an out-of-square gauge until one is square, and that alignment to the stem axis is ideal [CG13]. **Makers**: Stanley Rule & Level Co. (No. 90 per collector evidence; No. 77); William Marples (1938 catalogue); Marples (2003 review); Joseph Marples (current). --- ## ✦ proof of existence - **Antecedent patents:** US 17,403 (Williams, 1857) [CG1]; US 41,867 (Sholl, 1864) [CG2]. - **Catalogues:** Stanley No. 34 (1934) — No. 77 under Mortise and Marking Gauges, No. 65 under Marking Gauges [CG18]; William Marples 1938 [CG20]. - **Review and current manufacture:** *Fine Woodworking* 2003 [CG15]; Joseph Marples current range [CG19]. - **Collector example:** a circa-1910 Stanley No. 77 [CG16]. - **Gaps:** no museum-collection accession record was checked in Run 511 (Smithsonian, V&A, Science Museum Group not queried); Blood & Gore's No. 90–100 type study was not accessed. --- ## references - [CG1] US Patent 17,403, Albert Williams, "Compound Gage," 26 May 1857 — https://patents.google.com/patent/US17403A/en. kind: patent (primary) - [CG2] US Patent 41,867, Christian Sholl, "Improvement in Joiners' Gages," 8 March 1864 — https://patents.google.com/patent/US41867A/en. Name, date, rationale, multi-stem construction; does not establish the modern three-pin form. kind: patent (primary) - [CG3] US Patent 141,475, Justus A. Traut, "Improvement in Carpenters' Gages," 1873 — https://patents.google.com/patent/US141475A/en. Slit-bar adjustable tooth and screw clamp; does not support a No. 65 combination architecture. kind: patent (primary) - [CG4] Hank Allen, "Why I Have Nine [Carpenter's] Gauges," *The Tool Shed* #103 (Sept. 1998), craftsofnj.org. kind: collector-society journal - [CG5] Jim Fox, "The Stanley No. 77 Mortise Gauge," *The Tool Shed* #205 (Sept. 2021), craftsofnj.org. kind: collector-society journal - [CG6] uWoodcraft.com, "Identifying Antique Stanley Marking Gauges." kind: blog/collector — no longer used for model identification - [CG7] Lee Valley / Veritas, "Dual Marking Gauge." kind: retailer (search summary only) - [CG8] Patrick's Blood & Gore (supertool.com), Stanley No. 90–100 type study. kind: collector reference (not accessed) - [CG9] Paul Sellers, "The actual Stanley 5061," paulsellers.com, 2011-10-13. kind: named-maker blog - [CG10] Paul Sellers, "Make your own 5061-style gauge #1," paulsellers.com, 2011-10-12. kind: named-maker blog (retrofit method not reproduced) - [CG11] Paul Sellers, "My Minimalist Tool List: The Combination Gauge," https://paulsellers.com/2012/01/my-minimalist-tool-list-the-combination-gauge/. Cost/travel rationale; multiple-gauge limitation ("losing one for the other"); hinge case. kind: named-maker blog - [CG12] Common Woodworking, "The Combination Gauge Guide," commonwoodworking.com. kind: teaching - [CG13] Common Woodworking, "Buying a Combination Gauge," https://commonwoodworking.com/buying-a-combination-gauge/. Attributed disc and wear-plate observations; pin inspection; current Q&A recommending a square tool. kind: teaching - [CG14] Common Woodworking, "Using a Combination Gauge," https://commonwoodworking.com/guides/using-the-combination-gauge/. Light pressure; fence registration against a straight/square face; pressing lets pins follow the grain. kind: teaching - [CG15] Scott Gibson, "Combination Gauge Review," *Fine Woodworking*, Aug. 2003 — https://www.finewoodworking.com/2003/08/01/combination-gauge-review. kind: trade magazine - [CG16] "The Duke" (Gerald van Wyngaarden), "Stanley No. 77 Marking & Mortise Gauge," progress-is-fine.blogspot.com, 2012-08-29. kind: collector blog - [CG18] Stanley Tools Catalogue No. 34 (1934 scan) — https://www.blackburntools.com/articles/rose-tools-catalog-archives/pdfs/stanley-1934-no-34.pdf. No. 65 under Marking Gauges; No. 77 under Mortise and Marking Gauges (slide gauge). kind: manufacturer catalogue (primary) - [CG19] Joseph Marples, "Rosewood Gauges" — https://marples.co.uk/gauges/rosewood-gauges/. Current mortise-and-marking models; marking pin underneath. kind: manufacturer - [CG20] William Marples 1938 catalogue scan — https://hyvelmuseum.madcap.se/PDF/MarplesCat1938.pdf. Mortise gauges with an extra marking pin; combined models. Supports existence, not descent. kind: manufacturer catalogue - [CG21] Paul Sellers, "Making the Paul Sellers' Marking Gauge, Part I" (2026) — https://paulsellers.com/2026/04/making-the-paul-sellers-marking-gauge-part-i/. The 5061 as a marking gauge, distinct from combination gauges. kind: named-maker blog - [CG22] CCOHS, "General Hand Tool Operation" — https://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/safety_haz/hand_tools/general.html. Inspection; repair/replace defective tools; cover sharp edges; eye protection; secure work; avoid excessive force. kind: government safety guidance *[CG17] (an unreadable LumberJocks thread) was never used and is retired.* --- ## open follow-ups - Blood & Gore's Stanley No. 90–100 type study. - A primary Stanley catalogue for the No. 90 (1867–1879). - A museum-collection record for a combination or compound gauge. - Direct re-read of the Veritas Dual Marking Gauge page. --- ## forge images needed - A two-face diagram: single spur on one face, mortise pair on the other, **one shared stock** — showing that flipping keeps the pin spacing but not an independent fence offset. - A labelled anatomy shot: beam, stock, lock screw, spur, mortise pair with its adjuster. ## The reviewer's corrections (10) - `BLOCKER` — 1. Correct the shared-setting mechanism — Exact claim: “Independent locking, per Sellers’s own description: each face’s setting holds through use of the other face,” and “Carrying two live gauge settings — one plain marking line, one mortise-pin-pair width.” - `SHOULD-FIX` — 2. Remove Stanley No. 65 as the best combination-gauge match — Exact claim: “No. 65 ... is the strongest documentary match to a Stanley catalog number for a true single-pin-plus-mortise-pair combination tool.” - `SHOULD-FIX` — 3. Remove Stanley 5061 from the combination-gauge family — Exact claim: “The Stanley 5061, Paul Sellers’s own preferred modern example,” and the variation row “Modern production combination gauge.” - `SHOULD-FIX` — 4. Recast Williams and Sholl as antecedents, not a proven direct lineage — Exact claim: “Williams, not Sholl, is this tool’s earliest verified patented ancestor,” “Sholl’s 1864 patent is a documented second, independent invention of the same cost-saving idea,” and “The modern combination gauge is the surviv … - `SHOULD-FIX` — 5. Remove the unsupported continuous-manufacturing claim — Exact claim: “Stanley’s own 1867 catalog price ... and later ... mechanisms ... document a continuous manufacturing line into the 20th century.” - `SHOULD-FIX` — 6. Correct the squareness advice and its citation — Exact claim: “Don’t worry about stem-to-head squareness; per Sellers’s own team, it doesn’t affect the marked result,” and the cited reader Q&A saying it “doesn’t matter.” - `BLOCKER` — 7. Add actual safety controls and bound the retrofit method — Exact claim: “Dangerous: misuse that injures the user — Not found despite direct searching,” alongside Sellers’s retrofit description using a hardened combination-square pin “snapped ... from the pommel,” drilled undersize, and drive … - `SHOULD-FIX` — 8. Narrow the disc and wear-plate claims — Exact claim: “Disc-cutter variants are brittle and hard to service” and wear plates “protrude” with humidity. - `SHOULD-FIX` — 9. Repair matching language — Exact claim: “Does NOT substitute for owning two dedicated mortise gauges when a job needs two mortise-type settings live simultaneously,” and “not-for ... two independently-set mortise/pin-pair widths.” - `MINOR` — 10. Clean process residue and confidence — Exact claim: Provenance describes parallel “research passes,” blocked session access, and orchestration details; confidence credits a “genuine correction” and “honestly thin” category.