I recently acquired a few new, old tools. They were a gift of a friend of mine whose grandfather was a Scottish cabinet maker. They sat in his basement for many years and he finally decided that they would be more useful in my hands that continuing to decay in his basement. They were in fairly rough condition, but mostly salvageable. The first two pieces I chose to rehabilitate were the marking gauge and a #3 Stanley Bailey hand plane, (circa 1910-1919). More on the plane soon.
The marking guage is particularly nice and was in quite good condition, but deffinitely used. I lightly sanded it and place a light coat of BLO on it. There was a tag attached to this tool that was placed there by my friends grandfather in the early sixties. It stated that the tool was a solid ebony marking guage used for marking door mortises when doors where made by hand. It also stated that it was made in Scotland over sixty years ago. I am sure there are nicer guages than this one, but I have never seen one.
Thanks, Bill G
