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marking-knife-vs-exacto-exactor You marking knife vs exacto exactor post now and register later. Wikimedia Commons. There are numerous other knives on the market with very similar designs. This article includes a list of general referencesbut it remains largely unverified because it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. It and the Veritas were the easiest to sharpen because the blades of both are mar,ing and wide with large bevels. Wxactor may receive a commission when you use our affiliate links. Chris, Good stuff as usual!

I prefer the convenience of one tool. Or, if you own a tool that has a knife-like edge such as an X-acto or a pocketknife , you need to rotate the knife left or right depending on the mark you want to make.

Learning to rotate the knife is a learnable skill. But more significantly, rotating the knife limits how tight a space you get the tool into. With a thin spear-point knife, you can sneak into almost any space. There are a lot of spear-point marking knives out there, and they are surprisingly different in the details. Three of these knives are made by individual makers: the knives from Blue Spruce, Chester and Knight toolworks. The knives from Hock Tools come from a small company in Northern California.

For me, marking knives are an item of some intimacy, and so I gravitate toward tools made by people you can call on the phone and talk to personally. After six months of shop time, I can say that I like all of these knives, though each has quirks and limitations. This review should help you sort out the best one for you. Instead, here are the characteristics I have found to be more important:.

It must be balanced, lightweight and keep your fingertips away from the sharp edges. You should be able to control the knife without a death grip. This is an important difference. Larger blade angles are better for marking dados and tenons using a square because you want to deeply score both the near and far corners of your work to make it easy to carry the line around the workpiece.

A larger blade angle cuts these corner marks without you having to radically angle your wrist. I prefer the smaller-angle knives for dovetails, especially for transferring marks from the tail boards to the pin boards. The lower blade angle allows you to exert pressure in the right place.

Thin knives allow you to sneak into tight spaces between the tails to mark out the pins. This benefit comes at a high price, however. Thin knives are more difficult to sharpen because the cutting bevels are considerably smaller. The thin blade is reinforced by two brass ferrules, which make it rigid. The middling blade angle makes it suited for both dovetail or bench work. And the tool is well-balanced, comfortable and a joy to wield.

I even like the acorn on the end of the handle. Its only drawback is that its thin blade makes it the most difficult to sharpen. The large blade angle makes it well suited for bench work; marking tenons, dados and anything else across the grain was a breeze for this tool.

The ease of sharpening ranks somewhere in the middle. It and the Veritas were the easiest to sharpen because the blades of both are thick and wide with large bevels. Unlike the other tools in this test, both Hock knives required significant setup. All the backs had to be lapped flat and polished, and the bevels had to be ground and honed.

Though some woodworkers would disagree, this form is ideal for marking joints for hand-cutting. The flat side rides the shape of the piece you want to mimic. The knife marks its location with zero offset. But no one ever showed me how to use a marking knife. And sometimes it would follow the grain instead of the path I had set for it.

Then one day, I realized what I was doing wrong. I was moving the knife too fast and with far too much pressure. Once I slowed down and took three light passes in place of one heavy pass , my accuracy took another leap forward. If you need to add some makeup to a knife line, run that mechanical pencil down the knife line, then run an eraser over the pencil line.

Here are some supplies and tools we find essential in our everyday work around the shop. We may receive a commission from sales referred by our links; however, we have carefully selected these products for their usefulness and quality. THEN I was expected to split the line when working.

It was customary to work to one sixtyfourth inch tolerances or better. That one technique has stood me in very good stead all these years. If you check the technique paragraph on page 14 of my first book, you will find another couple of subtle points which may help. The position of the flat side of the knife is very important to avoid heading off in the wrong direction or shaving chunks off the sides of your tails or steel layout tools…..

This last disaster can be avoided if the heel of the cutting bevel is not lifted too far from the surface of the timber. OK, you pushed me over the edge. Andy PS — My wife would like a application to join wivesagainstschwarz….

You missed one other step in the layout education of a woodworker, and that is the ballpoint pen. Thanks for posting the tip, Chris.

That way I can sneak up to the cut line with the router quite easily. I use that same white charcoal pencil to highlight my marked line in darker woods as you suggested with the lead pencil above. By Christopher Schwarz. In Chris Schwarz Blog , Joinery. This knife, I thought, might just be a mechanical pencil that never needed lead. So slow down, and take it easy.

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