Sometimes You Need Tools....

As much as I'd like to be able to, there are times when I just can't go out and buy every tool that I want even though, Gods know, I've tried. I recently found that I really needed a height gauge. Now, I can buy one for about fifty bucks but they look all metal and modern, but I'm developing a rather Victorian esthetic. (One of the downsides from following in Steampunk I'm sure.)

So being the cheap person I am trying to be, when I found a sale on digital calipers at Harbor Freight recently, I picked up several sets with the intention of using one set for a height gauge. So how do you make something with modern technology and digital readouts look "Victorian"? Simple, use lots of wood and brass.

The design for this gauge is not mine. It's been on the web for years and was originally published in Live Steam magazine in 1978 in an article by the late Frank McLean. Rather than go through the construction details you can find the original article here.

This is a piece of rosewood I plucked from the "lumber by the pound" bin at MacBeath Hardwood in Berkeley, California recently. It is hard. It is very hard. It is a carbide-cutter-sharp-edge eraser. This stuff does not make sawdust it makes saw powder. If you run any size drill into this stuff over 400 rpm, you will let all of the smoke out of the wood. If I make another, it will be easier to chew out a base of black walnut with my teeth. Hard! Trust me on this. But damn, it is beautiful!







The major changes I made were in using wood instead of iron for the base and turning the whole thing 180 degrees so I can hold the gauge with my left hand while scribing. The brass strip running down the middle was notched for holding the base of the caliper after I Dremel tooled off all of the caliper bits I didn't want. The round brass plugs I turned on my Mini-Lathe and are simply there to add mass to the base, and to make it look cool, but mostly for the mass. To make the whole thing slide nicely on my cheap ass surface plate (actually a scrap bit of marble counter top I got from a local cabinet shop), I added a brass shoe to the bottom of the rosewood base. Gorilla glue is wonderful stuff for bonding metal and wood. The only finish I used on that rosewood was a good quality wood wax. And it glows!


So there it is then, my attempt at a "Victorian/Steampunk/modern" height gauge. Could I have taken more time and made it without flaws? Sure. Could I have put a mirror polish on the brass bits and pieces? Sure. But I need the tool more than I need to spend more time making it "perfect." In my world, a tool only needs to be as perfect as it needs to be to perform it's assigned job. I'm sure that, in my little shop, this poor thing will get it's share of bumps and bruises and perhaps in time, and with enough spare time, I'll go back and make it all polished and shiny. However, it's either do that now or get back to work on the four "ray" gun projects I am currently working on. More about those in posts to follow I'm sure.

If you have any questions about how I did something (or how I didn't do something) just
leave a comment or email me. If you really like this and have a need and can't make one for yourself, talk to me. I'm sure I can find enough spare time to help you out for not much money. After all, sleep is overrated!