Marking knife
A pencil line has width and a knife line does not. On joinery, that difference is the fit.
A pencil line has width and a knife line does not. On joinery, that difference is the fit.
Best for: Dovetails, tenon shoulders and any joint cut to a line
Every figure below is a manufacturer specification read off the listing itself. The judgments are ours.
A prismatic-ground marking knife with a red beech handle.
A single-bevel knife is ground flat on one side, so it registers against a square without leaning — but it only works on one side of the line. A prismatic grind is symmetrical and works in both directions, which suits marking around a workpiece where you cannot always approach from the same side.
Because a pencil line is half a millimeter wide and you have to decide which side of it to cut. A knife line has no width, and it does something a pencil cannot: it severs the surface fibers, so a chisel placed in the line drops into a positive registration and the shoulder comes out crisp.
For anything you might change your mind about, and for marking waste. A knife line on a visible face is permanent unless you plane it out.
The only listing on this shelf that says where its scale starts — which is the one thing a rule has to get right.
Best for: Setting a router bit height or a saw blade depth, where the rule has to start at the end
A caliper that will not scratch a finished surface — and whose resolution is twice as fine as its accuracy.
Best for: Checking stock thickness and bit diameters against a finished surface, to a fifth of a millimeter
A kit whose own title gives two different counts — and the only one on this shelf to publish its case size.
Best for: A cased set for a van, by somebody who will count the contents on arrival
Twenty-five bits, an American carbide classification, and a compatibility list that names a rival on this shelf.
Best for: A quarter-inch router that will meet a wide range of profiles, in a shop working to American dimensions
A named impact standard, two coatings and a lifetime warranty — on glasses whose comparison figures name nothing to compare with.
Best for: A pair that gets worn, because it does not fog and does not scratch — on a face without prescription glasses
The clamp you reach for with a board in the other hand — listed on all six markets and priced on exactly one.
Best for: Holding a jig, a fence or a workpiece while your hands do something else