Making A Wooden T-Bevel Homemade Woodworking Tools
A sliding t-bevel is used to measure or transfer angles. It is held in place, set to the angle that needs to be matched, and then measured with a protractor or marked off on the stock.
These are available in many sizes and quality, and usually have a wooden or plastic body and a metal blade. They range in price from very inexpensive, and are generally all about the same size. It’s a tool that will not be used very often, but when needed, it’s hard to do without.
The benefit of making one yourself is that you can make it in any size you need, from any material you have at hand.
For mine, I went with two types of wood for contrast. Maple is the lighter coloured wood and I believe the darker wood is jatoba. I cut them into strips 5/16″ thick and 1-1/4″ wide:
I left these longer than I needed and sent them through the thickness planer to bring them down to 1/4″ thick. The picture shows how I tapered the ends before planing, to reduce the chance of the thin strip getting pulled up into the cutter. I’ve had this happen before while planing thin stock like this and this is a very effective way to avoid it.
The slot is cut part way with the table saw. This could be done on the router table as well, but this way is faster:
The slot is cut wide enough for a #10 machine screw to fit through easily.
To close the slot on the end, a filler is cut:
This should be the same width as the wood on either side of the slot.
The filler is glued in and set aside to dry:
After the glue has dried, a 1/4″ fender washer is used to mark the radius on the end:
It is sanded to the line on my disk sander.
The centre points are marked on the ends of the parts that will make up the body:
A 3/16″ hole is drilled and the washer is used to mark the radius:
Both pieces are drilled and rounded and the blade of the t-bevel is cut at a 45 degree angle.
This is how the parts line up:
A dry fit assembly before gluing, to make sure that everything fits right.
The body is then glued together:
After the glue has set, the parts are sanded smooth and given a couple coats of clear finish:
To lock the screw so it won’t turn, I used slow set epoxy to glue it in place.
Finished:
A neat little project to make a very useful shop tool. I made this one in an afternoon and it was ready to use the next day.