Review: JessEm Tool-Setting Gauge
Height gauge is versatile and accurate
JessEm Tool Setting Gauge: JessEm.com $79.99 (large imperial gauge)
THIS UNIQUE HEIGHT GAUGE beats others I’ve used, in a number of important ways. For one, it’s versatile. The blade is exactly 1⁄8 in. thick, with corresponding lines on the measuring scale 1⁄8 in. apart. This lets you use the top or bottom of the blade to line up a cut. And the blade is long and accurate, meaning you can use any part of it as a reference. Better yet, the gauge flips squarely onto its side, letting you use it to set the distance between a fence and a bit, for example.
The gauge is also very accurate, thanks to its heavyduty construction, wide base, excellent machining, and toothed measuring rack, which locks at 1⁄16-in. increments. While some height gauges measure in much smaller increments, I find that sixteenths are great for the vast majority of situations that call for a setup gauge like this one.
The JessEm Tool-Setting Gauge is made with stainless steel, in two sizes, with metric and imperial measurements available for each. Personally, I would choose the larger model. Priced at just $60, with a 5-in.- long base and 31⁄4 in. of vertical travel, I think it’s a steal. The smaller model is $59.99, with 2 in. of travel.
—Asa Christiana is FWW’s editor-at-large.
Photos: Asa Christiana
From Fine Woodworking #310.
Comments
Small update, but the price for the larger one is $79.99 and $59.99 for the small. It's also $20 for shipping to me in North Carolina.
I discovered the same thing. I reached out to JessEm to see if they would honor the price they shared with FWW at the time they gave FWW the tool for review, and the said no.
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> Sorry, but a business decision was made to increase the price on our
> Stainless Steel Tool Setting Gauges after the article was written.
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> Kind regards,
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> Vaughn Fox
> JessEm Tool Company | 324 Desbrisay Avenue |Moncton, NB E1E 0G8
I value the tool reviews that FWW publishes. They give me insight into tools that are new, or that I might not spring for on my own with respect to this review, FWW has been misused by JessEm to publicize a tool under dubious circumstances. Per their correspondence above, JessEm seems perfectly comfortable in their decision to increase the price by a staggering 50% after they gave it to FWW for review. It would have been far better to say “pricing has not yet been finalized” vs misusing FWW’s reach and audience in this way. It smacks of a corporate profit grab.
Personally, I’ll be buying the Woodpeckers version of this tool. It’s a lot more expensive, but at least they are honest.
Is there a metric version
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