Veritas Poly Gauge — and the Amazon Alternative

Setting a router bit to exactly 3/8 in above the table by holding a rule beside it, in bad light, at an awkward angle, is one of those jobs everyone does badly and nobody admits to. The result is a groove that is nearly right, which on a drawer bottom means a rattle and on a rebate means a visible step.

Setup blocks replace the measurement with a physical reference. A block machined to 3/8 in sits on the table, you raise the bit until it just touches the top of the block, and the bit is at 3/8 in. No reading, no parallax, no light required.

Veritas’s poly gauge is its own take on the same idea and is sold, like the rest of Veritas, by Lee Valley direct. The 15-piece aluminium block set scored here is the Amazon equivalent, and it covers a wider range of sizes.

The technique

Touch, do not push. Raise the cutter slowly until it just contacts the block and stops it sliding freely. If you crank it up against the block you will lift the block and set the cut proud.

For fence offsets, put the block between the fence and the bit and slide the fence up to it. For a jointer, set the outfeed table to the block on the cutterhead at top dead centre.

Stack blocks for sizes between the ones supplied — two 1/8 in blocks give you 1/4 in, and the error stacks too, so use the fewest blocks you can.

Treat them as reference, not as scrap

The whole value is that the blocks are the size stamped on them. Aluminium dents. A block that has been dropped on a concrete floor or rattled around a drawer with chisels has a burr on one face, and a burr means the block now sets a cut a few thou proud.

Keep them in the case, check a face against a straight edge if one has been mistreated, and file a burr flat rather than leaving it.

What they are not

These are woodworking setup blocks, made to a nominal size, not certified gauge blocks. They are more than accurate enough to set a saw blade and nowhere near metrology standard. For woodworking, the distinction never matters.