Osborne Miter Gauge

[pcooper]

A recent thread sparked my interest in the Osborne miter gauge, and I sure wanted to look one over before buying...but decided that since all those on here seemed to be pleased with it...I bit the bullet and bought one. It came in the mail the other day and today I manage to get some time to get it out and play with it. I do like it!! Money well spent!! I've used Incra stuff for a long while, but this has some really cool advantages too, and I'm thinking that it'll be my major player for my next project. The picture isn't much, but my camera in my phone isn't much either. But there has to be pictures or it didn't happen, right?

 

[drw]

Phillip, I would be interested in hearing what advantages you find in the Osborne miter gauge vs. others you may have used.

 

[Gofor]

I am still very happy with mine after five years. Congratulations on a fine purchase.

Go

 

[pcooper]

Without having used it yet, my first impressions include some of the things that sold me on trying it...being the adjustment for the angle to the blade is done with an arm between the miter slot and the fence, that triangulates the gauge for a certainly more accurate adjustment, then the gauge that shows how far you're going in angle locks, so you don't have to rely on the twist handle to lock in place. My other miter gauge is an incra1000. It has some really nice adjustment qualities, but still lacks in the ability to lock in a triangle which is much stronger when it comes to pushing stock through, and the potential for misalignment once set. The next thing is the Osborne has an anti-slip material applied to the face, making stock less likely to slide on the miter once you start feeding into the blade. The fence extension also will work on either side of the standard fence, and there are a lot of adjustments available for both left and right hand slot use. I'm anxious to get some wood out and work with it, but just my playing around with it on Saturday makes me think it's going to be a good choice. It comes with one stop attachment too, and uses a t-slot on the top to attach to. I don't know if there are folks close to me that would like to try it out, but if so I'd be willing to let folks come by and test drive it sometime. I've really gotten use to the Incra in the last 15 years, but I'm pretty sure this miter gauge will be a favorite for plenty of reasons. Might set up the Incra for dedicated jobs, and leave it to that.

 

[Gofor]

Phil:

In the event that it doesn't make a perfectly square cut, the fastener that holds the triangular support to the slide is an eccentric adjustment to get it exactly on. Mine was fine when I got it, but one of the unscheduled trips to the concrete garage floor knocked it just slightly off. Just took a couple minutes to readjust it and get it back to perfectly square.

One of the things I like about the fence is that you can flip the extension to the off-blade side for beveled cuts. Being at a 45 degree angle, you can get support right up to the blade. On mine, the anti-slip material came with it, but I had to apply it. I went without it for a while, because when setting things against the stop, its easier to slip them over to it without the anti-slip on. However, I did end up after a couple months putting it on and am happy I did. Just takes a little different technique to position the work, but once in place its stays firm throughout the cut.

Although the stop works very well for most work, I clamp a straight piece of scrap for a really positive one when doing tenon shoulders, etc. The nylon washer on mine allows it to move slightly (maybe 1 mm) at the lower end, depending on the pressure you use when anchoring the work against it. Yours, being new and possibly redesigned may not have this problem. I remove mine when not needed because knob will hit pieces taller than the fence unless the knob is exactly aligned with the top of the fence. I am happy with its utility, but just be aware that it can cause a problem when doing things like cutting finger joints, etc. It is the only feature on this miter gauge that I would not give an unqualified 5 star rating, and it literally takes just a second to remove it when not needed.

Go

 

[red]

I have one and love it. Very accurate. I do like the stop for repeat cuts. I highly recommend it.

Red

 

[Barry W]

This item, Excalibur, appears to be the same as an Osborne. If it is, this a deal! However, it may not be the newest design.

Update: I read the full description and it states the Excalibur is identical to the Osborne, only labeled differently.

Apologies to Phillip for hijacking your thread!

 

[pcooper]

Kinda wish I'd bought from the Excalibur site listed above, I'd have paid less for the same thing...of course the version I have is out of stock...but the one in stock looks pretty close to the same..wonder what the actual difference is. No regrets though, it's worth the money either way. :thumbs_up

 

[Gofor]

This item, Excalibur, appears to be the same as an Osborne. If it is, this a deal! However, it may not be the newest design.

Update: I read the full description and it states the Excalibur is identical to the Osborne, only labeled differently.

Apologies to Phillip for hijacking your thread!

The one that I have is labelled on the gauge as the Osborne EB-3. The user directions are titled "Osborne Excalibur" and "Model #50-EB3". That is the model that I have. IIRC I paid over $100 for mine years ago. That is a good deal if someone is wanting one.

Go

 

[Barry W]

I pulled the trigger and ordered the Excalibur.

Will provide an update when received.