Bridge City Universal Gauge

Review and photos: Raf Nathan

As expected from Bridge City, whose tools are now made by Harvey Industries in China, this multi-function gauge is superbly made. The gauge is high grade anodised aluminium with crisp laser etching and a perfect fit between components. It is a hefty 434gm in weight and the specs say accuracy of the fixed square is plus or minus 0.05mm over 90mm.

As a height gauge it excels with clear measurements on the body.

As a square you lay it on a workpiece to mark on the left side, up to a maximum 85mm. With the opposing side protractor set at 90° you can then work the right side for squaring, but you will need to set the protractor first to the correct angle.

The clever design of the protractor arm allows it to wrap around a drill bit for setting at 90° or other angles.

The embedded magnets in the base make the tool excellent for setting a fence to 90° on a jointer or bandsaw. The protractor swings to 45° up and down so setting tablesaw blades to common angles is easy. There are numerous markings for common bevel shapes, and it locks securely with a single knob. However so many markings mean the text is quite small and hard to set to. I guess I prefer my digital gauge for angle setting.

Setting sawblade at angles is straightforward.

The protractor arm is a right angle designed to wrap around a drill bit for setting a drill press table. This is a very useful feature. Depth measurement is achieved with an arm that slides vertically. It can also be slid out and re-fitted to work as a height gauge. The etched markings for this function are very good. Finding hole depths or router bit height setting is easy and accurate.

For setting a fence the embedded magnets help position the gauge for accuracy.

The specs say you can use the middle sliding adjuster as a marking gauge. I felt this was not really suitable for my work style, and I am unsure of the need for this function.

If you were to purchase a quality protractor, a square and a height gauge you could well exceed the cost of this single tool. So, in that respect this tool is value for money. For setting fences and as a height gauge I found it excellent whilst the other functions I found less critical.

Review tool supplied by Bridge City Tools, see https://bridgecitytools.com

Raf Nathan @treeman777 is a designer maker who teaches woodworking classes from his Brisbane workshop.