Replies

1. 
   hammer1 | Feb 24, 2010 06:07pm | #1

   Lighten up on the pressure. Make your first pass tickle light, if needed, you can make a couple more passes increasing the pressure once you have started a track.

2. 
   bduffin104 | Feb 24, 2010 11:11pm | #2

   Use a #3 lead pencil and keep an electric sharpener nearby.

3. 
   derekcohen | Feb 25, 2010 06:56am | #3

   The recommendation to lighten the downforce is one with which I agree.... multiple light passes are the way to go.

   Also, regrind the 20 degree bevel to 30 degrees. The higher angle is less likely to want to follow the grain.

   Regards from Perth

   Derek

4. 
   Furniture_Maker | Feb 25, 2010 12:14pm | #4

   Get a fixed blade Stanley utility knife and load it with 11-931 blades.  These are the thickest and stiffest that  Stanley makes.  You can go halfway to China if you feel like it and these babies will not wander one smidgen.  They last a good long time and obviously you just change it out when dull.  These blades will not fit in retractable utility knives, at least none that I've found.

5. 
   SteveSchoene | Feb 25, 2010 02:50pm | #5

   Seems to me I was taught to place the entire cutting edge down on the surface to be marked, with the back flat against the guiding edge whether rule or dovetail side.   If you try to cut mostly with the tip you have cutting edge "free" for a small wander to slice into the guide. 

1. 
   mlbfreestyle | Feb 25, 2010 10:18pm | #6

   Here is something that I have not seen mentioned yet in the previous replies.  By altering the direction of travel relative to a sloping grain line, the knife can be pulled into the straightedge or away from the straightedge.  Just be sure that when striking a line with the knife that your direction of travel is appropriate.  See the attached sketch.

   
2. 
   flairwoodworks | Feb 27, 2010 03:41am | #8

   That makes too much sense.  Why didn't I think of that?

6. 
   Kenneth | Feb 26, 2010 08:09pm | #7

   The problem may be that your knife is too sharp.  I had the same problem.  Rob Coseman suggested that I dull the blade and it worked.  When you think about it, a dull marking knife is still much more accurate than a pencil lead.