A weekly stem of records

The brass stem of a marking gauge holds the offset while the fence rides the edge. Without a stem, the pin wobbles and the mark is not a line. A weekly record is that stem. It holds hours used, money in, costs out and tax set aside so the leftover-hours offset does not drift mid-week while the day job is still seated.

A notebook, a sheet or a simple table is enough. The stem is not software. It is a place the numbers sit every week, in the same order, so a reader can see whether leftover hours stayed leftover. When the record is missing, memory edits the week. Side work looks shorter. The day job looks longer. The pin has moved and nobody marked it.

Marking Gauge recommends one stem per week, closed on the same day each time. Hours against the fence. Hours against the pin line. Payments received. Costs paid. An amount moved to tax. If a week overruns the offset, the next week’s fence is reset before new work is accepted. The stem does not punish; it keeps the measure so the next line can be scribed from a true edge.

Over months, the stem shows whether side work is a parallel line or a series of scratches. That is the only result this site discusses: a readable record. It does not discuss how much anyone should earn, and it does not treat a tidy sheet as proof of income. The brass is there to hold a distance, not to decorate the bench.

What the stem holds

• Leftover hours marked at the start of the week, from a seated fence.
• Hours actually used against that offset.
• Money received and costs paid.
• Tax moved aside, even when the amount is small.