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Square recommendations
I could use some recommendations for a largish square that is truly square. I bought an 18x24 Stanley carpenter's square and it fails the flip test.. you know... draw a line, flip the square and redraw a line on top of the first one. I suppose it would be fine for rough carpentry.
The crosscut sled I built for the 4100 appears near perfect.. but then I figure out that what I'm using to build it by and judge what "square" is, isn't.
Sorry for the newb question... but have you ever searched for "square" here? :eek:
thanks,
Ian
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It may seem expensive, but if you don't buy a 12" Starrett combination square you will want one forever. I finally gave in 2 weeks ago and it is truly a fine tool.
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Yep, Starrett. Only bring it out when you either:
A) Make your own
B) Measure up one at the store to find the squarest
C) Want to impress your friends
:)
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I'm a big fan of all the measurement and layout tools from Woodpeckers. Go to woodpeck.com and click on the link titled "measuring and Layout". For the money, these can't be beat: http://www.woodpeck.com/incraprot.html
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I had a cheap one like that and I made it square by pounding on the corner. It was too wide, meaning over 90°. I set it on top of my metal vise's "anvil" surface and pounded pretty hard quite a few times on the outside corner. That got it to a perfect square using the flip test like you describe.
The problem is that the edge is not now straight. I filed off the bumps I made, but can't really use that part as a straight edge. It's far more useful than it was before though.
The trick is to pound some and test frequently so you don't over shoot. (DAMHIKT)
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Starrett ! The 4" or 6 " double square is super handy too. Its with me most of the time, except when I can't find it:rolleyes:
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I'm with you on this one. I have two framing squares--one from Woodcraft and one from HD and neither one is square.
I wound up making a rectangle of plywood about 12" on a side and made sure the diagonals were exactly even--well within a frog's hair anyway. Then I labeled it with a sharpie so it wouldn't get tossed. It was primarily to set my Festool MFT fence square to the guide rail, but could be used for other stuff. I also have a 4' sheetrock T-square, which as far as I can tell is pretty close to square.
Try as I might I can't find a large (ie over 12" long) engineer's square. Jerry Work uses one--I asked him where he got it and he couldn't remember :(
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1 Attachment(s)
peen your square
if your square fails (carpenters square)
(peen: hit with the round part of a ball peen hammer. this will spread the metal slightly and expand that spot.)
(peen where the tongue and blade intersect)
- peen the inside corner if it the inside is less than 90 degrees. this will open up the inside a little.
- peen the outside corner if the inside is more than 90 degrees. this will close up the inside a little.
test as you go. pound pound pound, test. repeat.
hope this helps,
dan
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Starrett. You'll be glad you did.
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im for starrett too
but,
for fixing your carpenters square, you'll need to peen it.
ive got both. starrett for all my handy and small work and a carpenters square for framing and checking carcases.
v/r
dan
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Dan is right, you can square a square with a ball peen hammer, or use a center punch but.......Starrett. I use squares that are "square enough" most of the time but at some point you want reference squares and straight edges to work from. I put off getting the Starrett combo for too long. Expensive but worth it.
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Square
Ian,
The old time carpenters would buy a new square, and test it as you did: draw a square line, flip the square over, and draw a second line to see if they match. If the lines crossed each other, they would take a metal punch (kind of like a nail set but with a shallow point on it) and they would place it on the square about 1/4" in from the inside corner, and tap it with a hammer. Recheck drawing the lines. Repeat the steps until square. If the original set of lines went apart from each other, use the punch about 1/4" in from the outside corner of the square. This should work fairly easily, but another recommendation is to buy the steel version of a framing square, it will hold up better. If this process doesn't do the job for you, throw out the square and buy a Starrett.:D
Kurt Bird
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I use another approach. I even checked my Starrett this way. Use a drafting square. They are dead accurate and available in many sizes.
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Yup...My Starrett is my go to that I keep safely in it'special place in my tool box. It is my "standard" that I use to check my other squares.
Gary
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Thanks, I'll try peening this thing. Either I'll fix it or I'll chuck it.
Ian