I'm looking for a better square

[Byron Trantham]

Scott,
I ran into the same problem about a year ago. I had no idea my square wasn't! I used a technique posted here and found out it was waaaay out of square! I bent it into a accordion and looked for a new one. After reading a bunch I found out that there are about three categories. $10-$15 (Borg stuff), $50-$80 (Lee Valley stuff) and $200-$300 (sterrett stuff). I opted for the middle road. It isn't perfect but usable; maybe a pencil mark off in 24".

[Greg Hines, MD]

You have until May 30th to order one of these. I have the 6" version, and it is very well made, and Richard from Woodpeckers is good to work with.

http://www.woodpeck.com/2616squarewp.html

[scott vroom]

No way would I bring a high dollar LV tool to the job site - that's too much temptation for the mooks I work with to bear.

LOL.....I know what you mean. My crew is my son and it takes him about 5 minutes on a jobsite to step on and bend it or coat the edges and obliterate the markings with thinset/concrete. We're on our third BORG framing square this year. If I buy an expensive square for the woodworking shop it's gonna stay in the shop

[scott vroom]

Take a look on the Woodpeckers website (maker of Pinnacle). You can get both carpenter's square and speed squares. I have the 4" and 6" triangles and their older 12" speed square (they also have an 18" speed square).

The quality is fantastic. Not cheap but I find them indispensable.

Looks like they no longer sell an 18" speed square?

[Jay Jeffery]

The aluminum speed squares made by Empire are quite a bit better than the other BORG squares. Some places even have them in bright colors, like the Craftsman they sell at Sears. The edges are cut, not stamped or cast and accurate enough for really any woodworking operation. For machine set up, Starret may be the way to go.

[Cary Falk]

Looks like they no longer sell an 18" speed square?

They closed out the 18" speed square at the beginning of the year. They then took special orders for them in April. They will ship in June. They will most likely offer them again for a limited time. If you are on their mailing list you get preorder announcements.

[Curt Harms]

I bought a borg framing square that checks nicely against the Lee Valley square that Bruce links to above. I went to a Lowes that had about 2 dozen framing squares. Found what I thought was a flat surface about 4' long and started comparing squares back to back. I went through most of the pile but found two that when stood back to back touched their entire length without overlapping. My thinking was that the likelihood of finding two squares with exactly complementary errors was pretty remote so if they agreed with one another, they were pretty accurate.

[Kyle Iwamoto]

I'd go with what Paul said and get a Craftsman, NOT because they are accurate, but because they give you a new one if you break/bend it. I dropped my 4" combo square, and of course they gave me a new one. You did say framing right? No need for supreme accuracy IMO. Put it on the ground and use the tiles (if they have tiles) to find a straight one.

[Ray DuBose]

I don't use large squares very often but I have been wanting to make one of the squares Chris Schwarz found an antique of and put together plans for. http://www.popularwoodworking.com/wo...-layout-square