Which Straightedge to Buy

[Chris Padilla]

Bob,

I figured it out...you need to use more SMILIES in your 'chain-yanking' replies!! Then we know you are being sarcastic...most of the time!

See, they work well!

[Bob Smalser]

Bob...
Don't take this all on your shoulders or to heart.

Naw....the cost of doing business when you have a minimalist tradesman's message in a world full of consumerists and collectors. Heck...y'all are much further ahead than the Hand Tool crowd...at least you are actually making things and not just collecting and fiddlin with yer tools.

The up side is that there wouldn't be all those high-quality modern tools out there if there wasn't a market.

The down side is that Joe Newbie is persistently bombarded with a bigger and more relentless hammer than mine ever could be that you can't do top-quality work efficiently without a massive investment in a sophisticated home shop...

...and that's nonsense.

It's also nonsense that all this takes incredible talent combined with years of practice. In a previous life I trained hundreds of young gunsmiths doing work related to this hobby and most of the basic skills can be acquired in hours with the right coaching...not years. Takes slightly longer to learn project planning and management and much longer to acquire speed...but that's not important to a hobbyist. "Talent" can't be given to you...whatever that is. Some folks....especially those who couldn't draw a picture with reasonably-accurate proportions in art class (my first pop quiz with budding stockmakers)....and folks who have trouble "seeing" in three dimensions...need to rely on plans and patterns more and for longer til they develop their "eye".

Join a guild or club and find the right mentor rather than look to the latest gizmo for what you need.

[Dan Gill]

Okay, I have to chime in here because I can empathize with both sides of this discussion. I've read many, many posts gloating about purchasing tools that I cannot begin to afford. I've also seen Bob and some others showing off projects I can't begin to compete with. I've enjoyed both, and sometimes been put off by both, as well. So I'm kind of in both camps.

I am incredibly appreciative of all the good advice and the good humor on this site. It's not that way everywhere, believe me. That said, I didn't see anything edgy about Bob's initial post. And I'm in the market for a good straightedge myself. But I can see how it might put some off.

For myself, I would like to have that Unisaw and all the nice planes, and the outrageously priced Festools, but I have to content myself with my BT3100 and the inexpensive chisels. In the same way, I would like to make beautiful sailing vessels, but for now I just have to content myself with relatively simple cabinets, tables, and such.

It's all good, guys. And this is one place where everybody plays nice.

[Jim Dunn]

Dan hit the proverbial nail on the head "It's all good, guys. And this is one place where everybody plays nice". I couldn't agree more!! Playing nice has been drummed into us since childhood. I've never been associated with a nicer bunch of people, both talented and not so talented, as I have been here. It's my home on web.

Jim

[Alan Tolchinsky]

A straightedge should be light, easy to grip, reliably straight, and able to stand fairly solidly on its edge. Longer may seem desirable but shorter ones are more handy and can be moved around to cover areas greater than their length - maybe not to 0.001" accuracy, but accurate enough for machine setup and general woodshop use. I have a couple steel straightedges. They work, and I don't plan to replace them (might as well spend my money on other things), but if buying new I would get the Lee Valley 24" aluminum straightedge. Yup - just 24". No way I would go longer than the 38".

Bob has a valid point of view but he pounds it home so relentlessly in thread after thread that, IMHO, his voice is just as narrow and elitist as that of people whose shops are filled with pricey new tools. The work should stand on its own merits, and I won't feel bad if I got there cutting with a $2500 table saw or a 60 year old Disston handsaw gotten for free out of a friend's attic.

Proud of your new $1200 thickness sander? Too bad you didn't get the $10,000 Timesaver. Now THAT'S a real machine. Proud of how well that Pre-War Stanley you got for $5 at the flea market planes after you reconditioned it? Too bad you didn't spend the time learning how to make your own irons and wood plane bodies. Both paths have no end. Posts that avocate either would do well to stop short of denigrating the talents or priorities of woodworkers who happen to have different sensibilities and budgets.

Dave, I agree with you and what you say makes a lot of sense. Alan

[Alan Tolchinsky]

It's spose to be about making things.

Mostly what it seems to be about is acquiring more and more tools...whether they are needed or not.

Do poor boys make better woodworkers because they are forced to make do?

I agree with this premise. For awhile I wanted every tool/machine in site until one day it dawned on me. You don't need every machine in the world for wood working. Now I'm more PROJECT oriented rather than thinking about which new machine to buy next. I'm always looking for new projects and ideas and even copy things I see. I have a modest size shop and tool collection ( a relative thing) and I can do anything I want to with it. So I'm looking for things to make not more machines to buy at this point. It's taken me 2-3 years to come to this point.

[Frank Pellow]

I have enjoyed reading the various well articulated points of view in this thread. Strangely enough, I find myself agreeing with conflicting statements. I guess its because: (1) I have done a lot of "rough and ready" measurements in my day and the results have, for the most part, been just fine; but (2) I have the 38" Lee Valley straight edge and have put it to good use several times and gives me confidence to know that I have something straight that I can absolutely trust.

Returning to the original question in this thread, the 38" length is all I that I ever needed. I have a 48" level my 38" straight edge tells me is straight and, a very few, I have relied on the combination.

Last year, a friend of mine used my straight edge to prove to General that the table on his new bandsaw should be replaced. He simply mentioned on the phone the tool he had used to do the checking and they sent him a new table.