Originally Posted by
Derrell W Sloan
If you're looking for an adjustable square and you have a Sears near by check out the Craftsman adjustable squares. I just picked up a 7 in. and it is nice. It was less than $8 and the larger 16 was about $15. Best of all they are made in the USA and guaranteed for life.
I was very happy with that square for the price. It appears to be made by SPI. The quality seemed much higher than other squares in the price range, and a quick and dirty test showed all the ones on the rack showed them all to be square, unlike some of the brands I've seen at Home Depot, etc, where some were visibly out-of-square. I got that same 7" square on a whim, had it for maybe a year, and it still seems damn accurate, at least enough for woodwork. The tabs that you can file to fix it being square are a little small, and all in all I don't expect a lifetime tool like a Starrett, but I'm also not going to lose sleep over it getting lost or dropped on a hard surface, either.
For most work, however, I still reach for smaller fixed squares. I have a little square that Klaus sent me that is just great. It lives in the most convenient place in my tool cabinet on a little magnetic holder he made, and gets used constantly. I'm thinking about putting another little magnet holder on the side of my bench to keep it closer at hand.
For larger panel work I use a vintage framing square I got as part of a deal on a toolbox I bought for the several saws inside. One of these days I'll bang out a wooden square for the heck of it, I have no idea if I'll like it or not.
I once passed on an old fixed engineers square that was huge - maybe 2 feet long. (I actually don't remember now, I think it might have only been 16-18 inches and like a fish story it gets longer each retelling, or maybe it was bigger) The thing weighed a ton so I wasn't going to add it to my full bicycle. It was B&S or Starrett or one of the other old Mass. makers. I have no idea what I would have done with it, but I still kind of wish I had gotten it.
Last edited by Jessica Pierce-LaRose; 02-04-2013 at 3:34 PM.
" Be willing to make mistakes in your basements, garages, apartments and palaces. I have made many. Your first attempts may be poor. They will not be futile. " - M.S. Bickford, Mouldings In Practice