Youve got to be kidding

[lowell holmes]

Pop Wood has an add for a square and the price is $165. Who would spend that much for a square?

[Ray Selinger]

25 years ago I spent $125 for a Mitutoyo combination set and I thought I was getting a deal! Starretts were more and not as good. It was for work.

[Jim Koepke]

The most I have paid for a square is about $15. I wanted it because it was a small, ~3" blade, with a rosewood handle. My guess is it cost more than when it was new.

jtk

[lowell holmes]

I did pay $65 for a Starret and was happy with it. I still have it and it is superior to other squares I have.

[Bob Glenn]

I've made a couple out of cherry and oak. Lighter and easier to use. The degree of accuracy of the expensive squares is non-consequential at my level of woodworking.

[Jim Koepke]

The degree of accuracy of the expensive squares is non-consequential at my level of woodworking.

If a knifed line does not converge with a second line drawn with the square flipped it is likely accurate enough for most folks level of woodworking.

It is pleasant working with extremely accurate, high quality equipment. Currently my level of woodworking barely pays for what I do have. Maybe if I get a few high dollar commissions some fancier tools can be procured.

jtk

[Matthew Springer]

I would completely pay that much for a square. But only their square (or possibly a woodjoy). Their stuff is a joy to behold.

Funnily I came over to this tread directly from BlueSpruce thinking to myself "but I really could use a sliding bevel to go with it". I have a bunch of their dovetail chisels but the gateway drug is the marking knife. The tools are incredibly beautiful. My biggest issue is they don't seem to have a "give me one of everything" button.

[ken hatch]

Pop Wood has an add for a square and the price is $165. Who would spend that much for a square?

Me.

Vesper tools has several in that price range. I have a couple of his double squares and use them many times each day....Wonderful tools. While I do not have a Colen Clenton try square yet....mostly because I'm having a hard time deciding between She-Oak and Blackwood . BTW, my Starretts do not cost a whole lot less and I would have a hard time doing much of anything without 'em.

As with most things in life you sometimes get what you pay for and a good square is worth the note.

ken

[Kees Heiden]

Whatever floats your boat of course, and have fun with it. In the mean time we should make absolutely sure for everyone reading this that you don't NEED a square like that to do good work. Maybe if you were outfitting a joint strike fighter (if there is anything square in that thing), but not for normal woodworking. Never.

[george wilson]

Kees,precisely my point in telling people that the best thing to do is LEARN skills,like grinding accurately,rather than rushing out to spend $1400.00 on a grinder. Too many get the idea that the skill is somehow in the tool.

I worked across the street from a music store for a year,and did all their guitar repairs. I was in the store frequently,having become friendly with the staff. There was an older guy who wore carpenter's clothes. Clearly a working man. He bought a new guitar EVERY WEEK,or so. I must have been there on at least 4 occasions when he bought yet another guitar,trading in the one he had bought a week before. What he really wanted was to be a better guitarist. Buying guitar after guitar wasn't the solution to his playing inability.

While in the museum,I made some of my own wooden squares,and made many of the pieces I have posted using a wooden square. I'll bet that many of the World's masterpieces in museums were made using simple wooden squares(and planes!)

It seems that some misunderstand my intent when I make a brief statement to "Learn a skill". I did spend many years working with others who were equipped with only the simplest of tools. The gunsmiths,especially,seemed to make a point of using the nearest to nothing they could to make a fine rifle. Tool collectors from Early American Industries remarked that the gunsmiths were working "In Elizabethan conditions". But,they had the skills to do their work quite well.

[steven c newman]

These seem to do just fine..
IMAG0016.jpg
You can see a few in the background.

Besides, some people spend more than that on a simple, little block plane, just because it is made from bronze......

[Mark Rice]

Pop Wood has an add for a square and the price is $165. Who would spend that much for a square?

I would never spend that much but I have a friend that would spend that much in a second.

[Nicholas Lawrence]

A good square is worth the money. When I had a cheap one I was never sure if it was me or the tool when a joint was out. Now I don't have to wonder.

[Nicholas Lawrence]

ETA: I should say I have not seen the ad, and don't know anything about that particular square. I think I paid about $80 for my Starrett combination square.

[ken hatch]

This thread got me to thinking, usually not a good thing.....A 6" Colen Clenton square with Rose She-Oak is on its way to Casa Chaos.