Need Help Choosing Squares

[Curt Putnam]

Someone mentioned saddle squares. I find them to be indispensable. I've got pretty much the LV assortment. The 45° and dovetail squares have been particularly useful. For general use, I find that a 4" double square and a 4" try square pretty much handle it all. When I do need larger, I walk over to the tool chest. For larger, I have a 6" Woodpecker's and a 12" Starrett.

[Luke Dupont]

Due respect to Luke and Patrick, don't UNDERthink square. While not every piece has to be s4s, most joinery starts with and requires 2 square faces. You can get lucky with cheap squares, but you should test them against references that have produced solid results for you. Although I am a long time user of cheap squares, I can tell you that a reliable one is worth its weight in gold. Buying a good quality one now will allow you to reap more years of benefit from this highly important tool. I do believe that woodworking tolerances may be less than machinist/metalworking tolerances. But if you're not using a reliable reference for checking square, you'll make more challenges than are necessary when cutting joinery and jointing edges for glue ups.

Actually, I will agree there: you should definitely check your squares, and continue to do so from time to time.
A suggestion based on my novice experience, though: make absolutely sure that your square is registered against a perfectly straight edge. I wonder if some people don't think that their square is off because the edge they're referencing against is actually off. Use at least two known straight edges if you can, as, it's probably more likely that the edge is off rather than the square - you want to make sure you've got the correct culprit.

On at least a few occasions, I've checked a square against something I thought to be straight and detected a slight difference in angle which lead me to think that my square was off, but registering against another piece confirmed that the square was dead on, and it's the edge that was off.

[Chuck Hart]

I own a Starrett 6 inch combo and a 12 inch PEC. After using both I bought a 4 inch double square from PEC. My Starrett is nearly 35 years old and perfectly square. My PEC's are newer but square also. When I bought the 12 inch PEC they were much cheaper than they are now. If you want one buy them direct. http://www.productsengineering.com/squares/

[lowell holmes]

Really,

I think we need one of each!