Swanson Products (Sliding T-Bevel)

[Jason Scott]

Hey all,

I wanted your opinions on the Swanson sliding T-bevel if any of you have it. I have needed one for a while for doing dovetails and finally decided that I was going to get one yesterday.

Going along with my new creed "I will never buy substandard tools that I have to replace" I decided on a Crown t-bevel from Woodcraft. They seem to have a great name and I have one of their detail saws, so off I went. I looked around at Stanley/Jonson/etc. from the big box stores especially b/c this tool is not so much an "accurate" thing as it is just to transfer angles. Anyway I said, no to the cheaper ones and decided on the Crown like I said. When I got to woodcraft though I picked up their 9" Crown and it felt ok, but not lightyears difference from some of the cheaper ones. I was curious so I took it out of the package and played with it. It seemed nice enough, and I love the "look" of it. But I decided to wait and go one more place I had not gone before I shelled out close to 30 dollars for this tool.

That is when I came across the Swanson Professional T-Bevel. Except for the color of the hardwood (more reddish than the nice Crown dark rosewood) it felt better made to me It was heavier, and the locking wheel was really neat and kept the traditional wingnut out of the way. In the end I decided to buy the Swanson, and it was not b/c it was 9 bucks compared to 27 for the Crown, it just "felt" better to me. So I am curious, are they a decent tool company? I have sworn off cheap tools, as I have replaced my craftsman ts and router, with Powermatic and Dewalt, so this seemed backwards to me that I was getting the "same" tool for 9.00 as opposed the 27.00, so this would be an instance of you can get a good tool for less money. I don't know, maybe I am wrong and I do not have enough experience to know why, this is my first t-bevel...In the end I could just not justify spending 3X as much on a tool that did not "feel" as good as the cheaper one. Please let me know your thoughts on Swanson.

Link to Swanson tools, the t-bevel is halway down the page:
http://www.swansontoolco.com/product...r_squares.html

Jason

[Lance Norris]

I have a Swanson 12" combination square that is just as square as my Starrett 12" combination square. It lives an unglamorous life jammed among other tools and junk behind the seat of my truck. My Starrett has a place of honor in my shop and is used in every project. They are both great tools. Each has its place. Im sure your T bevel will be a good tool also. Good tools dont always have to be expensive.

[Art Mann]

A few weeks ago, I went to Lowes to buy a framing square. I picked up several Swansons and compared them to each other. They were not all the same. At lease one of them had to be out of square. I eventually bought one that I thought was square and carried it home, with the expectation that if it weren't really square, I could take it back. It turned out to be good to go and I am satisfied with it.

[Mike Marcade]

I got one of the Swanson T-bevels you talked about from Lowes. It looks decent to me, although there seems to be some straightness variance in the blade (nothing major though).

[John Revilla]

I have the TS 149, carpenter square, and the try square. I bought my Starrett later than these and compared the squareness of the Swansons to the Starrets. No difference. I’m just an amateur woodworker but Swansons and General products like bevels, squares, protractors, and rules were as good as the Starrets and the Incra I got. Godspeed.