They make this thing that I call a square. It’s got a 12″ steel blade and another thing that slides along a drepressed channel in the side. The thing that slides along would also help with a 45 degree line. My stanley has a level buble in it to.
Who makes a good one or can one not go wrong with a stanley?
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Replies
A combo square? Starret or Stanley would probably never let you down. If you've already got a Stanley and it's been taken care of then your set.
Shout out to Andy C. Namaste my friend.
http://www.hay98.com/
The staanleyu one is good, but not indistructable. I have gone through four or five in my life. it is usually the snag pin that is threaded to hold the 12" bar in place that breaks eventually, and by then, the rest ofthe tool is showing some wear. But I use it every day.
I must have most of the bars still.
Don't be trusting the level for much.
Starret has some up around a hundred bucks I think, but I'll stick to wearing out a few more Stanleys.
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The Stanley all-metal one made in England is affordable and decent quality. About $20 I think. And the bubble vial is just for decoration.
I'm sorry, I thought you wanted it done the right way.
Dave,
A "good one" means different things to different people. What is you intended use? Where? Will others use it, or only yourself? How much you wanna spend?
The better Stanley models are fine for most site construction tasks. The Starrett and its ilk are much higher precision tools, and are usually seen mostly in shop environments. With care a Starrett will outlast you and still be precise for your heirs.
My good one stays in the shop, and I use a cheap Empire on jobsites. The cheap ones also weigh a lot less.
Bill
comination square ( sometimes we call it a T square )I went thru a bunch of stanleys. as was mention it's the tab that slides along the rule that breaks after a fall or two.
also the bubbles are rarely true
however............
I have found a brand that I have been amazingly impressed with - 'Great Neck.'
When I bought it, I checked the bubbles on each one they had on display and they all read true....which was a 1st for a combo square. then what shocked me was the fact that it has not busted! usually I'd have to pick up 2 or 3 Stanleys a year from falls. but I've had my Great Neck maybe 4 - 5 years and after numerous one story drops it's never busted. then one day I lost it. so I bought another and also told a buddy at work who'd gone thru a number of stanleys to try it out. I've had the same experiance with my second one and so has my buddy.
Also one day I'd left mine at home so I borrowed my buddy's at work. I was working up top a chase and accidently dropped it 2 1/2 storries down to the main floor. Thought for sure it had to be busted. I went down to get it - it was fine. I joked to my buddy that I was just testing it for him......yup it's good I said.
Mine is a "Craftsman" from Sears, and I have had it for almost 30 years.
Gene Davis, Davis Housewrights, Inc., Lake Placid, NY
piffin,
Do you still have the scribe pin in the top?
seems like those are always missing.
-zen
The scribe pin in my Craftsman is still there.
For those that want the very best, the Starrett combo square is the real deal.Gene Davis, Davis Housewrights, Inc., Lake Placid, NY
LOL, My history with the scribe pins is that they stay in the tool until the first time you take it out. Once you do that, the cherry is broken and it never stay s tight in after that.
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LOL......now that is funny!!! I purposely never took mine out on my last one so it would never fall out as you described. I'm thinking how am I ever gonna use this thing..if I take it out it will never stay in...lol
Give it a little knurling with pliers, and it stays in better.Gene Davis, Davis Housewrights, Inc., Lake Placid, NY
I never think of using the darn thing anyway. It would probably work great, but I end up reaching for a disposable mechanical pencil in my apron.
-zen
When used by machinists, the scribes are for marking lines on metal surfaces. You are right about pencils, for marking wood or anything else more readily marked thus.Gene Davis, Davis Housewrights, Inc., Lake Placid, NY
That's true but I just whip the scratchawl out of my Oxys and scribe away
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When I was a kid I bought my step father this old square. I was dumber then. You can hardly read the scale anymore. It never was a very easy on to slide the rule on either.
My step-father was over here doing some trim and left his old one on my table saw. Guess what he's getting for Farther's day? He uses it for a lot of stuff. BTW his old one is farm grade now. AKA he lost it.
He deserves a $30 model.
Buy him the Starrett. If he has been around and helping you out for thirty years get him a good one.
A Starret or a Union, and a Nicholson #50 are always a good things to keep an eye out for at a flea market. Combinations squares also come with two other heads that I know of, a centering head, sometimes called a V square, useful in radius work, and a protractor head that swings angles. These tools are very accurate favored by machinists if I'm not mistaken
I have found the plastic triangle squares to be accurate and durable enough for framing and many construction needs. I also have a Starret that hangs in my workshop that I can relay on for funiture and machine setup. Get both, you will not regret money spent on your Starret combo square!
We are friends. Like Clinton and Dole. They don't agree on many things but they are friends. GarrettWade also has a head they call a height gauge attachment. GarrettWade.com. From picture in catalog it looks like Starrett quality.
Get yourself a swanson speed square. It'll mark 90, 45, roof angles (it comes with a little book), and it will also be a saw guide to boot. ( do that with your hunnerd doller sparrett square)
Either tool has its own specific uses. I favor the speed square framing and the tri-square triming
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Hey is it Tri or Try? I always thought it was Try-square because there used to 'try' the angle. Just Pennslyvania backwoods horse sense. But I really don't know.
There are 12,800 hits for "try square" and 5,530 for "tri square".And a number of the tri square are for things like company names and dice.http://www.thefreedictionary.com/try%20square"try square
n.
A carpenter's tool consisting of a ruled metal straightedge set at right angles to a straight piece, used for measuring and marking square work."But there are a large number of squares places that tri square is used for WW squares such as this one.http://www.rockler.com/ecom7/product_details.cfm?offerings_id=10737&cookietest=1
I knew that would get a rise.A try square is the fixed unit which is usually a wood side handle square to a metal bladed. The blade is 1-1/2" thick so it can be used to try the end of the stud and see if it is cut square or to layout. a tri-square is the unit under consideration here, for the triple angle, also known as a combination square.
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Triple angle? Or three heads?
Triple angle. Not that many are in the kit with three heads
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It's a combination set to a machinist.
"a tri-square is the unit under consideration here, for the triple angle, also known as a combination square."You are just digging your self in deeper <G>.Other than the miss named try squares, of which there are many, these are the only other ones that I could find.http://catalog.starrett.com/catalog/catalog/groups.asp?GroupID=16No place do they call the combination squares tri squares.http://catalog.starrett.com/catalog/catalog/PLH2.asp?NodeNum=21489
Huh?Back in 1970, in new mexicxo, the first decent carpenter I worked for introduced me to my tools. He showed me the basics of which to buy. He called it a tri-square and explained it just the way i did here. Last year, when I broke my last one, I called the yard and ordered a Tri-square and that is what I got. Didn't take any explanation to them to get it. More common name than you know apparantly.
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You are right; it's a tri-square, as far as I've always been told. That might be regional, but it must cover a few pretty big regions 'cause it is known by that name in all the places I've lived in my life so far....
In our local French, it's called a fausse équerre, which translates literally as 'False Square'. This doesn't show up in any of my dictionaries; it may be a strictly local term. This is confusing as a bevel gauge is also called that by some. So you've gotta know the context. The 'proper' name for it in French is équerre coulisante--sliding square.
I'm not sure who makes it for them (it looks like a Stanley), but Canadian Tire offers a model with a 16" blade that I've been considering. My 12" Stanley keeps falling outta the spare hammer loop on my pouch (only place I've ever found to hang the danged thing); I figure the extra length of blade might counter-balance the weight of the head sufficiently to prevent it from turning upside down and falling out....
Dinosaur
A day may come when the courage of men fails,when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship...
But it is not this day.
For carrying my combination tri-square, I slit the stitches in one of the chisle spots of my tool apron, so the slide arm can fit down through
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I carry an OLFA knife in one chisel pocket and a pair of six-inch dykes in the other. The chisels go in the main pockets, with the tip guards. We're gonna have to think o' somethin' else....
Dinosaur
A day may come when the courage of men fails,when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship...
But it is not this day.
I don't understand the three angles. Isn't it just 90 degrees or 45 degrees?
I carry one everyday. I cut the rule down to 8"so it was easier to carry. Anything bigger than x8 I use my framing square.
I second that and would be interested to see an explanation.
Not three angles. Three heads. We are talking about a machinist's square, which as sold by Starrett and others, comes with a familiar square "head," the part that when the clamping screw is loosened can move along the rule, but with two others as well.
The two others are a v-shaped "centering" head, and one with a protractor head to adjust to an angle.Gene Davis, Davis Housewrights, Inc., Lake Placid, NY
I knew about the three heads. Somebody said three angles on combination square.
Or did I? There is also a fourth head.
My plain ol' speed square has three angles. 45, 45, and 90.Gene Davis, Davis Housewrights, Inc., Lake Placid, NY
I thought we were talking about a combination square.
0°
45°
90°not all have the three heads
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Dear piffin. I read your comments regularly and really have come to greatly respect your opinions. But the three angles 0 being one of them is a S T R E T C H. I hope you were smiling when you wrote that. I think the board already has 0 degrees on it .
Not at all. Look at the body of your square. The part that you cradle into you hand, There is one curved surface edge on it and three straight edges. What angles are they? The reference is not to the board or the pencil lines you draw, but to the angles on the square itself. There are three.
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I guess you weren't smiling. This is from what I use as a end all to all handtool questionsFrom the book Hand Tools by Aldren A Watson copyright 1982 page 341
"This small square does the same work as the traditional try square, which is was used to "try it on the work" to see if it is square. Whereas the try square with wooden stock and metal blade was limited to just one job, the combination is a much more versatile tool. It is made with a cast steel head that slides to any position on a flat blade, one face of the head at a 90-degree right angle to the blade and the other at 45-degree for mitering."He doesn't mention tri-square or three angles anywhere in the chapter. That is the chapter opening. It is a great book. I highly recomend it.
Edited 6/19/2005 10:09 am ET by quicksilver
Well, I guess if he doesn't mention it, it must not exist.I'll make a note to correct the hunmdreds of other people who have used the term as i come back across them. Might take all of my next life tho.;)
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I understood the 3 head part. I bought the centering head separately for use in my basement shop.
My BIL got me one that has a 6" leg instead of the typical 12" I have also seen several that were either 16" or 18"When he got me that 6" one, I thought, " hmmm, cute, but I'll probably never use the little toy."Then one day in the shop, I grabbed it becaused my other was on the job. It does fine for most of the jobs I need it for and it fits right in to my pouch easily. I use it a lot now.
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