Decent try square

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MarkDennehy":a7ruorvt said:
Whoa, stall the digger.

:D

Very funny.

Yes, the majority of full time furniture makers that I've met use combi squares. They might have a fancy engineer's square in a box to check their combi squares against if they've dropped them, or they may have a 4' x 2' draughtsman's square for drawing up plans, but pretty much all of their day to day furniture making work is done with combi squares, and I guess at least half of those are Starrett combi squares.
 
Should anyone have free access to British Standards, or be willing to shell out a not inconsiderable sum of money, the standards for carpenter's squares and engineer's squares (not including adjustable squares) are as follows;

BS3322 - 1981 Carpenter's Squares - https://shop.bsigroup.com/ProductDetail ... 0000072804

BS939 - 2007 Engineer's Squares - https://shop.bsigroup.com/ProductDetail ... 0030163790

The Engineer's Squares standard covers try squares, cylindrical squares and block squares to grades AA, A and B (calibration, inspection and workshop, in effect). Scrolling down to read the description shows what the standard covers, but someone will have to pay up to find out the numbers!
 
custard":3a1g4jxu said:
MarkDennehy":3a1g4jxu said:
Whoa, stall the digger.
:D
Very funny.
An actual idiomatic saying around these parts believe it or not...
Yes, the majority of full time furniture makers that I've met use combi squares. They might have a fancy engineer's square in a box to check their combi squares against if they've dropped them, or they may have a 4' x 2' draughtsman's square for drawing up plans, but pretty much all of their day to day furniture making work is done with combi squares, and I guess at least half of those are Starrett combi squares.
Huh. Would not have guessed it. I always thought combisquares were just a kind of quick-and-dirty tool, that if you ever actually needed square (even to within normal measurements) you'd use something else.
I may have been influenced in that by the cheap silverline type of combi square I got originally, as compared to the cheap engineers squares I got originally. The latter were spot on in a reference-edge-and-flip-it-over test, but the combi square was... well, I put it in the bin, that's how good it was.

I suppose if you're spending three figures on one made by starrett or M&W it's a bit better, but my head just doesn't want to trust them and I keep reaching for the engineers square from proops over even the M&W sliding square that I have here.
 
custard":k0uxpw17 said:
Here's the thing about squares. When a square is certified "square" what is it that's actually being certified?

Here's a diagram that illustrates what I mean,



Is it edge A to B that's square within a specified tolerance? Or C to D? Or A to D? Or B to C? Or indeed all of them?

I read long ago (I forget where) that it is only the inside A - B that is guaranteed square.
 
custard":3j965xvn said:
MarkDennehy":3j965xvn said:
Whoa, stall the digger.

:D

Very funny.

Yes, the majority of full time furniture makers that I've met use combi squares. They might have a fancy engineer's square in a box to check their combi squares against if they've dropped them, or they may have a 4' x 2' draughtsman's square for drawing up plans, but pretty much all of their day to day furniture making work is done with combi squares, and I guess at least half of those are Starrett combi squares.
Combination square are very convenient and versatile, and a well made combination square can be "within tolerance" for many wood working operations.

So I'm not surprised.

My own day to day square is an old and battered 12" M&W combi square. I've retrued it (with files, scraping and SiC) using a 2-4-6
block and a surface plate. The accuracy is still no more than OK, but I get the heft and handling of a well made tool.

In truth, being a car boot hound, I have quite number of nice square, of varying types, grades and sizes.

BugBear
 

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