Engineer Square

[Woodenskye (Bryan)]

Thread transferred from previous forum - Original Post by Tmize

Original Post:

Are all engineer square the same type tolerances? I was looking at a set by igauging they seem like a decent set. Just don’t know if this is one of these things get for what the pay for an trust. I could go red aluminum if I have to but if not I could buy more of other stuff. Now I’m not one of those that believes woodworking requires everything to be to the 1/10th of a thou I just need it to be square enough for wood that is always moving more than that.

Follow Up Posts:

1)  If these are the ones I'm thinking of, I have a set and they're pretty dead on square.  With that said, I also have the small red one and that's also dead on square.

The small red one is really not that expensive when looking at the red stuff.

I'll also add that I just don't reach for the machinist squares much.  I have a set of 3 and really only (occasionally) use the smallest one for most set ups which is why I bought the red one.  To be completely honest, my set of 3 machinist squares will probably be on my give away block at some point because I just don't find them that handy.

If I didn't have any of the above, I have enough trust in my Epstein 4" squares to do the same job.

2)  I have the red carpenter square I love it and have 6,12,18” combo square I use fairly often. What I have in mind it’s so much machine setup that most use them for. I’ve noticed I use my red one a lot with marking knife an I’ve noticed it will Nick the aluminum every now an then so I was thinking of going to steel to keep that from happening. The part I like is I can just lay it across the board an put down a knife line and don’t have to mess with adjusting the blade out. Kinda like the old try squares was used. I use my combos for a set decent from a edge like mortises or hinge

3)  The Machinist squares would work well for that but, they have no graduations on them so, you'd have to get those marks from another tool.  Would make sense to me to use a tool that accomplishes both for you.

The bulk of my work is done with Epstein tools for this.  Way less cost and really accurate.

If I'm using the red stuff, it's usually with a pencil..

4) Relief to others. I won’t be doing a double entry for the give away as I have a good Lowe’s framing square as my go to.  

5)   Hey tmize , For what you want the square for I would go to Harry Epsteins website that Kev mentioned. They have top notch engineer squares, PEC are the ones they usually have, and they are pretty cheap because they are blems. Nothing physically wrong with them just a little scratch or things like that that keeps them from being sold as "new".

6)  I have a set of iGauge squares. They seem to have good tolerances. I don't think they are quite up to old Starrett, but they seem as good or better than new Starrett from what I could find. The biggest difference I found between them and Starrett is the fit and finish is cleaner on Starrett. The iGauge stuff doesn't move as smoothly, but for the cost I am fine with that.

7) My go to square when i just have to know if something is square is this little steel precision thing that I brought from a machinist shop. Designed for use when welding and doing other metal type work. NOT WOODWORK. It has no graduations on it at all. Cost me a pretty penny but I use it to check my other squares.
 

Its not red either, its a more steel like color, so whatever color steel is then that is what it is. BLUE STEEL!

 

Also all my other squares are steel as well. Aluminum squares are for pussies. . . 

 

Either steel or that hard manganese stuff, the ruler part is steel while the body is the other stuff [don't have many of those] My main square though that gets used the most is this big flat steel thing which I have a Varitas  do dad attached and screwed up tight so I can run it up against an edge.