Need Advice Looking for a good combination square

[holcombej]

Stuart, I posted the set at Highland Woodworking in post #6. Seems like a good value. That being said, I have a Starrett 4 piece set that I’ve had for around 50 years. Yep, buy once cry once. Sent the dividing head back a few years ago and it’d came back looking new. When you’re doing machining and fabrication, quality of measurement is a necessity. Bought an I-Gaging square a few years ago and the divisions were off by 1/32. Said all that to say: when you layout a line, you have to know that the line you laid out with another square is the same. Like that you require the Starrett. Dang it, now you’ve got me thinking about a new set, just cause.

 

[Stuart Kent]

Stuart, I posted the set at Highland Woodworking in post #6. Seems like a good value. That being said, I have a Starrett 4 piece set that I’ve had for around 50 years. Yep, buy once cry once. Sent the dividing head back a few years ago and it’d came back looking new. When you’re doing machining and fabrication, quality of measurement is a necessity. Bought an I-Gaging square a few years ago and the divisions were off by 1/32. Said all that to say: when you layout a line, you have to know that the line you laid out with another square is the same. Like that you require the Starrett. Dang it, now you’ve got me thinking about a new set, just cause.

couldn't agree more - and of course I'll look up the set you posted, just because I need more tools

 

[Al Olme]

I bought my first Starrett rule in 1986, an eighteen inch r4. I think it was $50.
Since then I have bought a large number of used rules, squares, and angle gages on the used market. Some in stores, some at yard sales, flea markets, online markets, eBay, etc.
Most are in nearly new condition, some show stains and wear. All are better than big box junk.
I also have vintage 1940-60 Craftsman, Lufkin, Mitutoyo, and Brown & Sharp. All are top shelf.

I bought one new iGaging double square, it was pure junk. I'll never buy anything from them.

Dave, I certainly respect your opinion. I hope that it was just a bad example and not indicative of the iGaging product line. The iGaging items I've purhased all checked out fine against my Starrett rules that I use as standards. So far, I've got a couple of squares, a height guage and a small double square [which is dead on].

 

[jfynyson]

I recall a few years back a similar thread (maybe it was on a different forum though) and folks were raving about the low cost option for Empire sold at Home Depot. However, their quality was hit & miss so you needed to test each one and pick a good one. I then went and found two good 6" squares and a 12" but agreed that I had to check several before finding good ones....well worth the minimal effort. You know the test where you make a scratch or scribe line w/ a knife or very sharp pencil line then flip it over and scribe a line again to see if they're square...

I've since built some of my best work using them. Now durability/longevity is indeed lacking. My larger square fell off the shelf onto the benchtop and one of the smaller ones has been beat up and so they're very slightly out of square now and I've not tried to see if I could correct them or not. Not sure if higher quality tools could stay perfectly square under these same conditions or not but I'm not upset due to the low cost of this option.