Help With Carpenters Square.

Just the fact that it is stainless steel makes it better than most squares.

How much does it cost?

I have not used the Chappell. That square looks pretty complex and made for professional framers. What are you looking to do? I own a few speed squares that have basic roof rafter angles marked on them. The speed square lets you put the plate of a circular saw against it to make square cuts quickly. Angle cuts are simple using the marks. They fit in a carpenters tool belt and take an absolute beating being made of aluminum. Here is a link to one kind. It is basic, but my go-to square. I have built sheds, decks, additions and a friends garage using the speed square.

http://www.swansontoolco.com/s0101.cfm

Well, what features do you want/need and what are your criteria? Are you doing framing, roofing, trim carpentry, tiling, etc?

Stainless is nice as mine have rusted making the numbers hard to read. Standard steel ones typically come with a plastic coating but it fails after time.

If you just want a durable and "square" square. Buy a steel one and adjust it to perfectly square using a ball peen hammer if needed.

Yup to all of the above. As a lifelong tool person, I'd say there have been many times I've bought a cheap tool and regretted it later...but there have also been times I bought a lot more tool than I needed. If, as you said, you've never owned a carpenter's square before, I have to guess you're not a professional. If that's the case, but you're an accomplished DIY'er, then you want good tools, but you don't really need the very best tools made. That's a nice looking square, but I bet either of my old beat up steel squares is dang near as accurate. What are you going to use it for? How often will you use it? How complicated are the structures going to be that you anticipate using it on? Rick

fishingpol said:

I have not used the Chappell. That square looks pretty complex and made for professional framers. What are you looking to do? I own a few speed squares that have basic roof rafter angles marked on them. The speed square lets you put the plate of a circular saw against it to make square cuts quickly. Angle cuts are simple using the marks. They fit in a carpenters tool belt and take an absolute beating being made of aluminum. Here is a link to one kind. It is basic, but my go-to square. I have built sheds, decks, additions and a friends garage using the speed square.

http://www.swansontoolco.com/s0101.cfm

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I love my speed square, carry it in my tool belt, and probably use it 20 times as much as all my other squares combined.

fossil said:

Yup to all of the above. As a lifelong tool person, I'd say there have been many times I've bought a cheap tool and regretted it later...but there have also been times I bought a lot more tool than I needed. If, as you said, you've never owned a carpenter's square before, I have to guess you're not a professional. If that's the case, but you're an accomplished DIY'er, then you want good tools, but you don't really need the very best tools made. That's a nice looking square, but I bet either of my old beat up steel squares is dang near as accurate. What are you going to use it for? How often will you use it? How complicated are the structures going to be that you anticipate using it on? Rick

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That's not such a horrible situation now is it?

Sure is pretty
but unless you use it alot
and have someone show you what all those formulas
and measurements mean and how to use them
its just a big L used to make a line square to the edge of a board
buy a speed square and be happy
a 6 inch and 12 inch
you will understand all the markings
and actually use it

Rex said:

Semipro said:

Well, what features do you want/need and what are your criteria? Are you doing framing, roofing, trim carpentry, tiling, etc?

Stainless is nice as mine have rusted making the numbers hard to read. Standard steel ones typically come with a plastic coating but it fails after time.

If you just want a durable and "square" square. Buy a steel one and adjust it to perfectly square using a ball peen hammer if needed.

Click to expand...

That is a good question what am I doing??? My wife and I just bought a large property which we are going to turn into a hobby farm or maybe more then a hobby farm. And maybe Farm Winery. So at some point I hope to convert a very large garage into a fermenting area. Maybe build a small barn at some point. We have lots of both hard and soft wood on our property so maybe milling that for the barn (this may be a pipedream). Lots of big plans that is very much in the dreaming stage right now.

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I'd recommend that you start with the 6" aluminum speed square. Make a space for it in your tool pouch. I use mine as a saw guide more than anything else.

Agree with the above posters. I use my 6" aluminum speed square all the time, and rarely use my larger ones squares. If its not in my tool belt it is in my back pocket on any carpentry job.

if you learned carpentry from an old school carpenter
you could build a whole house using ONLY that square
no tape measure no pencil and paper
it has the formulas and charts for any cut you will ever need to make
roof rafters, hips, jacks
the only "TOOL" you really need
if you know how to use it

Ironpony is right. I'm a professional carpenter and use an aluminum one from a big box store. works just fine for
under $10.00 If I remember right. I don't recomend steel becouse they rust and you cant read the numbers. I do use my speed square more and have a 6" and 12". I pretty much only use the framing square for stairs, and rafters.

I only use my larger framing squares for building furniture and whatnot...not rough carpentry. Sometimes they come in handy for squaring up a new wall (or whatever) from a snap line...

What's this square business? All you need is a tape measure and a level.

Danno77 said:

What's this square business? All you need is a tape measure and a level.

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Not to layout rafters and stair stringers.

woodsmaster said:

Danno77 said:

What's this square business? All you need is a tape measure and a level.

Click to expand...

Not to layout rafters and stair stringers.

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I'm no master carpenter, but I do know the Pythagorean theorem and tend to just use that to figure out what I need. I've never thought about using a square to do anything with rafters, lol. I must not know what the heck I'm doing (no shocker there)

Danno77 said:

woodsmaster said:

Danno77 said:

What's this square business? All you need is a tape measure and a level.

Click to expand...

Not to layout rafters and stair stringers.

Click to expand...

I'm no master carpenter, but I do know the Pythagorean theorem and tend to just use that to figure out what I need. I've never thought about using a square to do anything with rafters, lol. I must not know what the heck I'm doing (no shocker there)

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You know you're both right.
Using the 3,4,5 rule (i.e., Pythagorean theorem) is very handy for larger layouts.
I wouldn't think of laying out a stair stringer without a decent sized square (BTW, this is one application where a 6" speed square in not that useful).

Rex said:

My dad has some speed squares I think I’ll liberate one from him. He has borrowed enough of my tools and by borrowed I mean taken and not given back. Looking back I’ve used a speed square a number of times. I guess I just didn’t see the speed square in the same class as a big square. So what could the Chappell square or another bigger square do that a speed square doesn’t do?

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There is lots than a speed square will not do. Good to have but definitely get the frame sq. and also a 12".

Square= A tool used to draw lines on a stair stringer only to find out that you don't know how to use it and end up with a ruined piece of lumber! My wife also calls it an "L"

Gary

woodsmaster said:

Ironpony is right. I'm a professional carpenter and use an aluminum one from a big box store. works just fine for
under $10.00 If I remember right. I don't recomend steel becouse they rust and you cant read the numbers. I do use my speed square more and have a 6" and 12". I pretty much only use the framing square for stairs, and rafters.

Click to expand...

+1

I ain't no professional carpenter, but you want at bare minimum a 6" speed square, and then "carpenter's square" which is an L shaped tool. I bought a 12" square which made smaller rafters (sheds) easier to cut. Like most, I mostly use my speed square as a guide for my. As far as stainless vs regular steel, as long as the numbers are embossed/stamped into the metal you can always run a piece of steel wool over it, or fill in the relevant numbers with graphite from your pencil (where the hell is my pencil?). If you're pro, then quantify the cost of keeping your tools clean and dry. As far as I'm concerned I'm not building a shed or a staircase every day, so what I'm mostly concerned with is an ACCURATE tool that will make my befuddled attempts at construction as easy as possible. As long as the tool is accurate I'd bet >90% of them will last the average user a lifetime.