Combination square

[Osvaldo Cristo]

I purchased recently a Chinese combination square rebranded to a local (Brazilian) brand. It is dead precise: scale, square and level indicator. The body is made of aluminium and the rule some kind of stainless steel. If you compare against a Starrett model, my purchase looks fragile and cheap, but it is really cheap at less than USD 20 (including local taxes). After almost 30 years at woodworking that is my second combination square. I had one cheap Stanley a couple of decades ago I trow away because it wasn´t square. For years I have been fine with my other squares...

Question: is combination square use common to woodworking in countries outside the US (and possibly Canada)?

It is not common people to use it either in Brazil or other countries I know in Latin America. It is usually saw as an expensive and not precise tool for most applications (personally I do not agree with that statement). I knew some private woodshop in Germany and a couple of it in Europe outside Germany - no one had a combination square among their tools!

Thanks for your feedback. It is appreciated,

[Charles Wiggins]

Question: is combination square use common to woodworking in countries outside the US (and possibly Canada)?

I was in Senegal this past spring and there are carpentry shops everywhere. They all make the same things - household furniture and doors (Most buildings are made from cinder block and concrete and have very little wood aside from the doors, which are usually wood or steel). This is anecdotal just from visiting a couple of the shops, looking at the products, and watching them work, but I don't think they use squares of any kind.

Just as an aside, if I lived in Senegal I would buy stock in the company that manufactures the wood filler putty they use.

[Mike Cutler]

Osvaldo

I know that I use combination squares in woodworking. I have three of them, and they are generally out whenever I am doing a project. I found all of mine in "antique" stores, and none of them were very expensive. Everyone I know that does woodworking has one.
A combination square, at least a quality model, is as accurate as it has been setup for. The user makes the adjustments, and as times goes by it may need to be adjusted again. If a combination square isn't square to the inside 90 degree, it can be made so.
To have one square to the inside and outside of the rule is a function of how accurate the machining of the rule, to parallel, has been done.

Here is a thread currently in progress on combination square. It would appear to indicate that combination squares are very much a common tool in use.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?257311-Combination-Square

I personally do not use them for machine setup though. I have dedicated precision squares for that.