Damaged saddle square

[Jaze Derr]

I was impatient and used my saddle square as a saw guide. Now I've got the side all banged up. How best to repair this and make smooth and flat again? Should I just use sandpaper like lapping a plane? How to keep it perfectly even?

I use this thing constantly.

[Jamie Buxton]

Maybe you can sand it, and keep the sanded face flat and at right angles to everything else. But I'd be surprised. Instead, I'd jig it carefully so it can't move, and trim the bad face with the table saw. Cutting a little aluminum won't damage a carbide blade. After it is flat again, you might polish it with sandpaper, but you don't really have to.

[Jaze Derr]

No table saw

[Edwin Santos]

Just lap it on sandpaper like you describe and keep checking it with a separate square. If you have to adjust it slightly, you could do so with a fine cut file. If you're really fastidious, you could use a square block of wood as a jig to aid you.
It's a $15 item, so even if you completely wreck it, that's the extent of the tragedy.

[Mike Henderson]

DO NOT use the table saw. You can lap it on sandpaper. Just keep a square handy and check it often. To check the angle, use a combination square and the head that allows you to set angles. Set the angle on the other side, then use that to check the angle as you lap it. Use a 90 degree square to make sure side at the top of the saddle is 90 degrees to the face.

It sounds more difficult than it is. I make dovetail saddle squares from angle brass and that's how I finish them.

Mike

[Vince Shriver]

Spring for a new one and used the beater for beater-duty!

[Mike Henderson]

You must be doing a lot of dovetail work. If so, you can make your own dovetail saddle marker. See the picture for an example.

You can make several with different angles.

Mike

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