Two tool questions: Woodpeckers Delve square; Rockler small piece holder for router

[dennis thompson]

I know Woodpeckers make very high quality and pretty high priced tools. I have been looking at their Delve square and am intrigued by it. It's $73. I make a lot of car models with many small parts and think it might be very useful for them .

Rockler also offers a small piece holder for routing costing $60.

Does anyone have either one, what do you think of it?
Thanks

[ChrisA Edwards]

I have both sizes of the WP Delve Squares.

The larger one is my go to for the majority of square line marking, love this tool.

You can see at the start of my video, the Delve squares occupy pole position.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zv797hVFW88


eir cheaper priced tools, some I'm not really sure why I bought them, they looked useful in the video, but I've found little use in practice, but the Delve Squares get used every day, although I wished they made them with metric measurement.

[Edwin Santos]

I have both sizes of the Delve square and I find myself using the small one the most. In fact, I will call it one of my most used tools, primarily for marking, always on the bench. It's a remarkably clever little thing. But like a lot of tools, it really depends on the way you work. In this regard, the Delve square can either be indispensable or a total waste, only you can tell.

I might be able to save you some money. I noticed that Lee Valley recently came out with a smaller 1 1/2" version of the Delve for only $9.50. LV's doesn't have all the functions of the Delve but for the price it may be worth getting, and for model making it might actually be advantageous to have the smaller size. If you use it, like it, and find yourself wanting the larger one from Woodpecker's, you know what to do.

https://www.leevalley.com/en-us/shop/tools/hand-tools/marking-and-measuring/squares/110954-veritas-1-1-2-inch-pocket-layout-square

My favorite features: The saddle square function where you can transfer the line around a 90 degree corner, the two offsets on the foot which allow you to instantly mark 1/4" or 3/8" from an edge. I do use it for tool setup sometimes. The angle marking function is more accurate than I would have guessed.
Edwin

[glenn bradley]

The small piece holder failed to hold a couple times for me so, not a fan. A handscrew is my small parts holder of choice now. Small squares are intriguing. Their value will vary with your use. For small layout work I find a 4" double square to be my go to. This doesn't stop me from window shopping for things that share the Delve form factor. The woodpecker stuff is top notch but, in some of their tools I would be paying for more than the useful part of said tool for me. The parts I may find incidental may be just the reason the next guy would buy said tool. For example, if I am interested in tool setup, a magnetic base would be a valuable feature. If I am drawing offsets during layout, not so much. Consider your needs, find a quality tool that meets them for a price you are happy with and away you go.