Be There to Be Square

[Jim Koepke]

Possibly one of the most important aspects of woodworking joinery is to be able to keep things square.

My preferred tool for checking square is a try square. My set matches the sizes of commonly available lumber, from 2X on up to 12”. On a lark one time an 18” try square was acquired. All but the smallest of my try squares have a rosewood stock. My smallest is an engineering try square made of steel. For a long time it has been my desire to find a 2” try square with a rosewood handle. Alas, not one has been found. Most of the other materials needed were already in the shop. To get started a few different pieces of scrap were contemplated. Finally this one was chosen:

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The small try square at the bottom is possibly my most used try square in the shop.

One problem to hold up this project was to find something to use for a blade. Luck would have me find a broken bevel gauge in an antique shop for a dollar. The levered nut was broken. For a long time my intention was to find a replacement nut. Finally it came to me that since there is already a rack of bevel gauges in the shop it would likely cost me more to buy a suitable piece of metal than to repurpose the blade. Who knows, maybe someday someone will have a bevel gauge their dog chewed on and this one is the right size.

After cutting to size what will become the back of the stock was rounded over:

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This only required a few passes. A scrap of softer wood was planed to the same thickness as the stock piece for marking the center and to check on the bandsaw:

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The white ‘V’ on the face of the stock indicates the face is square to the edge. When the softwood was cut it took just a little work to widen the kerf for the blade to fit. After the rosewood was cut it was as perfect a fit as one could hope to achieve. With a well set up bandsaw the bottom of the kerf will also be square to the working face. This one did not need any correction.

When working on small things it is nice to have a helping hand. Here it appears in the form of a small bench hook to steady the square while marking the rabbets for 1/2” wide brass strips.

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If you look close the kerf for the blade is visible.

Then of course the rabbet needs to be cut out:

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A little smoothing with a chisel:

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One way to hide glue joints or patch chipped out wood is to mix some of the sawdust in with the glue. For repairing tote handles or errant saw marks I tend to save sawdust from rosewood:

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One of the small side projects of this was to make a small ‘miter box’ for cutting the brass strips:

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This came in handy for cutting the brass to length.

Next it will be used as a guide for making a vertical cut in the piece of brass used as a wear strip on the working face of the stock.

jtk

To be Continued…

[Jim Koepke]

The thought of making a cut in the brass wear strip was a little daunting. In effect it was basically a rip cut on a half inch wide strip of brass, whatever could go wrong?

This was one of the steps in this project to bring me to making a one job miter box. A piece of scrap was set up and a 1/2” blade was set up in a Stanley #45 to cut a pocket to hold the 1/2” brass stock. The guide slots for the crosscut and the rip cut were done on a bandsaw.

The rip cut to provide a slot for the square’s blade was a tricky matter until it was realized the width of two hacksaw blades would be wide enough. Funny thing with my hacksaw is it will not hold two blades in the vertical position due to a guide at the toe to hold the blade in place during installation. The 45º holder was okay with two blades. Normally this saw will not hold one blade tight on the 45º holder. With two blades it was fine. This lead me to discover placing a washer at either end under the blade would hold a single blade tight. Fun with practical geometries. For this cut it was easier to hold the set up in my metal vise:

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A piece of scrap wood is holding the brass in place. This cut had to be fine tuned. An old auger file was used. The first inch at the tip was tapered enough to allow it to fir in the narrow kerf.

With all the parts ready it was time to mix up some epoxy and put it together:

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The brass was buffed on the showing sides with a buffing wheel set up on my lathe

Inside the tin are a couple pieces of scrap ash that were planed down to fit in the kerf for the blade to apply and spread the epoxy. The bigger stick in the tin is an old popsicle stick. It is cut flat on one end and used for mixing epoxy. The holes in the large piece of brass were drilled for a #4 screw shaft, 7/64”, and a countersink for the head, 15/64”. These sizes were tried first on the small piece of scrap seen in the upper left of the tin.

The backs of the brass pieces were roughed up in hopes of creating a better glue bond:

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The epoxy was mixed and spread around. One should remember rosewood tends to be oily. One should clean it with some acetone or lacquer thinner before gluing. There was one errant saw start that needed attention. Some of the rosewood sawdust was mixed in and used to fill the spot:

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The brass rod used to make the pins is 3/32”. It measured out exactly at 0.09375”(the 5 on the end is just a guestimate from the alignment of the micrometer’s vernier reading straddling the 7&8). A 3/32” bit was tried in the piece of scrap previously mentioned and was very tight. So it seemed like forever going through all of my bits. The closest fit was chucked up in the drill press and started boring a hole.

The first hole being drilled is what made me realize I had forgotten to degrease the rosewood. There was some separation of the brass from the wood. Things were carefully put back in place and the first pin was installed:

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Here a larger bit is being used to de-burr the exit side of the pin’s bore. It is also making a very small countersink. VERY SMALL! On both sides.
Sorry for the fuzzy image. This was taken left handed with the camera upside down in low light. Should have used a tripod.

The brass rod for the pin was cut less than 1/32” long. This allowed for light peening to ‘mushroom’ the ends into the countersunk area. Many light, accurate tapping blows is better than trying to do it all in one or two blows. Remember to peen on both sides:

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The hunk of track anvil cost me $3 at a yard sale. Some of the best three bucks I ever spent.

It came out fairly nice for all the missteps and mistakes:

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My mind isn’t made up yet as to whether or not to carve finger grooves in to the sides.

Now a new place needs to be found for the metal square. It might end up at my grandson’s if he wants it.

jtk

[Maurice Mcmurry]

Very nicely done Mr. Koepke! Thank you for taking the time to put this post together. I have it bookmarked.

[Jim Koepke]

Thanks for the kind words Maurice.

jtk

[Edward Weber]

Very nice Jim

[James Pallas]

Well done Jim. You will enjoy that small square. Engineer squares are fine but I find them a little heavy on the stock. They are nice when standing upright but when you are holding them with your little finger trying to mark something with “3” hands you notice that weight.
Jim