Youve got to be kidding

[Patrick Chase]

I paid probably too much for a 6" Starrett all steel square back in the 70's in a Pennsylvania flea market. Can't recall the price,but I still have it and use it. Still just like new. Since I tend to do smaller work,it is the square I use the most. I have a progression of Starrett and B&S squares up to 24" blade. They get QUITE heavy in the larger sizes,and I have to be careful to NOT DROP them on wooden projects! Of course,they were really meant for machinists,so I'm being excessive using them on wood in the first place.

Same situation here, though not as long ago. I invested in Starrett and Mitutoyo back when I was a mechanical engineer. They were expensive as all get out (esp for me back then), but they've been completely accurate and dependable.

I've looked at a bunch of Empire and Pinnacle (sold at Woodcraft) combo squares, and they've all had accuracy issues of one sort or another. I have an Empire "beater" combo square that had a reasonably straight blade, and I was able to hand-file the registration lands in the head to make it reasonably square.

I saw a "Made in USA" Pinnacle once wherein the 12" blade was warped by several mils (in the axis that matters) along its length. Now THAT takes some shoddy manufacturing.