You don't need a saddle square. It is not a traditional woodworking tool. I was working wood for more than 35 years before I heard of one. The 1984 Lee Valley catalog has 154 pages and no saddle square. The 1995 Garrett Wade catalog has 176 pages, lots of squares, no saddle square.
The Lee Valley saddle square page today says:
"Transferring a line from one surface to another perpendicular surface with a small square is never easy.
Try wrapping this line around all faces and you'll see how far off you can be."
This is pure rubbish. If you cannot do it easily and accurately you don't know how to use a square.
Yeah I think it’s not bad that in these kind of threads someone just bluntly sais: you don’t need this. That would save some people some money, who might otherwise be lured into it. Of course that doesn’t mean that someone else can’t find it usefull anyway.
The fact that it is "not a traditional tool" is irrelevant. All that counts is whether a tool works for you.
Saddle square do not just aid in marking around corners, but dovetail saddle squares are useful for marking dovetails as well.
There are so many ways to do things. If you find a saddle square useful, get one. I consider a saddle square to be very useful and use one frequently.
Regards from Perth
Derek
I have found that saddle squares are too short on the long leg and too long on the short leg for my use. When I mark for length I usually tick mark on the corner of the face and face edge with a knife. I keep my 6" double square set at about 3/4" on one end. I mark the edge first than roll the work flat on the bench. This is where I have trouble with the saddle square. The short leg hits the bench and if your work is wider than 2" the saddle won't reach. I than reach for my double square. May just as well use the double from the start. I'm sure others work differently and would find saddle squares useful.
Jim
I like your display of confidence, and your warning of luring (now removed). There are a lot of woodworkers (not necessarily beginners) who follow others blindly. Some mistaken having a lot of fancy tools for having good skills. This is partly why gadgets like a dedicated leather tool to just tighten bolts exist (it is nuts!).
There is a grain of truth to your statement that one does not need a saddle square (or, by implication, a dovetail square, etc.). A lot of the tools we have in the shop are there because of convenience. Saddle squares belong to the "Wants" dept.
Anyone who does not want to spend $15 or so and plans to make one out of hinges needs to be choosy. Many hinges are poorly made and won't work...good hinges however can cost more than $15 and still don't work as well as a properly made saddle square.
As for the suggestion of using a regular square as a saddle square, I consider it a "pound foolish, penny wise" idea. Doable but no fun, and fun is what I look for in my woodworking. I can use a 1/8" chisel to do any work required of a 1" chisel, but would I?
Simon
Last edited by Simon MacGowen; 06-17-2018 at 10:52 AM.
"Anything seems possible when you don't know what you're doing."
The skill needed to transfer a line around a corner isn't hard to develop, and applies to tons of other layout and measurement operations. Nothing *wrong* with having a saddle square, but to me at least it's a gadget. I have too many tools to store and organize to want to add gadgets.
I have used hinges to mark square when laying out said hinges on a door, as said hinge was in my hand and square enough (by definition) for the task at hand. Don't think I've ever reached for a hinge over a square, though.
If you had the Lee Valley saddle square, you would treasure it.
One point to preserve from Warren's post whether you agree with his main point or not:
If you can't go around a board and make the knife lines meet up at each corner, it doesn't much matter whether you use a saddle square, a double square, a combination square or whatever. Either something is wonky with your board (faces out of parallel, twist, etc.) or something is amiss with your technique. And it's possible your "square" isn't. Check your work. Find and fix the source of error.
With that said, I say use the (accurate) square you like and get on with the work.
Fair winds and following seas,
Jim Waldron
The quote Warren gave does not necessarily refer to a knife line: "Transferring a line..."
In fact, the Lee Valley photos there show only pencil lines. Knife lines are a different animal and are VERY easy to transfer with a square, esp. with a combo. sq.
Not so much if the lines are pencil lines whether they are 0.7mm or 0.5mm.
So saddle squares are VERY useful for transferring pencil lines and those advocating using a regular square to do that job are missing the point. Anyone who thinks they can outdo me in transferring pencil lines precisely and accurately with their regular squares (or a hinge)...should think twice.
Simon
Last edited by Simon MacGowen; 06-17-2018 at 9:26 PM.