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Thread: Saddle square

  1. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by glenn bradley View Post
    I have Lee Valley's. There is some satisfaction in making your own if you want to. I've had them for years and use them enough to where they hang on the outside of one of my wall mounted tool cabinets.

    Attachment 387777

    They are still inexpensive enough that I would just pick one up if shop made isn't your thing.
    Quote Originally Posted by Bill McDermott View Post
    Mark,

    I find that when extended square lines around corners, you know... 90 degree work, the square in my hand works fine. Whatever that is, most often a 4" double square. Saddle squares are great, but not often enough value add to make me stop and go get it.

    However, when marking out dovetails, which are not neat 90 degree lines, I find a saddle marker very helpful. But not the normal one. I am talking about a dovetail marker with a hinge that serves to mark out the angled dovetail and the adjacent face in one go. That use of a saddle square really helps me with marking (and sawing) accuracy.
    Quote Originally Posted by lowell holmes View Post
    If you want to go cheap, door butts will work.
    Interesting information. Lowell that is a good idea - I might look at some butt hinges with a square to see if they are 90 degrees & don’t move from 90 with opening & closing.

  2. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by glenn bradley View Post
    I have Lee Valley's. There is some satisfaction in making your own if you want to. I've had them for years and use them enough to where they hang on the outside of one of my wall mounted tool cabinets.

    Attachment 387777

    They are still inexpensive enough that I would just pick one up if shop made isn't your thing.
    Quote Originally Posted by Bill McDermott View Post
    Mark,

    I find that when extended square lines around corners, you know... 90 degree work, the square in my hand works fine. Whatever that is, most often a 4" double square. Saddle squares are great, but not often enough value add to make me stop and go get it.

    However, when marking out dovetails, which are not neat 90 degree lines, I find a saddle marker very helpful. But not the normal one. I am talking about a dovetail marker with a hinge that serves to mark out the angled dovetail and the adjacent face in one go. That use of a saddle square really helps me with marking (and sawing) accuracy.
    Quote Originally Posted by lowell holmes View Post
    If you want to go cheap, door butts will work.
    Interesting information. Lowell that is a good idea - I might look at some butt hinges with a square to see if they are 90 degrees & don’t move from 90 with opening & closing.

  3. #18
    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Rainey View Post
    The Lee Valley saddle square looks nice. It looks like you can make one by gluing the edge of a flat piece of wood to the face of another piece of wood then crosscutting at 90 degrees. Anybody make one & is happy with it?
    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.

  4. #19
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    Quote Originally Posted by Warren Mickley View Post
    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.
    Why are you so critical and dismissive of other peoples choices?
    Chris

    Everything I like is either illegal, immoral or fattening

  5. #20
    Join Date
    Feb 2017
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    New York City
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    Quote Originally Posted by Chris Parks View Post
    Why are you so critical and dismissive of other peoples choices?
    He was a little rough, but I think it’s a good point and worth mentioning. I have a woodpeckers version, happy with it, but it’s a luxury tool

  6. #21
    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.

  7. #22
    Join Date
    Feb 2004
    Location
    Perth, Australia
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    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

  8. #23
    Join Date
    Aug 2012
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    Missouri
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    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

  9. #24
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    Aug 2010
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    Quote Originally Posted by Frederick Skelly View Post
    I have the smaller LV saddle square. It works just fine.

    I've also made my own from a small hinge and from wood. It works fine. I like the LV best.

    Fred
    On the larger square shown in Fred's link, the square has a transverse hole on the knuckle of the corner. What is the purpose of that hole? Anyone know?

  10. #25
    Quote Originally Posted by Warren Mickley View Post

    This is pure rubbish. [/FONT][/COLOR]
    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.

  11. #26
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    Quote Originally Posted by Warren Mickley View Post
    ...If you cannot do it easily and accurately you don't know how to use a square.
    Rubbish.

    When transferring a line to a surface which is not perpendicular, or when there is a very large bullnose radius on the intervening corner, a hinged saddle square is most helpful, where most regular squares are not.
    "Anything seems possible when you don't know what you're doing."

  12. #27
    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.

  13. #28
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    If you had the Lee Valley saddle square, you would treasure it.

  14. #29
    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

  15. #30
    Quote Originally Posted by James Waldron View Post
    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,
    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.

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