Square not so square
Welcome! / Forums / General Woodworking Discussions / Tools and Tool Maintenance/Restoration / Square not so square
- This topic has 43 replies, 11 voices, and was last updated 8 years, 5 months ago by Tony Corey.
-
AuthorPosts
-
16 August 2015 at 11:15 pm #129414
$276! Wow, did you buy a three piece Starrett or is shipping and conversion that bad?
I limped along for years with the aluminum squares. Went through two of them gradually going off true and trying to fix them. I got my hands on a 6″ Starrett from an old machinist that he’d had for 30 years, still as true as the day he bought it. After using that for about two years I broke down and bought a 12″ forged Starrett. Sometimes its worth just closing your eyes and click “buy” for good tools that will last forever.
16 August 2015 at 11:51 pm #129415Its just the square nothing else added. I can thank my prime minister who is a multi millionaire for this.
17 August 2015 at 4:51 am #129419That is very true I did just that last year my shoulder plane and no.4 bronze LN fortunately I was able to fix the shoulder plane and nothing happened to the bronze. They both fell out of the tool cabinet due to me working a little too fast and not paying attention on how I put tools back after use.
Mcmaster Carr cancelled my order because they don’t ship to just anybody overseas so I’m on the hunt again. On their website they claim that forged steel lasts longer than cast iron yet I’ve only found them to be selling both versions everyone else is selling the cast irons version only.
Also look and see if you can get one by Brown & Sharpe or Mitutoyo if you can’t get a Starret. Surely there is a Mitutoyo dealer in Oz?
Don’t get rid of the one you have either as it would come in handy for everday rough marking for rough layouts. Kind of like they way you would have a jack plane for rough work. The fancy square can stay in its nice box until you really need it. I have a Bridge City Toolworks straight edge that is only for seeing if my everyday straight edge is still straight, not for marking with.
I’m still using a Craftsman square; the house brand for the Sears chain. It is pretty good still. I’d like to get one that I know is perfect though.
18 August 2015 at 12:16 am #129446I’m not having any luck with mitutoyo either, my father many years ago gave me a mitutoyo vernier calipers which in all honesty I never paid attention to the brand name until this morning. They are very accurate and well made, but seeing that Australia doesn’t have much of anything except low end stuff I have placed a request with LN for one. They sell the cast iron version and only in metric and I’ve requested a forged steel one as they are last longer with 1/16″ no higher readings. I’m hoping they will adhere to my request but my chances are slim.
I’ve looked at eBay and the conversion rate almost costs the same as a new one and even if it did not there’s no guarantee it is actually square, that’s the problem I have with online shopping.
What amazes me is how the Australian market is so backward, if you want quality tools it’s next to impossible to get. I can’t say I have a single tool I purchased in Australia and that’s really sad. We have a large woodworking store called carba tec even they don’t have starretts.
Salko,
how about you get in touch with Derek Cohen? He’s in Perth and contributes a lot to the Sawmillcreek forum. He’s always reviewing Veritas tools etc. and might be able to help you out.
I know Perth isn’t near Queensland, but it has to be closer than USA or Canada.
His site is inthewoodshop.com
– Jude
18 August 2015 at 1:19 am #129448Thanks Jude I know Derek well he never crossed my mind I will get in contact with him.
18 August 2015 at 3:37 am #129451Well struck out again he purchased his through eBay USA years ago he said the prices here in Oz were too expensive and he doesn’t know where I could go to get one.
18 August 2015 at 5:54 am #129452Good news finally found one with the specs I wanted at http://www.thebestthings.com which are much better than the one’s offered at LN or any major woodworking stores. What makes the so good the forged steel. I just hope the shipping fee won’t be over the top.
19 August 2015 at 9:58 am #129480Thanks for the link. You’re not wrong, the tool situation in Australia is dire. Quality hand tools are near impossible to find, outside the Veritas brand. Was looking into compact table saws, a good quality tool like DeWalt is $299 in the US, or $799 at Bunnings here. It should be ~$399, + p/h. Twice the price is a bit extreme.
In any event, let me know how you go with that seller. I am planning on eventually getting a Starrett square myself, as you say, a lifetime tool. If on the other hand, they don’t work out, you could ship to someone in the US and have them send it on to you. There are services that do the same thing, but they can be pricey.
19 August 2015 at 10:05 am #129481I highly recommend them I’ve used them before they are genuine people who who have been in this industry for 30 years. They charge actual shipping prices. My fee was $23US you cant get any better than that. So the whole thing coat me $180AU cheaper than LN and better quality as well.
Btw stay away from that tablesaw you will not be happy with it. Its home handy man crap in fact don’t look at tools in bunnings or masters.
19 August 2015 at 12:40 pm #129483I’ve looked at a lot of tablesaws, fact is I don’t have the space for a full size table saw. I have looked at a lot of reviews for it, the seem to be fairly positive. As a brand, I have been very happy with the quality of DeWalt in the past. A friend has a DeWalt thicknesser, which is very good quality, and I have a DeWalt 18V cordless drill, which I am also very happy with. I have looked into other brands of compact/portable table saws, such as Bosch and Makita, and they seem to be more or less comparable, but harder to find in Perth. Also the DeWalt warranties and return policy are very good.
All I really want is a saw to rip rough and recycled stock down to dimension. Hand sawing all your timber isn’t fun, I’d rather spend my time doing joinery than stock prep.
All that said, if you’re aware of any specific problems with the DeWalt DW745-XE, I’d love to hear about them in advance.
PS. I would normally avoid Bunnings like the plague, but they seem to have some kind of exclusivity deal with DeWalt. Can’t find DeWalt stuff anywhere else in Perth, and shipping from the eastern states seems wasteful.
19 August 2015 at 1:04 pm #129491I understand where your coming from but it really isn’t that difficult ripping by hand, all my lumber is rough sawn and majority is an 1 inch thick (25mm) some stock is 2″ (50mm) and I still rip everything by hand. I sold my tablesaw long time ago which I only used it for one year as I thought I really needed it but in fact I didn’t so I sold it. You see I fell for all the marketing hype yet I worked without one for years but in the end it’s up to you after all you need to enjoy working wood and if machinery is your thing then go for it. I’m neither going to promote them nor bag them but if I were ever to return to machinery I wouldn’t look past the Hammer combination saw. It’s not cheap but it’s worth every cent. Austrian made with 100% precision, you have a tablesaw, jointer, thicknesser and spindle moulder all in one and the conversion is so simple and quick and it’s not very loud either. There I just promoted something I said I wasn’t going to do, just don’t waste your money on something you’ll end up regretting later down the track and believe me come time to sell you’ll lose 50%.
One other machine I think will come in handy which could serve for your ripping purposes is a bandsaw, they don’t take up much room and you can rip and crosscut and do other various tasks with it. That would be a much better choice than that dewalt. Get alteast a 17″ one as the minimum size stay away from the smaller sized ones but you should get the 21″ as Carba tec doesn’t sell the 19″ ones anymore.
Good luck in what ever you decide to do.
19 August 2015 at 2:54 pm #129505Thanks for the heads up on the Hammer combination saw thing. Wasn’t aware of it’s existence, so I’ll keep it in mind for the future. Can’t see hauling it down the narrow stairs to my 4m x 5m basement workshop though 😛
I do actually have a Carbatec bandsaw in the cellar, which does a lot of things quite well. The fence is pretty dreadful though. At the end of the day I just want tools that do a good job of dimensioning stock, so I can get on with the fun bits. I really don’t need or want a tablesaw that can handle full 4×8′ sheet goods, since I can’t fit them round the bend to my basement workspace anyway.
Anyway, I’ll take your advice under consideration 😛 (I guess I could buy a starrett square or 4 instead…)
-
AuthorPosts
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.