First Square for Woodworking?

[waho6o9]

A thread about squares can't go on without a mention of the Products Engineering blend from Harry J Epsteins. PEC makes a quality product under their own brand and also for Mitutoyo.

These are cosmetic blemishes that have effect on the square itself and frankly I have a hard time finding anything.

12 inch 2 piece combo is $24. 4 inch double $15 and 6 inch double $17.50
http://www.harryepstein.com/index.php/tool-brand/products-engineering.html

Ron

Money well spent ^^

 

[grbmds]

I used a combination square for years before buying anything else. As others have said, Starrett would be a good choice. However, I wouldn't recommend that you use that combination square for squaring up your MFT fence. Since many have very positive experiences with the Anderson Plywood square for squaring their MFT and that square is inexpensive ($25 maybe), maybe a good course of action would be to get  a high quality combination square (12" would be a good choice) for general purpose work and the Anderson square just to square up your MFT. I also like the Woodpecker's 1281 Square and that certainly would work for squaring the MFT. However, the combination square may be more useful for marking and all-around use. (Having said that, I don't use my combination square much anymore as I have other squares used for marking and checking squareness, but there is no question that it is a more versatile tool that just a square would be.) What is most useful kind of depends on what direction you plan to go or do go with your woodworking.

 

[Peter_C]

If I could only have one square it would be a 24"-26" or metric equivalent square. Otherwise a 12" is really nice to have. A 6" triangle is my goto for construction rough framing work.

The MFT can be squared up using dogs. The fence is easy enough, but for the rail a spacer, between the dogs and the fence, will keep the cutting edge from being over the holes.

 

[grbmds]

While you can certainly square up the MFT with one brand of dog or another, I find it much easier to square up the fence to the guide rail periodically and, therefore, a square would very useful for that. Given the Anderson Square is so inexpensive and seems to have only positive feedback, that would be handy for just that purpose alone. Everyone has their own preference, of course.

 

[ear3]

I was never really satisfied with the dog squaring method.  I found using the Qwas dogs that there was still the potential for a little play with the dogs shifting ever so slightly in the holes when pressure was applied.  I'm not sure if it would be better/easier with the down versions like the Parf dogs, but by the time I added those to my kit I had already moved on to the T-square + scribe line method.  But as you say, there are many ways to skin this cat.

While you can certainly square up the MFT with one brand of dog or another, I find it much easier to square up the fence to the guide rail periodically and, therefore, a square would very useful for that. Given the Anderson Square is so inexpensive and seems to have only positive feedback, that would be handy for just that purpose alone. Everyone has their own preference, of course.

 

[Michael Kellough]

Using the 4 cut method (find Rick's Kapex manual for instructions) and the MFT and a good sized scrap of 3/4" (19mm) fine plywood or MDF you can produce  your own square as precise as anything you can buy and it will be more useful for re-squaring your MFT since it will be thick enough to adequately engage both the fence and guide rail at the same time.

 

[Michael Kellough]

I was never really satisfied with the dog squaring method.  I found using the Qwas dogs that there was still the potential for a little play with the dogs shifting ever so slightly in the holes when pressure was applied.  I'm not sure if it would be better/easier with the down versions like the Parf dogs, but by the time I added those to my kit I had already moved on to the T-square + scribe line method.  But as you say, there are many ways to skin this cat.

While you can certainly square up the MFT with one brand of dog or another, I find it much easier to square up the fence to the guide rail periodically and, therefore, a square would very useful for that. Given the Anderson Square is so inexpensive and seems to have only positive feedback, that would be handy for just that purpose alone. Everyone has their own preference, of course.

The diameters of the holes in MFTs vary. Some are perfect with dogs and some not so much.

One of my MFT tops fits my QUAS dogs nicely but I still had difficulty getting the dogs to hit the guide rail perfectly since the rail should be set to spring into the tooth of the front height adjuster. Finally realized that the perfect fit could be found by loosening the screws that hold the top to the frame and moving the top/dogs to the parked rail and re-tightening.