Why George Loves Combination Squares
George VondriskaDescription
There are a handful of tools in the shop that I use nearly every day. A combination square is one of them. These are such versatile tools. I love that you can interchange the heads for different functions, getting even more mileage out of a nearly indispensable tool. Round stock, angles, marking and measuring. The combination square provides one-stop-shopping for all these tasks, and more.
The combination square’s back story
The combination square was invented in the 1860s, and was originally considered a tool for engineers and architects. Today it has found its way into wood and metal shops, onto construction sites, and into the hands of nearly anyone who needs to mark, measure or lay out lines. You may find that some people call it an adjustable square or even a bevel protractor. For me, combination square is the best all-encompassing name, thanks to the variety of functions this tool can perform.
George’s square
The combination square used in this video was made by iGaging, and is available on Amazon. It comes with all the heads you saw here.
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This is probably one of the most widely used tools in my shop. It's a combination square. Let me give you a bunch of good reasons why I love this tool, the things you can do with it. See if it's useful for you too. Very versatile tool.
You can use it for stuff like setting the height of a dado head when you're doing carcass joinery. Want to check the setup on your table saw? Use it to check the blade for parallel. Doing layout? This is a great tool for making lines parallel to an edge.
When you're headed for the lathe, you can use it to find the center on round stock. Over at the router table, use this tool to very accurately set the height of your router bits. Back to the layout world. This is a great way to lay out a variety of angles using the protractor head. Furniture joinery.
This is a great way to check tenons. Make sure the shoulder is just the right dimension. Want to verify that your 45 degree angle really is? Use your combination square to check it. So combination square, what a great name, because it's got a combination of stuff that it can do.
Great tool to have in the shop. Hope you find it as useful as I do.
How about the main reason oh wise one, gives you an accurate measurement that doesn't change.
Hi, What benefit is there to a fixed square with known maximum runout, vs. combo squares? Is runout really a concern for most woodworking on squares of this size, or is it mostly advertising gimmickry? Thanks!
George, I noticed you seem to prefer using a wooden ruler rather than a metal tape measure. Why do you prefer the wooden one?