I have just bought a new square from Axminister - which isn't square! Its set is just over 90 degrees. It is an 8x12 flat or rafter square which I want to use to square up veneers and parquetry stuff. So it is 8x12 and about 3mm thick all over. Rather than send it back which I know I should really, it would be far less hassle to try to make it square. I am sure I read some where how to go about making it square. I think by striking it with a centre pop at the elbow on a 45 degree line from inside to outside of the elbow (both sides for balance). And by doing that expand the metal and cause the slightly over 90 degree set to move to being exactly 90 degrees. Does that sound familiar to anyone, and if so do you think that will do the trick? Any help would be most welcome. JohnB
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 John. I`ve tapped a square with a wooden/brass face & steel blade before to true it up, but yours sounds like it`s all steel. If it is the only way would be to machine it. I think it would be going back if it were mine, with a note saying check the next one before they send it. Baz.
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 Don't hesitate.........send it back!
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 Yep, send it back. Unless you are spending Moore and Wright or Starret money on a square you can't expect accuracy of fractions of a minute, but even a £7 one should still be within a fraction of a degree - especially if it's all steel.
At the cheaper end of the spectrum the chances of coming across the odd one that is way off do tend to increase. Axminster's customer service is excellent and I have no doubt that they will get a carefully inspected replacement out to you at once. Cheers, Matthew www.workshopheaven.com
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I would never buy a square by mail-order (except from Matthew of course, because I know he would probably be doing the following anyway!). When buying one square, pick two off the shelf.....find somewhere completely and reliably flat (such as a glass counter-top or a window. Place the squares back-to-back, and examine minutely (ideally, with a light bnehind the squares). If there is any gap......fetch a third square. Offer up every combination until you find two that produce no gap in both orientations. Buy either one with confidence. Mike
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John you are correct you can square the square with a hammer and centre punch in the way you describe but then again if it is new from Axminster I would be tempted to send it back and get a replacement rather than mess about with it,.
Cheers Mike
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.jpg) I agree with everyone else - send it back! Mike (Garnham), another way to check if a try-square is square is to draw a pencil line with it at 90º to a straight edge, flip the square so that the outside of the blade is now on the otherside of the line, and offer it up carefully to your pencil mark. Anyone know if it's possible to re-correct a steel engineer's square? I keep hitting the stock of my square at college but it doesn't seem to be doing anything. 
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Olly, the problem with the method you describe is that the error will typically occur within the width of the line.......it's a rough guide at best. Its accuracy depends on the accuracy of the line you have drawn. A slight variation in the angle of the pencil will move the line in relation to the square edge. Metal edge to metal edge with a light behind is very revealing! I personally think that once you have got to the stage of hitting a square it is time to buy a new one. Mike
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| Edited: 07/05/08 14:40 |
Mike. I don`t disagree with your comment on time to get a new square, but here`s a large square i was given many years ago. After a little fettleing, i got it back square & it has remained that way ever since. The only down side is that the bigger the engineers the more they cost so this is the biggest i`ve got to test it against. Baz. PS sorry about the previous post the picture disappeared whilest typing & i couldn`t get it back. Is it just me, perphaps i am going crazy.
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Well, thank you all for your generous advice. All of which is logical and rational, and of course (apart from Mike Riley) did not answer the question I asked! Never mind I would not in any way want to deter your enthusiastic concerns for my problem, let alone your undoubted collective will to express them. Even more allow anyone to believe that I am ungrateful. I am very grateful that we have this forum and that there are so many ready and willing to help.... Taking the collective advice I phoned Axminster, who as I knew, and Mike of Workshop Heaven (another top rate supplier) predicted, have excellent customer service. They said don't send it back we'll just send you another one. That raised the problem which concerned me most which is that I am fairly likely to get another one which is equally un-square. They said that if that happened, then they would have to give me my money back - which does not solve the problem either, and leaves me with 2 bits of steel which will hang about until my dying day unless I convert them into bang throughs or something similar. The thing about a square is that it is not a square unless it is square, and if it is not square then it is as useless as a bucket with no bottom (apart from raising rhubarb). An un-square contributes to a compounding series of errors and from which there is usually no return. In that respect I think Axminster should not be sending out squares which are not square - even lower price ones. That is why I am particularly grateful to Mike Riley who, whilst mentioning I should send it back, actually fulfilled what I think is a code amongst people good with wood, and that concerns improvisation and its utilisation to produce excellent stuff. At least I have an "L" shaped piece of steel, purpose made to become a square which I can adjust as one does to so much else in the workshop. I will come back on when the replacement arrives and also report how I got on with the centre punch technique. Again many thanks to one and all for your wise and instructive input. JohnB
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You could, of course, take it to an engineer and have him mill it square. A tonk with a punch (or series of tonks) at the mitre between the two flat sheets of steel could work .....my feeling is that it will just serve to mark that square as the one you shouldn't use!!
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I agree with Mike - at least you'll now have a spare one in case anything should go wrong. 
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 John I don't have a problem raising rhubarb in an upturned bottomless bucket but how do you do it with an "unsquare?" Richard
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Richard, If I knew the answer to that I don't think I would tell anyone. Just think of all those raids which would take place on the workshops of the world by those who cannot tell the difference between square and unsquare but love Rhubard. The mind boggles. JohnB
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Further to all of the above....and academic as you are going to get a new square anyway.......but if you do alter the angle by punching close to the junction, you will, of course, curve the steel member. Anything within an inch or two of the impact with be unreliable for straightness.
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Malc's Newoodworker solution supports the idea that a fix is possible, so now all I have to do is try it - for myself. I will report back, as promised earlier, on the outcomes - ie on whether Axminster send another unsquare and on the outcome of hitting one in a suitable place. In response to Mike Garnham's comment immediately above (for which many thanks) I would tend to agree the Tom Hintz solution at the Newwoodworker site would put a radius on the hopefully straight edge, and so I might try using the centre pop on the line of where the 45 degree mitre would lie (if it had a mitre), at the elbow to close it and the crotch to open it. We'll see. But I will be keeping them both well away from the Rhubarb patch. JohnB
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