maxm63•22d ago

Bought a cheap combination square and it threw my cabinets off by a 16th

I was building cabinets for a kitchen remodel last month and kept getting gaps at the drawer fronts. Measured everything twice but still had issues. Turned out my new $15 combination square from the hardware store was not actually square. Checked it against my old Starrett and the blade was off by about 1/64 from true. That little error added up across multiple cuts and ruined a whole sheet of plywood. Now I always check new squares by drawing a line, flipping the square, and drawing another line to see if they match. Anyone else run into junk measuring tools straight out of the package?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_nina21d ago

Yeah that exact flip test saved me a bunch of headaches after I figured it out the hard way too. Now I just do that quick check on any new square before I even start cutting.

kim.emma21d ago

Oh man, I actually read somewhere that this trick goes way back to some old school woodworkers who'd plane a piece of scrap just to check their blade alignment before touching their project wood. Never bothered doing it myself until I messed up a nice piece of oak, now I'm all about it. It's crazy how something so simple can save you from those tiny misalignments that mess everything up later.