Yeah, sure. OK. Price and quality do not always go together. I've spent the last 50+ years in many manufacturing plants. I've seen the same exact Widget go down the assembly line and end up going into 8 different branded cartons and sold at 8 different prices.
If you said you went with the highest quality, you'd have a good point. You said you went with the most expensive meaning you may be wasting a lot of money.
I hope you meant to say the best quality.
By slide rule I think you mean combo square. I have a Starret, dead on.
But I also have an old Stanley and a little empire. The empire and Stanley I adjusted by taking a small file and working them to square. just take a board that has been jointed. mark a line knife is better. using the same edge flip the square over and mark another line right next to that line. you eye should be able to pick up if they diverge. The should be parallel if not figure out where you need to remove material and take a file and remove less than half of what you think you need to. And check again.
Yes, I don't know why I had slide rule on the brain. :-)
A brand new square should be square. I know how to check and adjust squares. I do it when I drop one... not when I buy one. :-)
The local store here had sets of different marking and layout tools as well as inexpensive clamps. I purchased these at HF, and soon after saw them i n Woodcraft when I was teaching wood turning. I used these when turning pe ns, and at HF they were half the price of Woodcraft. The only difference w as the color of the plastic box the came in:
I also bought the digital model and it too was half the price of WC, with n o discernible difference.
I also bought these at HF for $8 and encouraged my students to buy them to check wall thickness, various marking needs, etc.:
Bought this to keep my miter saw square when cutting complicated crown mold ings that require me to be as accurate as possible (think flat cut composit e angles on wide moldings, not upside down and backwards). This was less t han half price at HF:
Took it to WC when they got them in as I thought I recognized it, and they were identical down to the markings stamped into the actual metal. Ditto t his one, except one size smaller:
At one time they had this set that was Chinese made (this link is for examp le only, this particular set is made in USA) that was $49. I bought mine a t HF after spending some time in there to find a set that was square for $1
9:You get the idea. Inexpensive clamps, utility brushes, empty dispensing bo ttles, cheap rulers, and on an on... the list at one time was quite large.
Robert
I thought this one I bought from HF (for less than half the price) looked familiar!
BTW, it's handy even without the digital readout, which is nice because the power of the battery will be gone the second time you go to use it.
Bill
There's a tolerance on all squares. Greatest for a rafter square, middling for a combination square, and minimal for an engineering square.
And an engineers square is square on both outside and inside.
My speed square was truer than the combo and other squares I was checking.
I'm not talking barely perceivable or only if extended out 4ft. I'm talking business card gap on a combo square. That's not tolerance. That's manufacturer's defect and it shouldn't be on the shelves at a store like Woodcraft.
What it comes down to is Woodcraft trying to make a premium profit from selling HF quality tools. I get it, they have to have high margin stuff so their franchisees can make money. But I'm not giving them my money for that crap.
A carpenter's better be close...
You bet! I'm right there with you. I don't mind paying more for a good pr oduct, but absolutely won't pay a nickel more than I should for a mediocre one.
I vote with my wallet, adding another reason they don't see me i n Woodcraft. When a couple of small hand tools I purchased at WC failed (cl amps) after 2 weeks, WC wouldn't take them back or exchange them since they claimed they were "promo" items, although they didn't disclose that at the time of purchase. Imagine my surprise to find them at HF for half the pric e to start with, then was able to use their always available 20% off coupon , and at that time they had a 90 day return policy on non powered tools.
I also had problems with a second Jet mini lathe I bought, one with and ove rheating motor. WC wouldn't take it back, and told me that I needed to ship it to JET since it was not within 14 days of purchase. They wouldn't back off, either. A brand new power tool...
So I called Jet, and the regional rep for our area happened to be in the of fice. I told him the story, and he was really pissed about the whole thing . He sent me a brand new motor, and gave me new bearings just in case they were part of the problem. About two weeks later he was down here on busin ess, I introduced myself, and he made WC set aside a new lathe for me. The rep told me to keep the motor and bearings, just bring in the whole lathe.
The asshats at WC were really pissed off as they felt like I had "gone over their heads" and "made them look bad". And they were really mad that the rep told me to keep the motor. I never figured out why they were pissed of f... the problem was resolved and they didn't have to lift one lazy finger nor did the store get a ding for returned merchandise. I thought that woul d have been perfect for them.
But you know, they felt like I robbed the bank by getting a "free motor". I was there for a about two years after that as that was where we had our w oodturning club meetings, and for months they couldn't wait to ask me what I did with my "free motor".
In a later conversation with the Jet rep, he told me that the store manager could (at that time) take back any Jet product that had an obvious manufac turing defect for up to a year from the date of purchase for a no hassle ex change. The store was to call Jet and explain the problem, then Jet would issue an RMA, and that was that.
That just made me dislike them more.
Robert
The fact that the stores are franchises has a lot to do with it. When a store opened here I worked there part time for a few years. I'd been woodworking a long time and some of the people there made me feel like a beginner. And good customer service was a requirement. They've been there now for almost 10 years and still going strong.
RE: Subject
If he is still around, ask Charlie Self about his time with Woodcraft.
Lew
And a good engineer helps those with the sloppy framing square to square their square by punching the inside of the angle or the outside. That makes the large framer calibrate outward and inward.
Martin
When you take them off the shelf at Woodcraft and start doing that, they ask you to leave the store.
Probably to pound out a dent he created :-).
It should be done already. The task is done in the field or elsewhere. Someone always drops their square on one leg and it changes the angle slightly.
A lot of people just ignore and hope it is close enough until they buy another.
Martin
I know that and I know how to do it. My whole point in all this is that a woodworking store should be selling square squares and not ones that need adjusted.
Go back another step. The manufacturer should be shipping square squares to the store.
And what about the customer that pulls one out and drops it?
Yep!
You're right. I'm sure that's what keeps happening in all the stores. How silly of me to think otherwise.
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