Your square, isn’t
Take your favorite combination square. Adjust it so the ruler sticks out all the way. Hold the short end against your workbench, so it looks like |_ from the top, and draw a line. Now flip it over, so it looks like _|, and draw another line on top of it. Do the two lines overlap, or do they make a skinny “V”? Yeah, thought so.
Ok, what do you do? You’ve got three choices.
1) Buy a really expensive combination square. These use metal instead of plastic for the critical interface between the ruler and the L-holder, so they won’t wear down and go out of square over time.
2) Buy a dedicated square (or three) that does nothing except sit there quietly and be square.
3) Buy a “rafter square”, which isn’t designed for precision woodworking at all, but happens to be pretty darn handy for it. It’s just one solid piece of aluminum, no moving parts, nothing to mess up. And it’s cheap enough that you can buy a bunch to scatter all around the house. I got mine at Le Depot Du Maison.
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