Now until midnight October 11th, 2016, Woodpeckers is discounting each of their aluminum T-Squares by $15. Are these T-Square still expensive? Yes, but I talked to Stuart and he said that this is as low as the prices for these usually go, and they aren’t on sale very often. So if you’re looking to add one of these T-Squares to your collection, now is the time to do it.
Stuart’s Note: I looked at 6-1/2 years of Woodpeckers newsletters, and these prices are as low as their T-squares go. Sometime between April 2010 and May 2013, the regular price went up by $5, but these sale prices are as low as I’ve ever seen them. I own a 12″ and a 24″, and they’re fantastic.
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The T-Squares are accurate to 0.001″, and this is guaranteed for life. Woodpeckers secures the aluminum blade and machined handle with 6 precision socket screws, creating a nice and tight joint.
Along the blade, there are holes every 1/16″, 1 mm in diameter to fit your pencil, marker, or other type of marking tool, and additional holes 1″ apart for marking shelf pins. The scales are laser engraved, and the edges are beveled 30° to make it easier to read measurements.
Here is WoodPeckers’ sale pricing, along with regular prices in parentheses:
- 12″ T-Square: $70 ($85)
- 24″ T-Square: $100 ($115)
- 32″ T-Square: $130 ($145)
- 600 mm T-Square: $100 ($115)
The T-Squares come in a wooden case (MDF) to safely store the tools when you aren’t using them. Woodpeckers will ship the T-Squares via UPS ground in the US for about $14.
Carbide Processors is also running the same deal right now, plus they are running a special code for free ground shipping on orders over $150. Code: SHIP150.
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Buy Now (via Carbide Processors)
Stuart’s Note: Funny story – When I ordered my 24″ square back in 2010, it arrived without the ruler part being screwed into the side that rides along your workpiece! The screws were missing! Woodpeckers offered to send a replacement T-square, but I asked for just the screws. Woodpeckers’ customer service has been excellent over the years.
I bought my 2 Woodpeckers T-squares, and as with many of my Woodpeckers purchases, the price stung at first, but the functionality and performance has been worth it over the years. I’d replace them without hesitation. I started with the 24″ square, and sometime since then I picked up the 12″ one. I can’t find the order confirmation email, so it might have been at a Woodworking Show.
Ernie
Any reason to go with the 24″ over the 32″?
Stuart
I find the square to be a little awkward to slide along larger workpieces with less than smooth surfaces and edges. Dragging an extra 8″ might prove to be burdensome.
Plus, it’s awkward to use a larger square on smaller workpieces, that’s why I eventually ordered the 12″. Image you’re working on an 18″ workpiece. Would you rather use a 24″ square or 32″ square?
In many cases you can reverse a 24″ T-square along both sides of a workpiece. So you could in theory use the 24″ to make marks anywhere along a 48″ wide workpiece.
I use a longer Woodpeckers ruler for the really large workpieces, and have been meaning to add a hook stop to it. It’s not quite as versatile, but can be nearly as quick to use.
Don’t go for the longest size, go for the size you think you’ll use most.
I feel that the 32″ might be the last one someone buys, with the 12″ or 24″ being first, depending on one’s typical workpiece size.
Curtis Hibbs
Toolnut (http://www.toolnut.com/) has them on sale also with free shipping at only the $100 mark. Since the 24″ model is $99.99, I added a woodpeckers mechanical pencil for $5.99 to save what would have been an $8 shipping charge.
Nate818
I just bought the 24″.
I love this website!
ca
I’m not sure I’m so frivolous with money as to justify this.
Stuart
Frivolous would if one wanted to buy this as a back scratcher. Or if they wanted a wall decoration.
ca
Yes, those are examples. It would also be frivolous for someone to spend $145 on a piece of aluminum, in my opinion.
ca
I can appreciate spending more money to get a quality product. In fact, I do it frequently; probably more than I should. However, this is reaching the point of absurdity.
fred
I’ve owned the 32 inch one since June 2013 – when I paid $129.99 for it. So they seem to have rolled back the prices. I thought I’d use it more. I find it a bit awkward and I grab one of my Starrett combination squares (I have ones with 6, 12, 18, 24 and 36 inch blades hanging in a shop-made rack) more often.
Joe G
After the discount, they’re only ridiculously expensive, instead of the normal outrageously & absurdly expensive. Paying this much for layout tools is silly when a $4 speed square, for example, is completely square.
Stuart
I can feel your point, but that’s like saying a USA-made combination wrench set or a socket set is too pricey compared to a cheap hardware store adjustable wrench.
Corey
Even that statements absurdity is debatable though haha While I treasure my snap ons, blueprints, knipex and the like wrenches and sockets dearly, for their quality and warranty, I have plenty more craftsman, Pittsburgh, duralast, and even some unmarked counterparts that have remained long since before I started putting down the money for top quality stuff. Ironically, the only missing piece of any of my sets is a snap on deep impact socket an apprentice dropped off a coal silo haha obviously not a fault of the brand, but a funny story every time I have to explain why the deep 11/16 is the unlabelled junker in the top drawer. I guess my point is that brand usage experience can still be very subjective while tools are still accomplishing their intended use regardless of behind the scenes merits.
Joe G
FYI, my framing square, which I think I paid like $13 for, is also completely square. So is my drywall t-square.
There are probably areas where better, more expensive tools are worth paying between six and ten times more for, but I have yet to find one. Certainly not layout or measuring tools.
Carmelo
I bought a 24″years ago when I had a drafting table set up in the job site trailer. It was was real handy for making a quick shop drawing before I had some to draw it up on autocadd. I can’t remember the last time I used it.
It is expensive, but very well made.
fred
Just a thought – that there are lots of different drafting T-Squares to be had at your local office supply or arts store. The selection at out local Dick Blick store is quite good – and they have good sales/coupons.
http://www.dickblick.com/search/?q=t%20square&x=0&y=0&sp_cs=UTF-8
Carmelo
I still have an old t-square when I graduated college back in the late 90’s.
The time when I bought woodpeckers t-square, I was getting into woodworking (not professionally, just some side work with people way more skilled than me, and stuff around the house), bumped in to it on the internet, bought it thinking it would help for woodworking. I ended up using it more for drafting shop drawings.
The holes make it real easy to make vertical lines, as long as you use hard lead to avoid smuding everything.
fred
I’m old enough that we still did some inking with drafting pens when I was in engineering school. Doing letters with a Leroy set was way better than freehand. I don’t know where my T-Square is – but I still have my K&E drafting set, some French curves, and a pair of triangles.
Stuart
My wood and plastic T-square, purchased from an art supply shop back in 2000 or so, has held up reasonably well over the years. I’d always been meaning to upgrade it, but my Woodpeckers can serve double duty as a drafting square if needed. I still use the wooden one, though – it glides better on a tabletop. I suppose my Woodpeckers triangles might serve well as 45’s, but possibly not due to their thickness, and I don’t remember ever having tried to draw with them. I’ve got no complaints about my plastic triangles.
Tony
So if I understand the novely of these T-Squares correctly . . . it’s essentially a T-square that happens to be a line scriber with marking holes down the length of the blade itself.
But isn’t INCRA more precise and (also) a much cheaper tool for line scribing? I noticed that Woodpeckers even carries some of the INCRA measuring T-Rules: http://www.woodpeck.com/incraprot.html
Maybe this is a dumb question, but why would someone buy the more expensive (and less precise) Woodpeckers 12″ T-Square over the INCRA 12″ T-Rule?
Note: I don’t own either one.
fred
Maybe its only me – but I find the Incra (I’ve tried their T-Rule12) to be a bit finicky to use when trying to scribe a line or a set of parallel lines. The thin metal of the Incra rule seemed to cut/break my Pentel pencil leads. If I took the time to master it – maybe it would have worked better – and certainly others seem to give it high marks (hundreds of 5-star reviews on Amazon). What I’m used to – and works for me – is to set one of my combination squares and then use the notch at the end of the blade to position my pencil or scribe point and then scribe a line.
Stuart
I have some Incra rules, and they’re accurate but flimsy. I simply don’t like using them unless there’s a clear benefit in doing so.
Tony
Thanks Fred and Stuart for the explanations.
Nathan
I’ve considered a number of times getting the 12 inch and then getting a cheap basic larger T square for larger duty.
I see no real reason to get the 24 or the 32 of these. Yes the incra one is flimsy but it works well with a sharpie and light pressure I find.
meanwhile though – someone could take a cheaper square – chuck in a CNC and made a reasonable facsimile fairly cheaply. if one wanted to.
Nick
I like the idea of owning the top of the line in all tools, however I try to be realistic as well with what I buy. What specific applications should a tool like this be used and justify its purchase? Seems like everytime I’ve used a t square has been to mark plywood to cross cut with my track saw. Drywall guys use them, old school draftsmen use them too but in none of those uses is an EXTREME level of accuracy really needed and all involve dragging a pencil along it which is subject to human error anyways. Is there some other trade or profession that the standard hardware store t square doesn’t cut it? Not trying to be critical but is this tool really just for people who like looking like they have the “best”?
Benjamen
It is expensive, but you are paying for a quality tool to be made in the USA in low quantities. If they could sell 1 million of these or make them in Taiwan, yes they’d be cheaper and still possibly as precise.
I can think of many reasons why you’d buy something like this T-square: you are looking for an heirloom tool that you can pass onto your grandkids, like the Starret rule you might have from your grandfather. Or working with precision tools makes you feel good. You probably think nothing of going out for a steak with the family and dropping $100, so how much are you willing to spend on something that makes you feel good every time you use it. Or it has the exact combination of features you really want all in one tool rather than having to spend money on multiple tools and trying to find someplace to put them.
Stuart offered for ToolGuyd to pick one up for me. I thought about it, but decided I’d rather pickup a drafting square. I felt bad for days after I dropped my Delve Square on the concrete (and I really didn’t damage it), I can’t imagine how bad I’d feel after dropping this and more than likely damage it in some way.
Nick
Good response. I bet that lifetime warranty would cover a bad drop but then again maybe not 😉
Bic Parker
Over the years I have gone through multiple squares, t-squares, combination squares, framing squares, et al. Out of these, a few have stayed with me as reliable measuring and marking tools. But several more ended up as junk typically because they not true, could not stay true, had inaccurate measures, did not work well with the workpieces, and many other reasons along those lines. These tools were incredible sources of frustration and sometimes cost money beyond their price in terms of bad cuts (measuring twice with a bad square gives one two bad measurements) and fixes for the bad cuts.
Which brings me to a tool like the Woodpecker precision T-square. I was needing a good square for panel and cabinetry work. I had been using some older squares, including two very reliable steel framing squares, but I needed a larger t-square. I had gone through two large squares made by known and oft purchased brands in the woodworking community. They were inadequate to the task with one being unwieldy in the layout and the other was simply not square. At that point, I was willing to pay more for a tool if it simply worked without frustration.
This is where the Woodpecker T-square fit the bill. It was made well, it was reliably square, it fit and rode on the wood well, and the scales were easy to read. In short, it simply worked and my concerns were no longer on the tool, but on my work.
The additional feature of the marking holes in the rule ended up being a plus for not only cuts, but accurately measuring and marking router cuts for grooves, dados, and rabbets. It made accurate registration of sliding door tracks much easier.
I have used this tool a lot (this is the 24” version) and it is one of my go to measuring tools that I keep in a handy place under the bench.
It was more expensive than most other T-squares. But it works, and is accurate and I will use it a long time without concern. Some argue about not needing such a high precision, but as a practical matter, that level of accuracy simply means that I do not have to worry about my tools introducing inaccuracies into a workpiece. For that, I can take full credit now.
In the end this makes the work less frustrating and more enjoyable. I do this as a hobby and see no sense it making it a torturous experience. Such as tool as this works well for me and in that sense, it is well worth the cost.