Shopsmith Forums

twistsol wrote: ↑Tue Mar 02, 2021 5:54 pm

dusty wrote: ↑Tue Mar 02, 2021 3:12 pm For use on a job site, where you cut mostly rafters,studs and sheet goods for the roof. I feel the same about Festool. My old Craftsman 8" will cut studs right along side of any Festool you might bring to the job site. No dust collection needed and only as accurate as the user.

I have a Festool TS75 and while it is great for panel cutting in the shop, the plunge cut is a pain the butt for cutting studs. I have a black and decker 8" saw from the 80's that usually does that job.

I don't know how popular Festool is in the trades in the USA. Finish carpentry requires more precision and finesse than framing, so I believe some go with Festool for tracksaw and miter saws because of this. It was my understanding that for framing (rough) carpentry Festool tends to push their HK 55 and HKC 55 products which are a totally different beast than a standard circular saw or the tracksaw used in finish carpentry. Again, I don't know how prevalent these get purchased by trades in this country, but there are advantages to them. The HK can be used alone as a straight up circular saw or can be used on a Festool track, but there is also a special FSK (short) track for it that mounts on the saw. The FSK track makes it a sliding circular saw because one part of the track is fixed and the other slides. In the videos that I have seen of it you can quickly cut multiple boards at the same time which would be a productivity boost for repetitive cuts. Never tried one myself, but the videos that I have seen make it look compelling for framing work. Not trying to talk anyone into Festool, but tools like this exist because some contractor decided that there was a speed improvement because of these types of features and bought one. Otherwise they would go out of business.

https://www.protoolreviews.com/tools/po ... saw/27201/

If you are doing studs you should get the Festool HKC 55. I mean, you are already down the rabbit hole

I do not know what framers are using today but in the 2000-2010 they were using Makita saws. Reason they could take a fall from a 8-12 feet onto concrete and survive. Framers drop tools and need tools that can take falls from side walls onto the concrete or sub floor without failure. I watched a ton of frame carpenters and I can not think of another saw being used. Now I realized times have changed and most have gone to cordless, which I do not know but I guess it is the saw that can take a fall and survive.

My issue is that I find it hard to find a large square that's accurate to begin with. I have a 48 inch drywall square and a 24 inch carpenters square and neither is worth a damn. I would like to find a 24 inch carpenter's square that IS accurate - and as with most accurate tools, you then need to care for it better than your other tools.
I understand that for a professional on-site carpenter, these tools will not last. But for me, who does hobbyist work and most of my own carpentry on my house, I'm tired of discovering the cut is off and I trace it back to a square thats 1/8 off over 24 inches. And buy another square and it's just the same.
So I don't know if this one is any good, but I am in the market for a 24 inch square that is ACCURATE. It's then my responsibility to keep it that way.

tucsonguy wrote: ↑Sun Mar 14, 2021 10:46 am My issue is that I find it hard to find a large square that's accurate to begin with. I have a 48 inch drywall square and a 24 inch carpenters square and neither is worth a damn. I would like to find a 24 inch carpenter's square that IS accurate - and as with most accurate tools, you then need to care for it better than your other tools.
I understand that for a professional on-site carpenter, these tools will not last. But for me, who does hobbyist work and most of my own carpentry on my house, I'm tired of discovering the cut is off and I trace it back to a square thats 1/8 off over 24 inches. And buy another square and it's just the same.
So I don't know if this one is any good, but I am in the market for a 24 inch square that is ACCURATE. It's then my responsibility to keep it that way.

Woodpeckers has a 26" square that is 0.001" accurate per foot of measurement, but there are other brands with accurate large format squares as well. Unfortunately, to get an accurate square costs $$$.

https://www.woodpeck.com/woodpeckers-26 ... uares.html

tucsonguy wrote: ↑Sun Mar 14, 2021 10:46 am My issue is that I find it hard to find a large square that's accurate to begin with. I have a 48 inch drywall square and a 24 inch carpenters square and neither is worth a damn. I would like to find a 24 inch carpenter's square that IS accurate - and as with most accurate tools, you then need to care for it better than your other tools.
I understand that for a professional on-site carpenter, these tools will not last. But for me, who does hobbyist work and most of my own carpentry on my house, I'm tired of discovering the cut is off and I trace it back to a square thats 1/8 off over 24 inches. And buy another square and it's just the same.
So I don't know if this one is any good, but I am in the market for a 24 inch square that is ACCURATE. It's then my responsibility to keep it that way.

Have you considered making an English Square.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiDhTsUDbPU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujzD_jW7zk8

tucsonguy wrote: ↑Sun Mar 14, 2021 10:46 am My issue is that I find it hard to find a large square that's accurate to begin with. I have a 48 inch drywall square and a 24 inch carpenters square and neither is worth a damn. I would like to find a 24 inch carpenter's square that IS accurate - and as with most accurate tools, you then need to care for it better than your other tools.
I understand that for a professional on-site carpenter, these tools will not last. But for me, who does hobbyist work and most of my own carpentry on my house, I'm tired of discovering the cut is off and I trace it back to a square thats 1/8 off over 24 inches. And buy another square and it's just the same.
So I don't know if this one is any good, but I am in the market for a 24 inch square that is ACCURATE. It's then my responsibility to keep it that way.

If you don't want to shell big bucks out for an accurate square, it is possible to adjust garden-variety steel framing squares.



This guy uses a transfer punch to "persuade" the square to 90°, but other people recommend striking it directly with a ball-peen hammer. It seems to me that the latter would distribute the stresses more evenly.