Saw a guy using a speed square backward yesterday

He was trying to mark a 45 degree angle with the fence against the wrong side of the board, it took him like 5 minutes to figure out why his cuts were off. Has anyone else noticed new folks not knowing how to use basic layout tools?

3 comments

3 Comments

harper9141mo ago

Thought I had speed squares figured out until I watched a guy on a jobsite use one backwards and still get the angle right, which made me realize @evahenderson is probably onto something about flipping the pivot point. My old way works fine for most cuts but I can see how someone new might get confused trying to force the tool when they could just switch sides. Gotta respect that there's more than one way to hold a square even if it looks wrong at first.

karencampbell1mo ago

more than one way to hold a square even if it looks wrong at first" - that line really hit me. It's funny how that little lesson keeps popping up everywhere, not just with tools. I was helping my niece learn to tie her shoes last week and she was doing it completely backwards from how I showed her, but the knot held just as good. Makes you realize how many things we think have a "right" way actually have a bunch of ways that all work. @evahenderson mentioned flipping the pivot point and honestly that's exactly the kind of thinking that saves people time and frustration. We get so stuck on our own method that we forget the tool doesn't care which side you start from.

evahenderson1mo ago

Different people learn different ways though. Holding the speed square wrong side first actually works fine if you flip the tool around and measure from the other edge, it's just the pivot point that changes. Marking a 45 with the fence against the wrong side of the board probably means he was trying to use the square as a saw guide without realizing the fence needs to be on the workpiece side.