Finally figured out why my bevel cuts were coming out wonky

Ngl, I spent a whole afternoon last week trying to line up a tank seam and kept getting a gap. Realized my square was off by 2 degrees after I dropped it on the shop floor - bought a new one for $12 and it fixed everything. Anybody else ever chase a bad cut for hours only to find it's your tool, not your hand?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_faith8d agoTop Commenter

Wait did you check if your square was actually square when you bought it? I grabbed a "brand new" one from the hardware store once and it was off by almost 3 degrees right out of the packaging. Had to go back and test like three different squares before I found one that was true. Also a 2 degree error on a square will throw your bevel cuts off way more than people think. Multiply that by the length of your cut and it turns into a pretty big gap. At least you caught it before you started blaming your saw or something.

hayden1448d ago

Grabbed the first square off the shelf at my local hardware spot and it was almost a full degree off. Brought it back and the guy looked at me like I was crazy until he checked it himself. Now I always bring a known good square with me when I buy a new one, just test them right there in the aisle. Saves a lot of headache down the road, especially when you're trying to do something like fit crown molding or build a cabinet door. Better to spend five minutes testing than to fight with bad cuts for an hour.