Lee Valley Precision Double Square Review (Disappointing)

I recently bought a Precision Double Square from Lee Valley (pictured above). I didn't need a square. But it was a new product. And it was on sale. And it looked really nice.

Lee Valley says the square has better than .001 inches accuracy. Furthermore they say it is so accurate that it exceeds the accuracy of their regular machinist squares. Well, I'm not a machinist, but I appreciate such accuracy in a tool. And it's made in America. I like that too!

When the square arrived I was very pleased with it. I will find a place on the wall over my tool bench for it. A small square should be within easy reach because it is a basic and necessary tool in any workshop.

Fact is, I already have a small square within easy reach at my bench. It's a SEARS #39550 six-inch combination square. It's made in USA. I got it for a few bucks at a sale. 

I’ve found that a six-inch combination square is more convenient to use than the longer combination squares. 

I’m mentioning my SEARS combo square because I can't help but compare the two tools.

When I placed them upright, blade against blade, on a flat surface they touch tightly along the 6 inch length. There is no gap. That means my Sears combo square is as accurate as the machinist square! That's kind of surprising.

I suspect that I must not be looking at it closely enough. Surely the carefully machined double square is more accurate than the mass produced combination square. But for any carpentry or cabinetmaking work I'll ever do, the difference is inconsequential. It also occurred to me that I might have gotten the one-in-a-thousand combination squares that came out of the SEARS combination-square-making-machine with such accuracy.

Of course, I wouldn't know my combination square is so accurate if I didn't have the machinist square to check it against.

I put my Lee Valley Square to use for the first time when making the stub-tenon frame that I wrote about in Tradman’s Daily post number 31. 

The square helped set up my table saw blade so it was at a perfect 90° to the table. It checked the square accuracy of my stub-tenon cuts. And it fit very nicely in my shirt pocket when I wasn't using it. But, as I was putting the tool to work, something unexpected and terrible happened...

Do you see what happened in the picture above? Maybe you don't. It's hard to see something that is no longer there. I'm referring to the Lee Valley logo on the blade (to the left of MADE IN USA)....  The logo wore off the first time I used the tool!

There are no other markings on the square to identify it as a Lee Valley tool. Lacking any manufacturers identification, the tool’s value is diminished. Not it's usefulness, but it's perceived value, especially in years to come. 

Quality tools have always proudly provided permanent identification. For example my relatively cheap SEARS combination square has clear identification information deeply stamped into the blade.

When I realized the logo on the tool had rubbed off, I couldn't help but utter the anguished exclamation of my Uncle Maynard when he was miffed over some situation… “Oh, for crying out loud!”

The good news is that all other words and increment markings on the Lee Valley Square are deep and permanent.

In the final analysis the Lee Valley Precision Double Square is a fine little tool. It's probably the finest quality tool I own. But it would be a lot finer if Lee Valley didn't put their name on it with disappearing ink.

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For tool set-up and very accurate squaring in a workshop, it's hard to beat the basic, inexpensive engineer's squares that Lee Valley offers. 

I've had an inexpensive 8" engineer's square (not from Lee Valley) for decades and have used it a lot over the years. It has always been the most trustworthy arbiter of square in my workshop, and I've been very careful not to drop it.