Tuesday, November 08, 2011

Seven Year Itch

Would you believe it's seven whole years today since I started this blog? No, me neither. Don't bother going and looking at the inaugural post though - it's not 'ticularly interesting. Anyway, apparently Copper or Wool is the traditional material to mark seven years. Pish, sez I. Yea, even Tush. Iron and steel it is then:


Despite everyone's best efforts to get me to buy more chisels on Saturday, I only came away with this combination square. I never buy squares usually, but it appealed to me somehow - and I do seem to be in a metrological frame of mind at the moment. I got the general impression that the collective tool gurus present reckoned I was slightly off my nut buying it, but hey, a girl gets to the point where she needs to get her hands on something freshly rusted and painted-spotted, and this fit the bill all-too admirably.

A bit of TLC and elbow grease later, and a not displeasing result.


Nothing particularly special - as far as I can gather, Stanley churned No.21s out by the thousands over the years. But I like it; it feels good in the hand (and considerably better than the fancier, more expensive, and newer 12" combi square I already own - and never use as a result).


At some point I must find the patent and discover the purpose of the slot. I've got a vague impression of some sort of sliding bevel feature, but have yet to explore it fully. 'Cos yeah, I needed another thing that could do duty as a sliding bevel like I need a hole in the head. Or another chisel.

3 comments:

  1. ALF,
    I believe the slot holds the blade on to the head. Unless the blade has a groove in it as well.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Happy anniversary, Alf.

    Cool combination square, nicely mellow. You did the right thing.

    Evergreen

    ReplyDelete
  3. Nice old combination square and a fitting anniversary present.
    I have a Stanley like this one, only it has a shorter blade. On mine, I can move the cast body right up to the very end and rotate it to the other side, so that I can have a longer ruler for wide boards. With yours, you might like to mark a 45 degree line using the whole length of the ruler.
    Swing the body up to the end and flick it over to the other side and you will have a full length ruler for marking 45 degrees.
    Works that way with mine - yours might do that as well.
    Cheers
    Tom

    ReplyDelete

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