Has Stanley stopped making the 45-010 alum. framing square? When? Does anyone know where to get a couple? I don’t want the 45-011 in black: tried one and it gets hard to read as the paint chips and marks the work. The 45-300 appears to be graded only to 1/8″. We want 1/16″. We are a timber framing company and use these for layout. Also wish they would resume production of the H2B. Anyone know how to communicate with Stanley to give them this consumer feedback?
Thanks
Discussion Forum
Discussion Forum
Up Next
Video Shorts
Featured Story
The RealTruck AMP Research Bedsteps give you easy access to your truck-bed storage.
Featured Video
Highlights
"I have learned so much thanks to the searchable articles on the FHB website. I can confidently say that I expect to be a life-long subscriber." - M.K.
Replies
You ain't gonna get anywhere with Stanley. They don't care about customer feedback, just satisfying the demands of the big box stores.
And if you're a timber framer, you oughta go about getting someone to resume production of the Orem Super Square. Or maybe a nice stainless steel framing square (actually I think Lee Valley sells one now).
Buy a Malco, shoot it with flourescent paint, sand off the extra, and the grooves will hold the color..square on. Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
You ain't gonna get anywhere with Stanley. They don't care about customer feedback, just satisfying the demands of the big box stores.
I dunno how true that is......its been a few years....but when I emailed them about my dissatisfaction with their "contractor grade" chalk box, I was promptly mailed three new ones of various sizes and a one gallon container of chalk.
J. D. Reynolds
Home Improvements
I've had the black Stanley square you mentioned for about a year now and it hasn't chipped once. Plus it's noticeably lighter than the Swanson.
Try this link http://www.Sandslevel.com  Boyd Miller posted it at JLC a few years ago. I've been meaning to buy a nice square from them for a long time. Here is the link to the thread, Boyd had some recommendations. He is a very savvy roof cutter, so these should be good squares for you.
http://forums.jlconline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15686&highlight=etched
Edited 9/26/2005 10:55 pm ET by Timuhler
I am also a fan of the Stanley 45-010 alum. framing square (I think Stanley made a Stainless steel model with the same markings and yellow paint in the etchings too), but haven't seen any in the stores for about 10-12 years, I always check tool sales/auctions for them, I got a one that way, I found a usable substitute made by Maklenburg/Duncan (?), not sure of the model number or even if they still make them either, I think it was called a "rafter" square, I like the 100th scale (on both models) for when my mental math sometimes fails me when framing hips.
Carpenter's Stainless-Steel Square - Lee Valley Tools
carpenter & rafter squares 1
Edited 9/27/2005 2:14 am ET by WoodWolf
I'm using a staney homeowner square that I bought back in 1988. I have two of them. They were the best squares that stanley ever made. The new ones are junk; too brittle. They don't last.
blue
I agree, the quality/durability of their (stanley's) "construction squares" in general seems to have taken a nose dive lately, I'm sure that they are made from a lesser grade of aluminum then they were in the 80's, I think I got my first 45-010 in 1985. I have a couple sets of stair gages made for framing squares by Starrett (#111), I like them because you can pretty much set them right on the mark and go unlike those hexagonal or octagonal ones that you have to adjust some before you get them set.
Wodwolf, even back in the 80's, the stanley "professional" grade squares were too brittle. They would crack at the weld in a year or less. At that time the stanley "homeowner" squares were significantly lighter and cheaper. I decided to try one and to my surprise it was wonderful. I could bend it, shape it and just rebend it back to straight, without worry. I still do the same today with the ones I have left.
Of course, they don't make them anymore. I've lost 7 of them, and only have two left. When they go, I go.
blue
Mine must have been produced earlier than when I bought it (I think $24.00 at the time) then because the two (the other from a tool auction so no idea when it was made) I have seem to be very flexible, though I now use the MD one in the field which seems fine also.
"Of course, they don't make them anymore. I've lost 7 of them, and only have two left. When they go, I go."
The sad fact of the matter is that I am the only one that actually knows how to use the framing square (to its potential) among the group of folks I work with most of the time, even the "framers" mostly defer to me, they always call me to layout pattern rafters and hips etc. for them (as well as stair carriages and some timber framing), I'm wondering how many people out there actually use these for that anymore with "speed squares" and all? since I don't see much evidence of it. I guess when I don't help them anymore, they will all use trusses.
It is sad that so many carpenters have turned to the "speed square" as their tool of choice. Most don't have any idea of how a framing square actually speeds up the process of hundreds of operations each job. All they focus on is how fast it is to mark the angles, as if it's hard with a framing square!?!!! They think they are saving themselves a few seconds on the plumb and level cuts, but they don't realize that they are losing MINUTES on a few dozen other areas of carpentry. When you multiply that by a hundred or so, the actual $ amounts that are lost it inefficiency are staggering.
I've yet to see any of the fastest guys around here using speedsquares. I wish I could show the speedsquare crowd a split screen-one guy cutting a hip return package with the man's square and one doing it with the speed square. It would be an amazing video production to carpentry geeks.
I used to take my pack of 8 squares and fling them all over the deck. I'd have two in every corner; that way, no matter where I was, I was sure to have a couple on hand. Nowadays, since I work exclusively off a set of sawhorses, I always have at least one hanging from them.
Long live the flexible homoowners square!
blue
I still remember that early morning ...
about 10 yrs ago ... when I was in the midst of going back to trade school.
about 4:30 on a Monday morning ... packing the Jeep Commanche for yet another 2 hrs drive north into the middle of PA for a week of hell ...
the Jeep had a cap over the bed.
carried out the tool belt.
loaded the tools ... loaded the clothes for the week ... loaded the cooler fulla food for the week. Went in one last time to watch my wife sleep and pack the home cooked meals my Mom made for me ...
put the stick into 1st gear ... pulled away ...
clang!
what the hell was that?
put her into R and backed up to see ...
crunch ...
got out.
seems I'd left the framing square I'd had since high school .. the only one truely square one I'd run into ... hanging on the side of the fiberglass cap!
it fell when I pulled out ... and I ran it over when I backed up to see what the clang was!
oh ... the horror ...
just hasn't been the same since. Still have it in the back of the van ... it's a little wavy now. Someday I'll throw it away.
or maybe just run it over again?
Jeff Buck Construction
Artistry In Carpentry
Pittsburgh Pa
Exactly Jeff....just flip it over and do it again!
Framing squares rock.
blue
The truth is, I've never seen anyone using a speed square (for rafters) "get it right the first time", I guess it can be done, and somewhere probably is but not by anyone I've encountered. I've seen them test fit and re-test fit over and over again (you know theres trouble when they pull out the calculator and discuss it "loudly" and then still don't get it right, you can hear the sound $ being flushed). I can't remember the last time it didn't work the first time for me with the framing square (usually because I had put one of the stair gages on the wrong side, I was sometimes in too big of a hurry in the early days).
One of the old timers I worked with in the past mentioned once that you couldn't be even be called a "carpenter" until you were able to use a framing square effectively when he was starting out.
I would probably watch that video...
How do you lose so many framing squares? Or did they walk off?
I wish I knew.
The problem with owning more than one of a tool is that you menally relax because you know you have another somewhere. If you only have one, you keep looking till you find it.
Some were sawed in half (under plywood), some were stolen, broken in half. Some developed that dreaded crack at the heel.
I wish I had bought ten more before they discontinued. But then again, maybe not. I have trouble reading the scales now and I haven't found a good solution to darken them.
blue
I finally bought eyeglasses and now I can see the marks again.
I was given a 1903 Nicholson square - a little rusty but otherwise OK. I cleaned it off and use it all the time. Belonged to my neighbour's father - neighbour is 85. He has a few old tools he wants to give me ...Quality repairs for your home.
AaronR ConstructionVancouver, Canada
Try the aluminum Empire 1140. Easy to read. Graduated in 1/16 and 1/8 on one side, 10ths, 12ths and 16ths on the other. Decent tables.
Best of all, Made in USA!
http://costofwar.com/
I bought my Stanley aluminum framing square in 1977. It is marked AR100.
I still have my AR100 from 1977 too Doodabug! It's got a crack at the heel of course, and it's no good for square, but I kept it becuse it was my first.
blue
I used the center punch trick on mine and put it back to square.
I've never had success with any center punch trick. The acy torch didn't do it either.
blue