How Straight is a Straight Edge?

[@johnnyc563]

Great video. This is an important step to any woodworking effort. It is why the old time furniture makers always square their boards by hand, with hand planes & they were never out of square! Their accuracy was impeccable.

[@TheEveryMaker]

Well said! I always had trouble with my stuff in the beginning. Once I tuned my tools and made sure my edges were straight and square, it took things to another level!

[@sto2779]

Great explanation, wow what a simple way to test if a precision straight edge is straight.

[@TheEveryMaker]

It really made a difference it my work. The basis for all things, including making sure your square is square!

[@robfrost1]

Helpful video. Be sure to flip your edge using the drawn line as the axis. The way you first rotated your edge, an S-shaped edge would measure as straight. And if you go end-over-end, a C-shaped edge will measure as straight.But use the drawn line as the flip axis and you're all good. 👍🏼

[@TheEveryMaker]

Absolutely agree! My straight edge isn't one I could flip on that axis since it had a bunch of raised surfaces on the top. However, the chance of it being a perfection symmetrical S shape is pretty slim, so I accepted the risk and was able to verify the accuracy later. And a good note going end over end, that is far more likely to be an issue.

[@MrPierref4]

This might seem fundamental, but having a perfectly straight edge to work with is absolutely crucial. Thanks for the tip.

[@TheEveryMaker]

It really changed my woodworking when I started looking into straight edges and square tools. I was surprised to see how out of alignment stuff was! Glad you found it useful!

[@Artismia]

Great stuff, Nick! Love that shirt! Good to know since "I'm Just visiting this planet." 🤪

[@TheEveryMaker]

+Artismia Thank you! It's one of my favorite shirts! Welcome to Earth!

[@neilsellars4648]

Love this. This is what I was looking for.

[@TheEveryMaker]

So glad you found this helpful! Thanks for watching!

[@BruceAUlrich]

Good tips. I've never tried this method before.

[@TheEveryMaker]

Thank you! When I bought some cheaper squares, I tested them and realized they were REALLY far out, so I started looking into ways to test my tools and had to go back to the basics. Glad you found it useful!

[@essentialhandyman]

Another great video Nick.

[@TheEveryMaker]

Thank you!

[@currierchad]

Thanks for the tip!

[@TheEveryMaker]

I hope it helped! Thank you for watching!

[@RobClarke]

Great tutorial thanks a lot!

[@TheEveryMaker]

You're welcome! So glad you found it helpful!

[@theewz]

Great information I was looking for something like this so that I could set up a skill saw guide. Can't really set up a guide if whatever it is I'm referencing off isn't straight to make the guide off of.

[@TheEveryMaker]

I've had the same issue. I thought I had a straight edge and turned out it wasn't. Glad to hear this helped you out!

[@caseykittel]

Thanks. I like the idea. My daddy taught me make a single pass with the pencil. No back and forth. It muddies up the sharpness.

[@TheEveryMaker]

That is a very good point. Normally I would use a marking knife, but I wanted to make sure it was visible for the camera. I also suggest using a nice smooth freshly sanded surface to minimize bumps and skips in the line.

[@jjrock5]

Good idea. Thanks. Where can I find the Swanson straight edge?

[@TheEveryMaker]

I think I got mine at Lowes, but it looks like they carry Swanson at Lowes and Home Depot.

[@danielnordstrand6443]

Thanks Nick! Thats genius😁

[@TheEveryMaker]

So glad you found it useful!

[@EM1473]

Good tip bro, thanks!

[@TheEveryMaker]

+Woody120 Thank you! It has saved my bacon a few times and now I know my cheap straight edge is straight.

[@LouTubeVlogs]

Excellent work!

[@TheEveryMaker]

Thank you, Louise Martin! I'm really enjoying making videos again, but boy does it take a lot of work. I don't know how you do the daily vlog and still have time for life!

[@Artismia]

That hard works shows in the edit. 👍

[@LouTubeVlogs]

The Every Maker My life becomes editing! I'm not as busy at the moment as I will be in the near future so it's kinda fun and a chance to channel my creativity, once uni starts up again I'm sure I'll feel differently about daily vlogging!

[@TheEveryMaker]

+Artismia Thanks again! I really enjoy the editing. I just hope to be able to do more with it soon!

[@ronaldderrez9683]

Thanks bro! Been wondering how to check a straight edge for a straight edge without a straight edge........

[@TheEveryMaker]

I struggled with that for a while! Thought it would be helpful.

[@mandyleeson1]

Thanks 👏🏼

[@TheEveryMaker]

Happy to help!

[@barryroberts6470]

Great tip, i have used that tip to check if a square is square, and now your next video is just that ha ha ha. Barry (ENG)

[@TheEveryMaker]

Thank you Barry! I had checked my square against a face that I thought was flat, turns out it wasn't, so my square wasn't square!

[@zioMav89]

Ty man

[@TheEveryMaker]

You bet, I hoped that helped!

[@WhatEver-wz1nt]

Same here, I too don't have an "eye" for such a thing. I won't believe anyone has that eye unless I see them pointing out twists and bends in real life on at least a 100 different beams.

[@TheEveryMaker]

In a lot of cases, eyeballing it can give you a close enough, but really dialing in my tools took my woodworking to another level.

[@doughaber3330]

I use a 5mm mechanical pencil. Also, the wood better not have rounded edges like a Tubafour. Hard to beat a metal scribe except with woodgrain, it can introduce error. I also use a 2 stage sharpener from Germany. It's kalled Kum sharpener. Sorry about the name. They are the best I've ever found and cheap. Make sure it has extra blades and it's a 2 stage. Large hole for cutting down the wood. Sharpen until the lead touches the plastic edge. Then use the small hole for any wood left but primarily for the lead. The points are stunning and thin. Easy to break like a 5mm pencil. Reasonable skill require to not break them. But even broken, they are still really sharp.

[@TheEveryMaker]

I have plans to make a knife for scribing, but I may just break down and buy one. Thanks for the info!

[@shaolinsoap]

Thanks

[@TheEveryMaker]

Thank you for watching!

[@richardlehoucq9821]

Good stuff, once again, Nick. The real question, though, is knowing what sort of accuracy and/or consistency is needed in a given situation. The point you're making is a good one: that modest tools typically suffice if used within their limits. Modest tools carefully used are better than an expensive tool misused.

[@TheEveryMaker]

Very true. Sometimes you don't need to be super accurate. Actually, most of my stuff isn't all that accurate, but works well enough for what I need!

[@josepeixoto3384]

Interesting; i repair car engines and i need to check the cyl. heads to within 0.002 inch max; i will ow check my 2 straight ecges (cheap ones...) thatbway.. just curious, did you come up with it yourself, or, like me now , you saw it done before?

[@TheEveryMaker]

I honestly don't remember. It's likely that I saw someone do it (probably my Dad) once before, but don't remember it. I hope you are able to get that tight of a tolerance on your straight edges. I haven't gone that tight before, though I have seen metal workers use similar techniques to verify flat surfaces.

[@VypaGaming]

I snip some off of a steel strapping tool to make my own straight edge tool

[@TheEveryMaker]

Interesting idea, I wouldn't have thought of using steel strapping.

[@neilsellars4648]

Though it differs according to the type of project, but is there a tolerance that you give yourself or that you would give a beginner who doesn’t have the experience to know the “if it’s straight it’s straight” comment. For example how much tolerance do you give yourself on a 36” piece? (i.e. +\- 0.001”, +\- 0.005”, 1/64”, 1/32”). When is enough enough for you, since I don’t want to end up going and buying another tool that is a “known” straight edge? SWMBO might not be happy with that. LOL

[@TheEveryMaker]

As with all complicated questions, my very frustrating answer is, it depends. When it comes to tools I want as tight a tolerance as I can measure, which is usually about 1/64". The better your tools are, the easier the project becomes. I often go back and check my tools and make slight adjustments as my skill increases, to get better and better tools, most of which can be modified. It also depends on the project you are working on. If I were to make fine furniture with piston fit drawers, then those tolerances would have to be much tighter. I'm working on a cornhole set for example. If I were just making it out of 2x4s and plywood for a quick weekend trip, I probably wouldn't worry too much about being out by even a 1/8", as long as everything fit together and could be pulled in to relatively flat with fasteners. My design however is a bit more complicated and I want to really make it more like a piece of fine furniture. So I'll be paying much more attention to detail and making sure I get everything as square and straight as possible. Don't be afraid of getting a decent set of files and modifying your straight edges. Also, MDF or melamine tend to have good straight edges, so worst-case scenario, start there.

[@neilsellars4648]

@@TheEveryMaker thank you. More help than you realize

[@practicalmetrology8599]

You make a great video, and congratulations to you on that! However, your method of checking for straightness is not correct, and in a very important way. You flip the straightedge end for end. What you need to do instead is flip it over, across the line that you draw. The reason is that when you flip it end for end, you are not comparing the same points on the straightedge in the two orientations. Flipping it end for end means that you are insensitive to any errors that are evenly matched and evenly spaced about the center of the edge. For instance, say that there is a dip on one side of center, and a matching bulge on the other side of center. When you flip it your way, the dip will line up with the deviated line that the bulge caused and vice-versa, making you completely miss the error.

[@TheEveryMaker]

I did actually consider that as I was making the video, but in most cases, when something is out of straight, you are usually talking about a bow of some sort and while a repeating pattern of error can be missed, the chance of perfectly lining up those errors are minimal. In the case with my straight edges, they don't sit flat when you flip them upside down, so that wouldn't give you a great result anyway. I ultimately decided it's more important to be using not only the same edge, but the same corner. You aren't wrong though, given the option to flip over vertically and lining up your straight edge on the same points will give you a good result, as long as the top edge and bottom edge are on the same plane.

[@practicalmetrology8599]

Thank you for your reply Nick, much appreciated! I'm going to make a video on this issue; it won't be anything like the quality of your videos, but I think that it will be interesting and eye-opening. I hope that you will want to view it.

[@practicalmetrology8599]

I did complete the video, Nick. The last 6 minutes of it were inspired by your comments, so I hope that you will be interested in looking. It's here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gYGyZotmrr5ql5o I intend to add a link to your video on there somewhere, but I haven't worked out how to do that yet. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[@MintStiles]

Your surface has to be relatively flat, also a straight edge has to be very off for this to happen. You need a known flat surface such as a Starrett straight edge or a machinist block.

[@TheEveryMaker]

The better equipment you start with the easier it is to make sure everything is straight and even. I had good luck with my my setup and found some "straight edges" that weren't quite. But once I got everything dialed in, I was able to do much more accurate work.