Double Square: Great for Dovetails

Left: Vesper Tools. Center: Lufkin. Right: Lee Valley.

When I’m cutting dovetails, a tool that’s always close at hand is one of my small squares, which is variously known as a “double square,” “dovetail square,” “machinist’s square,” “die-maker’s square¹” and a few other monikers I’m surely forgetting.

I have three of these tools, two of which don’t leave the shop, and one of which I don’t loan out. My precious (I can’t even believe I’m telling you I have one) is my Vesper Tools “Precision Double Square.” The other non-traveler is my vintage Lukfin 137C “Double Steel Square” that I bought on eBay for about $60 a few years ago; they’re more now. The Lufkin replaced a vintage Starrett that I’d paid maybe $40 for a few years prior to that. I’m fairly certain that one got swept off a bench during a class, and ended up in the trash. And that is why a) I never lend out my pretty-much-irreplaceable Vesper Tools square and b) why you should keep a close eye on this small tool (of any make) any time it’s not in its box.

The one that I take on the road and that I’ve no qualms about lending out – because it can be easily replaced for a not-too-painful amount of money – is the Lee Valley “Small Double Square” ($56.50).