I know Jen mentioned “The News” recently, and apparently she planted a seed. Back in the mid 80’s, Huey Lewis had it right when he proclaimed it’s “Hip To Be Square.” In the case of Fastcap’s Magnetic Micro Square, it’s not only hip to be square, it’s also very useful, especially if you happen to own a table saw or band saw. Unless you’re just ripping down rough cuts on sheets of plywood, it’s good practice to make sure your table saw blade is at a true 90 degrees. Eyeballing it, or just hoping that the factory blade angle gauge is set precisely often doesn’t cut it.
In the words of our sponsor (who sent us the tool), “”This precision machinist style square has 2 neodynium magnets embedded in the oversized base. The square sticks firmly to the cast iron table top and allows hands free adjustment of spindles, blades and fences.” When they say precision, it’s not just marketing-speak. It is very precisely machined, and solid. It’s also a beefy 3/16″ thick and even comes in handy for laying out 90’s on smaller material. The magnets also double as a storage method, enabling you to store the square in an accessible nook around your saw (preferably not anywhere near the blade by the way).
I also used the Micro Square to get my table saw blade insert exactly flush with the table height. Just set it on the transition from the table to the blade insert. If the square is a rock’n, then don’t bother saw’n. Get that insert just right and that way your workpiece won’t bind or dip at the blade insert transition.
Oh, and in case you want to be singing “I used to be a renegade, I used to fool around, But I couldn’t take the punishment and had to settle down” (possibly a theme line for HomeFixated readers?), check out the video with way too many close-up shots. But hey, it was the 80’s. Presumably, current videos (do they still make those?) will look horrific in 2030. 4d immersive video holograms will be so much better, they’ll just laugh at stuff like Avatar.
Getting back around to Huey and then the product review at hand, if you think it’s hip for your table saw to be square too (trust us, it is), you can pick up the artfully crafted Magnetic Micro Square straight from Fastcap for just $20. Enter “HOMEFREE” and you can even get Free Shipping!
