Framing square markings are lying to you if you ignore the tongue

I watched a guy on a site outside Boise layout a whole stair stringer using just the body of his framing square, then wonder why every rise came out a hair off. The 24 inch marks and the table on the tongue exist for a reason, but most people I see never flip it over or even look at the rafter tables. I've been doing this 12 years and once I started double checking both sets of numbers, my cuts lined up so much better. Anyone else notice this trend with younger guys treating the square like a straight edge only?

2 comments

2 Comments

milarodriguez1mo ago

That's a real thing, I've seen it too. The tongue has all the info you need for pitches and stuff, but folks just grab the square like it's a ruler and blame the tool later. Once I learned to use both sides together, my stringers came out way more true, so keep pushing that knowledge.

grantp141mo ago

Read a rafter book last winter that said the same thing about using the tongue for the pitch and the blade for the seat cut. Most guys treat the square like it's only good for one job and miss half the tool. Once you start flipping it right, the layout line just makes sense.