Found a 1960s framing square in my dad's old toolbox yesterday

I was cleaning out his garage and found his old Stanley framing square from when he built houses in the 60s. The thing is still perfectly square after all these years, but it got me thinking about how much lumber quality has dropped. Anybody else notice how you can barely find a straight 2x4 anymore compared to back then?

2 comments

2 Comments

nora_wells581d ago

Hang on, are you saying the square itself is still dead-nuts accurate after 60 years? Or are you talking about how the lumber you find today just can't match what your dad worked with back then? Because I've had the same thought, but more about the wood itself. I've pulled apart old barns and the 2x4s are rock solid, while the stuff at the big box store now twists before you even get it home. Makes you wonder if the old growth lumber was just better, or if the whole milling process is just cheaper now. Did you try to use that square on any modern lumber just to see the difference?

ryan6531d ago

@nora_wells58 I used to think old tools were just hype from old timers who couldn't let go. But then my neighbor gave me his dad's framing square from the 1950s, and I checked it against a digital angle finder. Dead nuts accurate, like you said. That thing saw 60 years of rain, mud, and abuse and it's still square. I tried it on a modern 2x4 from the big box store and honestly the wood was twisted enough that the square showed a 1/16 gap at the end. Old growth lumber was just different, they cut it slower and let it dry right. The milling today is all speed and profit, they rush everything through the planer before the wood even settles.