The last few hardware store combo squares I bought have been junk.. I would suggest finding a machinist tool supplier and look at the cheaper lines. They will be hardened steel and accurate.. I would also consider a set of machinist squares, again off brand but they are really handy and fit into smaller spaces,, while you're at it and I'm spending your money,, grab a set of 1-2-3 blocks....  any of these can be found for around $15 bucks, maybe a little more for what you are actually looking for...

I have a few Starrett and Brown and Sharp and picked them up on eBay.

The last one I bought, I went to Amazon, got the cheapest steel rule square, then checked it out (for square and measurement accuracy), returned it twice until I got a good one.  A bit of patience and about $8, I got something useable.      Amazon cheap prices (they have higher end stuff if you can tell the difference) usually are for "seconds":  material that gets scrapped at the end of the day when they find the CNC unit out of calibration.  Purveyors then buy the "scrap" at pennies on the dollar, sell it through various outlets.  The trick is to keep returning the out-of-spec items until they (purely by accident) send one of the good ones (they don't check them, they don't know, they don't care).   I return roughly a quarter of the stuff I buy for defects, but I save a small fortune.   Hmmm, maybe by now, a large cumulative fortune?

I put my glasses on, and looked a little better at the name on the rule part..."Johnson"  Brand...been using it for the Bread Box Project...no issues.  The 6" one is Swanson..comes in handy when I do Dovetails and such..

2 minutes ago, steven newman said:

I put my glasses on, and looked a little better at the name on the rule part..."Johnson"  Brand...been using it for the Bread Box Project...no issues.  The 6" one is Swanson..comes in handy when I do Dovetails and such..

Yeah, I've been thinking of a 6", or a 4" for just that. But I am trying to limit what I put in the chest, so haven't decided yet

 

On 7/9/2025 at 7:57 PM, JWD said:

Sub $20, you may be looking at a squammer - 

 

Even made of aluminum, or heaven help us, plastic, these guys are surprisingly useful.

 

The PEC stuff is good too, my last job we had a set of theirs in the machine shop and I liked it.  If you can get a blem on the cheap, I would do that!

 

I got this one for father's day.  It has quite a few features that my old one did not,   I went to Gerstner's open house a few years ago and they had PEC squares "blemished" on sale.  But my thought was what is the best use for a square that's not square?  A doorstop.

Well..this one came home with me, today.

.

along with the 8" Stanley square....$5 for the pair?  

Haven't check either of them out, yet...Found at an Estate Sale this morning...