How To Use A Speed Square - The Basics

need to know how to use this tool called a speed square well in this video we're going to go over exactly how to use it and if you're new to this channel my name's josh let's get started all right so the most common thing that people know that the speed square does is make simple right angles so you can just take this edge and stick it on whatever edge you want to make a square line off of and simply just make a straight line and you got a right angle perfectly straight and now the next thing most people use the speed square for is if you look here you got scribe notches so they're in quarter inch increments and all you got to do is put your marker or your pencil right in one of the scribe notches and makes marks straight for whatever you're going to be using it for so if you're going to rip this 2x4 down and you need a straight line that's going to be perfect for that application and if you look they go across like i said every quarter inch so that would be your inch mark then your next mark here is going to be your inch and a quarter so on and so forth okay so the next thing i wanted to show you is these marks here those are your layout reference lines so they go across here this one's one inch inch and a half two inch three inch so on and so forth so let's say we're going to make our layout off this line so we would put it here and let's say we need to make a two inch mark all you got to do is do that make a straight line and now between both of these we got a perfect two inch mark so a great use for this speed square is doing layout for a two by four wall so from here to here we got a little over seven inches so it's enough to accommodate two two by fours laying together so let's say our layout starts right here off this line so we'd simply scribe across both plates and then go ahead and continue our two by four layout so let's say our next studs right here all you gotta do place your speed square across both of them and then make your lines and then an x so the next thing i want to talk to you about are these common numbers right here they're listed as common as you can see here a little arrow pointing to all these numbers so this is the next most used part of a speed square so these are used for making plumb cuts for rafters and all you got to do to do that let's say right here's our point we're going to go off of to make our plumb cut all we got to do is lay our pivot point up next to the mark and then right here on these common numbers line it up to let's say we're going to do a 6 12 plumb cut we just line the 6 in line with the straight edge of our material and then scribe our line and then this is a 7 712 plum cut line and this can be used to make your rafters where they butt against your girder or wherever you're making uh tails for your rafters and then let's say we want to do a 712. again you simply line your common number up right there like that describe your line and now this is a 712 and now one cool thing about a speed square is it has a protractor on this side so right here these are all degrees so we start from zero goes clear up to 90 degrees and to use this let's say we want to know the degree of that 712 if you line it up on your angle look over here we got about a 30 degree angle and now let's say you're doing a 712 roof pitch and we know if you look here we got a 30 degree angle and we need to know the long angle for doing your uh level line cut where it meets the roof so all you got to do is subtract 30 from 90 and all you will come up with there is 60. so now we know this 7 12 complementary angle is going to be 60 degrees like this so this is going to be the cut say you're doing a valley cut i'll put a link to a youtube video of where i was building a small roof and that's how you get the complimentary angle to your short 712. okay so i'm going to now show you how to use this speed square to do a bird's mouth so i already made a 6 12 plumb line right here so if you look here six and then we scribed our line and now these lines right here are used to make the bird's mouth line so how you do this it's pretty simple you just flip your speed square around line this line up with your existing plumb line and then you want to slide it down to wherever you want to make your bird's mouth so we got it lined up nice and straight there and that looks about right and make our line and now when you cut this out that's going to be seated right on your 2x4 plate okay now it's time to explain what this diamond is for it's for making a bird's mouth for a rafter so to do that i went ahead and made my plumb line here for a 612 roof pitch and now all you got to do is flip your speed square over put your pivot point right across the edge of the material and slide it over till you intersect your line and more or less all this does is make a 45 degree mark off of your plumb line so as you can see there the line's going right through the diamond go ahead and scrub your line and now this once you cut it out that makes your heel cut and your seat cut for your bird's mouth so that's the mystery behind this diamond everybody asks about now i'd like to just point out this is the seat cut and heel cut made by these lines that i showed you earlier and this is the seat cut heel cut for the bird's mouth using the diamond and as you can see you get pretty similar results okay now i'm going to go over what these numbers are for this is your hip valley numbers it's the same idea as the common other than this for common roof and this is for your hip and valley roof so if you're not sure what a hip and valley is i'm going to throw a picture up on the screen what that is so wherever your top cut hits on your girder for your hip and valley is what this is for so let's say we're going to do a 712 for your hip roof and you would just do your seven make a mark just like you would with your common side and that is for your hip and valley top cuts so if you wanted to use this speed square as a protractor all you got to do it's same idea as all the other lines other than you use these bottom lines for your protractor so let's say we need to make a 25 degree angle just line your 25 degree up with the edge of your material keep your pivot point tight and then describe your line so this line is a 25 degree line and that's pretty straightforward but you may have not have known that and the next thing i wanted to show you is how you can take this and if you're framing walls i'd recommend using a framing square but if you're in a pinch and you just need to make sure a wall square so if this is your wall butting into another wall all you have to do is put your speed square in the corner of it and that just gives you a quick reference if you're setting square or not so let's say you're doing a remodel and there's already a pre-existing roof and you need to know the pitch of that roof i set up this mock rafter here so if this is your rafter going up all you got to do is take a you just take a chalk line and lock the wand handle in and it creates a plumb bob or just use a string with a weight on the end and all you got to do let's go ahead and just hook it onto your rafter now you take your speed square and you'll want to use the long side that's going to lay flat against the rafter so all you got to do is place it underneath the rafter and slide it up until you get your pivot point in line with the square so as you can see here it crosses through the 3 12 pitch so your pivot point intersecting the chalk line while it's tight against the rafter gives us a 312. so right now we know this rafter is a 312 pitch so that's the basics on how to use a speed square and this speed square is made by swatson it's probably the most common speed square there is i'll put a link in the description where you can go buy it from home depot i'm affiliate with home depot so i do get a little kickback if you do buy it just wanted to put that disclaimer out there and i do want to say i appreciate you watching and if you're new to this channel my name is josh this channel is all about building your own house and saving a ton of money and i also do things like tool reviews i do some diy projects and other things like that on top of it so it's very educational we have a lot of fun on this channel you definitely want to hit the bell so you get a notification every time i release a new video as well all right guys i appreciate you watching i got to get up to the house i got a bunch of bracing i still got to do yet and i will see you in the next video peace

Channel: The Excellent Laborer

Views: 63,606

Keywords: speed square, how to use a speed square, how to, using a speed square, how to use a rafter square, speed square basics, how to use a square, square, swanson speed square, rafter square, how to use a speed square youtube, how to use a speed square for roof pitch, speed square uses, how to use speed square, how to use the speed square, speed square angles, what is a speed square, best speed square, speed square tricks, how to work with a speed square

Id: 87yPopRY8g8

Length: 9min 27sec (567 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 29 2020