Review: Martinez Squares || Dr Decks

[Music] hey guys dr dex here today i want to talk to you about the one and the only martinez square i've had a lot of mixed reviews about people talking about this particular brand in this particular square just wanted to give you my two cents on it the first thing is that it's a high-end piece of equipment this is a tool that will last you a lifetime if you treat it properly and even if you abuse it a little bit it's still gonna last a long time i bought two of these when they were first made and i gave one away as a giveaway i don't know as i was like hitting like 60 70 000 followers or something like that and the one thing about this square that's unique and i actually brought this to mark at a trade show it's like hey man not using this to its potential maybe we can do something with it he's like no man you want to keep this square and let me tell you why he said i only made a hundred of these to begin with he said it takes a long time to cut out a piece of titanium and mark all these etches and the reason it i know it's unique is because it's intentionally missing a three on the 35 degree mark there's only 100 of these squares made and i actually had two of them and gave one of them away so uh it does mean a little bit more to me because it is a unique uh tool so basically i'm gonna go over all the pluses i do have one beef with this square and we'll get into that in a little bit so i do have to have another square with me at certain times when i'm building but i'll get into that maybe we'll do an example here but i want to show you the features of this square and why i do like it so much i took me a minute to get used to it and that's because on a traditional square here's a milwaukee right you can get one of these for 14 at home depot one of these is gonna set you back 250 and if you buy the red-headed stepchild version which is our building's kyle is my boy you're gonna pay an extra 50 for that privilege to have a red head instead of a blackhead you know me i like black so this is this is plenty fine i'll i'll just keep my 50 bucks all right so you'll notice there's a lot more detail in a martinez square than any other square that i've used and these are aluminum aluminum squares will break down if you're using them for as marking devices with drills drill bits and that kind of thing you can actually create carves and and dense indentations when you drop them they're going to get banged up and then your drawing line the part that's most important if you're trying to scribe a straight line will become hammered and then you just get another one this square here's another one this is an imp called an empire you guys have probably seen these at home depot you can kind of see the wear and tear from using basically you know one inch four and a half when you're laying out a piece of five quarter by six or something and you're doing a lot of repetitive screwing those two areas get hammered so guess what this this is now a layout square um that's all i use it for but these two squares are the same age okay so uh this square is wearing out quite rapidly this square looks brand new except there's a few nicks and dents on the ridge bar which also has a bubble level in it and that's a cool feature and i'll tell you why in a little bit but this particular square has is packed full of features that you're not going to get in a 14 square one of the coolest features and i've actually used it is there's a nut driver right here in the tip that you can use to loosen your skill saw nuts for chain blade changes you know you're always looking some of some of the saws have onboard tool wrenches half of ours are missing but i always have this in my back pocket and that's where it goes like my my square it's always in my back pocket unless i'm wearing an apron then it goes right here i'm a lefty so i'm always grabbing you know with my left there's a built-in bottle opener i've never used that i'm sure it's really cool i don't drink beer so you know i don't really have a need for that but it's it's cool to have it the one thing i do personally use a lot and the milwaukee square has the same a similar feature they have these little grooves but they're not identifiable very well on the martinez square you can see where one inch mark is you can see it on you can see that on this square as well there's an inch and a half you can kind of see that but then it gets a little convoluted and you really got to stop and think where on the martinez square you have one inch two inch all the inch marks you have your half inch marks you have quarters and then you have eights on this side as well i use this feature quite a bit when you need to draw a straight line let's say i need to notch out an inch and a half out of this board there you go i don't have to take time taking out my tape measure an inch and a half here measure an inch and a half here okay then i got to get a straight edge and draw that okay it's basically just speeds up your simple tasks like that there's obviously your three and a half inch mark uh for two by four or three and a half inch wide another feature i use a lot on the square is angle finding and as a deck builder you know you can do that a lot it's like what angle are we at oh here's 35 if i need to mark a 35 40 whatever you can email you basically any square has that feature but i use that quite a bit when i'm using my layouts and then on here there's also all your rafter and your common measurements and then there's also a set of marks right here and i've never used them and then there's some more right here but here's it's like there's there's certain marks that they've dedicated for inch and a half half or three quarters of an inch which is the center like if you need to hit the center of your two by okay or let's say it's on edge and you need to hit the center of your two by you could actually put it right in here boom there's there's middle right there it's that quick and they have those for three quarter inch and a half three inch and three and a half which you could also you know you can hit it right here or you could also still use this one right here these are a little deeper they hold a pencil lead a little bit better they feel good up against a a carpenter's pencil uh these work as well on this brand but they are they are pretty shallow uh they still work though so another thing i use this for quite often is when i'm trying to figure out angles like i don't know what this angle is okay the reason they put this bubble level not only can you use it like a torpedo but i use it to figure out stair angles all the time so i'll put the pivot point right up against the board and then i'll set my bubble which i can see a little bit easier without sunglasses right to level and then i know i've got a 50 7 degree angle right there okay 57 degrees now if this table is level which i don't know if it is no it's not if that was level it'd be 57 but because it's not we're more like this angle here is closer to 35 but if i wanted to know what this angle is like let's say it's a really set of steep stairs but i want to know what my angle is i just hit my pivot level this out like so 57 degrees like i said before this square and this square have seen about the same amount of use and they're about the same age and this square still looks brand new it has a couple small nicks in it but nothing major because titanium is really hard to dent bend or that kind of thing these aluminums this is basically this square is throwaway sometimes i cut the tips off of these if i need to lay out some two by six or five quarter by six and this is too tall i'll cut the ends off of these when they get to this point where they're just hammered and you can really see the abuse that i've given this square just doing layouts for fascia boards and things like that which is what you know that's what they're for uh you can get these like i said for 12 14 whatever dollars and you know that's what we use them for but this is my critical layout tool when i'm doing things that i i need to be accurate with and another thing i've heard these red squares can be a little bit not true but the one way to check that is if you hold your square up to a flat edge and you draw a line and then you flip it over you should be able to have the same line on each side of your square which this one does let's see what happens i i don't think it's going to be out but you never know um it looks to me like it's a little short on this side over here but i don't know if it's enough to of course we don't we don't have a perfectly flat edge here here so to be fair that's pretty square that's why i like having this tool it is of high quality and it's going to last a long time as long as i don't lose it i like the bubble vial i've had other brands of squares that have had bubble vials in them as well and they haven't lasted the test of time i've had two of these other uh brands and i paid 90 70 to 90 for those squares and they're multi adjustable they have a little dial and they they adjust out like this but um all the bubble vials have either broken or leaked and they're no longer good so those basically are just a basic angle square now they don't do a whole lot for me uh this one has lasted the test of time i would say i probably had this square well i've had it since they came out so if that's two years three years i'm not sure two and a half whatever one thing i completely just spaced on the other day when i was doing that martinez square video was i told you i had a beef a an issue with the square and it wasn't enough to stop using it but there's just often times where i need a certain type of square in what i do personally as far as a deck builder and i wanted to make sure that you guys understood that this could be a consideration to many deck builders if that's all you do you know before i even say this that a lot of times you're taking a standard square now this is just a standard aluminum 12 dollar home depot empire square all right and it has about a quarter inch lip this is all solid aluminum cast whatever um with all these engravings and markings on it it's a it's a fine square i just keep a couple at my shop so that i can use them when i'm doing stuff around here but the reason i need one of these the problem with the martinez square in my opinion it's kind of a bittersweet deal it has a really thick base so the base i and i apologize for not having it today it's on the job site i don't have it we're at the at the lab today uh cutting a couple videos so i don't have that particular square here but i can describe it to you and i'm you guys are smart i know you are so you can visualize with me okay so the martinez square has a thick base it's about a half an inch thick this square has a quarter inch base to it which is what you're putting your square against whenever you mark a line like this but the reason i need a thin line like this is because when i'm trying to lay out certain parts of the deck usually this has to do with rail components and posts and where i need to apply a post in a certain project i have to be able to get a square in between the deck board cracks right this is i think this is about 3 16. it's not a quarter inch which is what i use i use a 3 16 gap on most of my decking so usually a the speed square will fit in between the gaps on the deck and then i have somewhere to square up against you'd be amazed at how many times i have to do this function right here in with my job so the martinez works good for outside and just general purpose cutting marking all that stuff when i'm doing jigsaw work and scroll work and i'm notching out for things but whenever i need to put a square in like that i need to grab a different square and that's why a lot of times when i'm building i might carry two squares i might carry the martinis in one pocket and this square and another just so that i have the ability to do that it's not every day so i still really like that square and like i said before it holds up a lot longer and the quality is there it's just i've talked to mark martinez the owner of the company about this and we've described the issue and they were contemplating well how can we change the head and they didn't think it was probably worth the time or effort or the finances to create an adapter or maybe a different version of the head of that square because remember it does have that bubble vial in it so it will get it would diminish that probably that capability of having that bubble and i do like having that bubble in the square so it's kind of a um catch 22 okay it's something that i would i want to keep in the square but i really need something with a thinner lip that i can fit in between deck boards so that that was the beef i had somebody point that out on instagram the other day because i shot an auxiliary video about this video and i'm shooting it again so that those people can have their questions answered as well but i just hope that clarifies for you what my issue was with that very expensive square and that if you were a deck builder and you're planning on using this feature in your deck building that square may not be exactly what you need if you're looking for an high-end tool we have a couple of marks hammers as well we really like those and uh they're just a nice feel and long-lasting uh tool that's gonna give you a lot of longevity in your craft that's my review of this martina square i hope you liked it if you did don't forget to hit that subscribe button and the bell icon to be notified when we're putting out fresh content also don't forget to leave a comment below and don't forget to like our videos thanks for watching guys have a great day [Music]

Channel: drdecks

Views: 959

Rating: 4.826087 out of 5

Keywords: Dr decks, drdecks, deck building, custom decks, pacific northwest, carpentry, decks, deck, deck board bending

Id: jdxyxsUNhXk

Length: 15min 9sec (909 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 27 2021