I finally stopped fighting the bevel gauge and started trusting it

For like 5 years I'd set my bevel gauge by eye, then double check with a protractor, and I'd still end up with joints that didn't sit flat. Last month over at the shop in Gary, this old fitter just grabbed the gauge, locked it, and told me "stop second guessing the tool, second guess your hands." So I ran a test plate with nothing but the gauge on a 37.5 degree bevel, welded it up, and the root pass closed up perfect. Now I only use the protractor for the first setup of the day, and I've cut my fit-up time by almost 20 minutes per joint. Has anyone else found that their measuring habits were the actual problem, not the tool?

1 comments

1 Comment

rowanr8810d ago

Man, that old fitter nailed it. Same thing happened to me with my framing square, kept checking it against a speed square and still ended up with gaps. Soon as I trusted the square and focused on keeping my hands steady, everything started locking up tight. It's wild how much time we burn second guessing tools that are already dead on. That 20 minutes a joint adds up fast too, that's like a whole extra break or a beer at the end of the day.