A good square is Starrett Square but not in your price range. In my opinion you can get a nice square for your price range . Go on Y tube and look up how to check your square to see if it square . There are video to check it and how to correct it good luck

 

Try a drafting square.

 

I ended up getting a PEC 12" combination square blemished for $34 shipped from Harry J Epstein. Should do everything I need it to do.

 

I sometimes use a 3", 4" or 6" machinist square sometimes to square my fences to the table. They come in different lengths and only about $4 each. Or a Wixey Digital Angle gauge. You can find them for about $20 on amazon or .https://www.rockler.com/wixey-digital-angle-gauge-with-backlight

 

With WoodenDreams

 

I have a 6", 8" and 12" Kinex and they are as accurate as you'll ever need for woodworking, heavy so they will stand up easily hands free, and with the flat foot design, perfect for machine set ups, like you are looking for.

Mine are this type, they call it Try Square, with base. Larger sizes may go out of your price range though.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Kinex-4034-12-010-Try-Machinist-Square-with-Base-4-x-2-75-DIN-875-1-/153289060910?_trksid=p2385738.m4383.l4275.c10

An alternative to them is a set with a heavy base, you need that to keep from tipping when you stand it up to a jointer fence, table saw blade, bandsaw blade. Lighter squares when you are adjusting, your also trying to hold the square, makes you crazy.

Anyhow for a complete set, these are very nice, and still are well within numbers for woodworking. Harry Epstein, has a revolving inventory, they get in 100,00o of something, and are out of it in a week, so you could check back. You just need to outwit his very stupid search engine, or click thousands of pages.

https://www.harryepstein.com/4-pc-machinist-solid-square-set.html

If you want lighter weight, I also got a set of these from Lewis. They are as accurate, again, as you'll need for woodworking, have the foot, edge hook, and these offer a lot of tricks for layout, as well as set up. Easily worth twice the price Lewis is asking for them. Plus I like these iGaging tools.

https://www.chipsfly.com/bench-squares.html

 

My tri-squares I knew were not square. I have both a good Johnson and a clone aluminum 6 inch squares and a Marples square along with a drafting square. I found the Johnson square to be dead on. The clone was off. Marples good.
Anyway, for set-up I bought a 4 inch machinist square off Zoro I think. Sure, if I won the lotery it would have been a Starret. dead on.

For fun, I went to Home Depot. Not a single Empire square was. The Johnson speed squars were dead on, but feels less precise than the little machine square.

In other words, you can get square for less than $10. Or buy a Starrer 20-12 for $700. Your choice. Go to Amazon and enter " machinist square"
For example: https://www.amazon.com/Steelex-D3383-Precision-Square-4-Inch/dp/B005W0W34O/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=machinist+square&qid=1587373876&sr=8-3

 

FWIW, I also use my Wixy digital. Only good to 1/10 degree though.

 

I have a speed square, framing square and old combination square. But non of them are probably that accurate:

- rolfeskj

Probably not that accurate? Why not check them out. Use a piece of MDF or plywood with a factory edge. Using the square and a pencil, draw a line perpendicular to the factory edge. Flip the square over and see if it lines up. If they do, you don't have to spend any money on a new square and can use it on another tool.

Remember the fence of your jointer is only a few inches high, so you don't need a square that is accurate out to 2 feet for the fence.

 

Before spending your money, you might want to check your current squares, you might be pleasantly surprised (some speed squares are dead-on). Lots of youtube videos and websites show how to do it, but basically you just put it up to a known straight edge, draw a line, flip the square and draw another line on top of the first one. If they are the same line, the square is square.

 

I use the strait edge of my TS. A bit of tape and to be more precise than a pencil line, a knife.

As I mentioned, my Johnson Speed square was right on. I have three clones, 2 plastic, one aluminum. None of them were square. One was close enough to hone square. You can also stand a known square up on a flat surface , unknown opposing it and look for light. Even mote precise than the width if a knife scribe. Far more than anything we need in woodworking.

 

Buy a Starrett and you pay once and you have a square to confirm all others for life! That said Im do have an
Empire for outside construction type work and rough cuts, has stayed close. Keep a cheap machinist square attached to my jointer fence with a magnet, seems the only time it goes out of square is after I adjust it
Best advice I ever received was, treat your tools with respect and they will serve you for life.

 

Not that you would use a framing square for squaring up machinery parts but if you want to true up the one you have, it is easily adjusted using a center punch at either the inside or outside corner depending on which way it is out.

 

For me, the best bargain was a cheap set of the three engineers squares. Plenty accurate and damn handy size range. Be aware however that once a square has been dropped, it may never recover.

For the ultimate low dollar square in setting your jointer fence, you can't beat a 90/45 drafting triangle.

 

I have that Kinex square from Amazon and I love it. Thick, heavy, and perfectly square. Great for aligning my jointer fence.

 

Thank guys for the advice. I ended up getting two good squares that should do everything I need.

I got a 4" Kinex square for about $15 to use in tighter places. I also got a PEC 12" combination square, blemished for $34.

I should be off on a good start with those.

 

I have three plastic speed squares that each cost me around three bucks at either Home Depot or Harbor Freight.

All three of them are absolutely, positively square. They're as square as my PEC combination square, my machinist square, and every other square thing I own.

I'd bet your speed square is just fine, but as mentioned in above posts, check it and see.

 

I'll add that spending a ton of money on layout tools is just dumb. Pay only enough to make sure you get tools with good ergonomics (example: PEC cosmetic blemish over Empire combination square), but spending above that for a name is not smart IMO.

 

Amazing how many people suggest Starrett. Yea, the best of the best, but they cost as much as some machines and are way overkill for woodworking. Actually, overkill for a lot of metal work. Fine if you're retired and wealthy. Right up there with Lie Nielsen or Bridge City planes. Great if you can afford them. My $12 square is true to .0006" over 4 inches. Tell me you need better to set up a woodworking tool. I bet my Johnson speed square has been dropped dozens of times. Still square.

I measured the plastic squares clone speed squares from Home Depot. None were square. I have a plastic and aluminum ones from Harbor Freight. Again, neither were square. More than good enough for carpentry, not for setup. Spend the $9, not $3. My 12 inch plastic one is pretty good.

FWIW, I do own one Starrett tool. A tap handle. The cheap ones don't actually work. It does, but not sure it is worth what I had to pay for it.

 

Amazing how many people suggest Starrett. Yea, the best of the best, but they cost as much as some machines and are way overkill for woodworking. Actually, overkill for a lot of metal work. Fine if you re retired and wealthy. Right up there with Lie Nielsen or Bridge City planes. Great if you can afford them. My $12 square is true to .0006" over 4 inches. Tell me you need better to set up a woodworking tool. I bet my Johnson speed square has been dropped dozens of times. Still square.

I measured the plastic squares clone speed squares from Home Depot. None were square. I have a plastic and aluminum ones from Harbor Freight. Again, neither were square. More than good enough for carpentry, not for setup. Spend the $9, not $3. My 12 inch plastic one is pretty good.

FWIW, I do own one Starrett tool. A tap handle. The cheap ones don t actually work. It does, but not sure it is worth what I had to pay for it.

- tvrgeek

Not a damn damn thing wrong with over kill or having the best. I have a whole shop full of tools that you'd probably say are overkill. I love my overkill tools, they give me joy and are fun to use. Isn't having fun in the shop what it's all about? Yep I have some Starrett squares and a 6 foot long Starrett Precision straight edge that I dearly love. Was like 600.00 18 years ago. I have no regrets for buying good overkill stuff.

When I bought my Feldder sliding saw part of the price was commissioning. You should have seen the precision setup tools they showed up with to dial in a woodworking machine.

 

You seem to miss that this is a beginner who was looking under $30 and likely did not pay $600 for the jointer! Not Bill Gates. Trying to be realistic and helpful.

Amazing how many people suggest Starrett. Yea, the best of the best, but they cost as much as some machines and are way overkill for woodworking. Actually, overkill for a lot of metal work. Fine if you re retired and wealthy. Right up there with Lie Nielsen or Bridge City planes. Great if you can afford them. My $12 square is true to .0006" over 4 inches. Tell me you need better to set up a woodworking tool. I bet my Johnson speed square has been dropped dozens of times. Still square.

I measured the plastic squares clone speed squares from Home Depot. None were square. I have a plastic and aluminum ones from Harbor Freight. Again, neither were square. More than good enough for carpentry, not for setup. Spend the $9, not $3. My 12 inch plastic one is pretty good.

FWIW, I do own one Starrett tool. A tap handle. The cheap ones don t actually work. It does, but not sure it is worth what I had to pay for it.

- tvrgeek
Not a damn damn thing wrong with over kill or having the best. I have a whole shop full of tools that you d probably say are overkill. I love my overkill tools, they give me joy and are fun to use. Isn t having fun in the shop what it s all about? Yep I have some Starrett squares and a 6 foot long Starrett Precision straight edge that I dearly love. Was like 600.00 18 years ago. I have no regrets for buying good overkill stuff.

When I bought my Feldder sliding saw part of the price was commissioning. You should have seen the precision setup tools they showed up with to dial in a woodworking machine.

- AlaskaGuy

 

"You seem to miss that this is a beginner who was looking under $30 and likely did not pay $600 for the jointer! Not Bill Gates. Trying to be realistic and helpful."

If you noticed my reply to the OP was to try a drafting square. Way less money than a Starrett square and accurate.

 

I bought a set of 3 machinist squares fairly cheap for tool setup but as always I can't remember where I got them. If I search amazon orders and something doesn't show up I just have to say they came from a black hole.