PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION The steel square is the carpenters handbook, instructor, and tool without price. Without it he is just another hammer-and-saw man- a fellow who can hit a nail and saw to a line. The ability to make the lines is what constitutes the difference between a real craftsman and a hammer-and-saw man. It requires technical knowledge of a high order to make most of the lines, and without a steel square a carpenter would have to be an expert mathematician and understand the mysteries of geometry. The steel square brings him a knowledge of lines and angles in a simple and practical way. To watch an expert carpenter lay out the various cuts on the rafters and other members of a complicated roof structure is a joy. This book on the steel square tells the carpenter how to do it. It explains clearly, by means of illustrations and detailed instructions, the various markings which appear on the square, and the purposes for which they are used by the carpenter in the course of...