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Had a weird tile layout that needed a 3 degree cut on every piece
This was on a kitchen backsplash in a 1920s house, nothing was square. The client wanted a herringbone pattern but the wall sloped. I was about to spend all day with a protractor and a pencil. My old boss, a guy named Frank, once told me to use a speed square and a piece of scrap wood as a jig. I clamped a 2x4 to my saw table, set the square against it at 3 degrees, and locked the fence. Cut every single piece in about 20 minutes, perfect fit. Who else has a weird angle trick that saved their butt?
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lewis.terry6mo ago
Just used a sliding bevel to copy the wonky angle.
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sage3086mo ago
Frank told you to use a speed square for a 3-degree cut? That's genius.
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wesleyb206mo ago
Genius is a strong word for using a tool the way it's meant to be used. Frank's trick is smart, sure, but it's also just reading the numbers on the square. I have to side with lewis.terry on this one, because sometimes the old school way just gets it done right. Copying the wonky angle with a bevel means you're matching the real world, not some perfect number. That's often way more important than being exactly three degrees on paper. In my book, that's the real clever move.
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