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Scribing Parallel Lines

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Speed Square Mastery: Stop Using It Wrong

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What happens here

To scribe a line parallel to the edge of a board, use the notches located along the Milwaukee speed square's hypotenuse. For example, to split a 7-inch board in half, place the pencil point into the 3.5-inch notch, hook the speed square's fence against the board's edge, and slide it along while keeping the pencil in the notch. This creates a perfectly parallel line. While the Milwaukee square has pronounced scribing features, other brands like Empire may not, and Swanson models also offer this functionality.

Goal: Create parallel lines at precise increments

Tools and materials

  • Empire Speed Square Empire — Shown as an example that may lack strong scribing features
  • Milwaukee Speed Square Milwaukee — Creating parallel lines using its notched edge
  • Swanson Speed Square Swanson — Shown as an alternative with scribing features
  • Yellow Carpenter's Pencil — Marking the scribed line
  • Wood Block — The surface on which to scribe lines

What they say

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This is a 45 and this is a 90. All right, so the second use of a speed square is scribing a line. So all these indents here at quarter inch and every speed square is different. Your Empire one doesn't really have a scribing feature. Your Swanson one does, um, but the Milwaukee is probably the most profound scribing feature. So this board right here is 7 in and say we want to split it in half. Put our pencil at the 3 and 1/2 mark and go ahead and draw >> [snorts] >> draw our line like that. The third use of the speed square is for like layout

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