Shoutout to the guy who told me to try a speed square for marking pipe cuts

I was at a jobsite in Phoenix about two years ago and an older plumber saw me struggling with a tape measure and a pencil for marking cuts on PVC. He handed me his speed square and showed me how to hold it flush against the pipe, scribe a line, and get a perfect 90 every time. I was skeptical because I thought speed squares were only for framing lumber, not round stuff. But after trying it on five test pieces and getting zero gaps, I was sold. Now I use that trick for conduit, PVC, and even metal pipe under 2 inches. Has anyone else found a tool that works way better than its intended job?

2 comments

2 Comments

victor_butler5011d ago

yeah i gotta push back on this a little. speed squares are fine for marking a straight line on pipe but they dont really help you get a clean cut on the actual round part. you still have to eyeball your saw blade angle or hope your miter box is dialed in perfect. if you got a cheap square it can bend too, then your line is off anyway. i tried it once on some 1 inch emt and ended up with more waste than just using a wrap around paper template. for me a simple piece of string or a wrapping tool does the same job without having to hold a square at a weird angle. different strokes i guess but i wouldnt call it a game changer.

the_river10d ago

Is it really that serious though? I mean, we're just talking about marking a line on some pipe, not building a rocket ship haha. At the end of the day whatever gets the cut close enough works, doesn't have to be perfect every time.