A Practical Treatise on the Steel Square and Its Application to Everyday Use: Being an Exhaustive Collection of Steel Square Problems and Solutions, "old and New", with Many Original and Useful Additions, Volume 1

Frederick Thomas Hodgson

Jan 1913 · F.J. Drake

Ratings and reviews

I hold in my hand an original, first edition of this book; it's a chunky little thing, hardbound with green cloth covers. Unlike its subject matter, the language is charmingly archaic. For all that, the steel square is still a tremendously useful tool. Need to know the various pitches of the cogs in a geartrain? Use the steel square. Wish to find the angle of some object to either the horizontal or the perpendicular (or both)? Turn to our L-shaped friend. Need to find if something is tangential to the face of the planet, or sticking straight out from it? You guessed it. How about setting up a saw for a cut with no protractor handy? Yep, the steel square can be your boon companion here as well. However, this knowlege, accumulated bits and pieces at a time from the ancient Egyptians on down to us, is if not truly arcane then a little hard to come by. But there's a reason the steel square has survived from that era to this, and that is that it's just so gee-darned useful. Nothing else will quite do. To fully maximize its potential; and to amaze your friends and confound your enemies, this book comes heartily recommended.