The Almost Cube - A Walnut and Steel End Table

An Introduction

Now that we know how to measure accurately and cut precisely, let's get to work and make something cool.  If you haven't noticed, industrial styled furniture is in.  Bare wood and steel, rusty bits, reclaimed vintage - those are the new cat's meow.  This little project combines all of that into one sweet, sweet package.

The table was kick-started with a desire to beat the man and his price gouging by creating a similar table but with materials chosen by me (and the BOSS).  The initial design element was carefully created around a wonderful design by one of my (and probably your) favorite stores that you don't actually buy anything from: Restoration Hardware.  These guys are good, despite a lot of their stuff being not too well built and overpriced for the average middle class family. Below is the table in question.

Reclaimed Oak Parquet Side Table.

Some pros: it's solid wood, although I'm not sure how the parquet pattern is fastened together. I'd like to think tongue and groove.  Secondly, it is solid steel, and fully welded.  It should last quite a while and really is probably worth the money if you don't want to make one but like the style.

Some cons: wow, it's expensive.

The table we will put together has a few changes.  It's cheaper.  Beefier legs and runners. It's walnut instead of reclaimed Russian oak. I went with 3/4" steel for the legs and 1.25" x 3/4" steel for the runners.  I chose solid bar stock over tubing because the bar stock has nice square edges as opposed to the rolled edges of tubing.  I wanted crisp lines to keep it contemporary looking.  The beauty of this table is in the minimalist design - no shelf and small supports.  

I also changed the dimensions to sit nicely with our couch.  The table's outside dimensions are 24 inches square by 26 inches tall.  I would have liked to use the Golden Ratio, but compromise is the name of the game.  Chris Pentago writes an excellent article with a modern analog to the Golden Ratio here.

Here's a blurry, not-so-good picture of the final result.  With any luck I'll replace it with a high-res jaw dropping substitute soon enough.

Ignore the pillow.

Time and Materials

This is not difficult to make, even if you are self-teaching yourself along the way.  I'll show you how I made the table, and suggest some alternatives if you don't have the tooling or think that the safety risk is too high for certain steps.

Material

Walnut - We chose walnut for the top because we wanted something "light" but that had a great contrast.  Walnut is typically prized for it's dark hue and great grain patterns.  The lightness comes from the sapwood, or the light rings of color associated with new growth.  I originally wanted some wormy chestnut to make it look and feel more "vintage" but, the boss won, and it was a good decision, especially considering the cost of said wormy chestnut. Below is a shot of the raw stock (this board not used in the table) that we purchased from Clark's Hardwood Lumber Co.  There's a lot of information to know about buying non-dimensioned lumber in a real lumber yard.  You should know and ask about the way it was dried and the moisture content.  This is important later.  Lumber from these types of shops is typically sold in units called the "board foot".  This is literally the un-milled price of a square foot of lumber one inch thick.

That thickness is also important - it's measured in quarters.  For example, a two inch thick board would be labelled as 8/4.  A three quarter inch piece would be 3/4.  Note, that if your lumber is milled (or surfaced) you will pay for the material that was cut off.  This concept is why when you buy lumber from a big box store, you get a piece that's 1.5" by 3.5" that's labelled as a 2x4.

A good intro into this all can be found here. (Opens in a new window).  Watch the entire series if this is new to you.

Lastly, depending on what tools you have, you'll need to decide if you want un-milled or surfaced product.  You might see labels such as "S3S" or "S4S".  The first being Surfaced 3 Sides and the latter Surfaced 4 Sides.  If you have a table saw or jointer or hand planes or unlimited patience and a pocket knife, get the S3S or less.  If you don't have any of these, get the S4S - your lumber will be relatively straight and ready for you to glue up (as long as you pick straight boards)!

I bought two boards of 4/4 S3S walnut.  In the picture  below, the right side is surfaced flat (relatively) and the left has the live edge.  Be cautious that the live edge never gets narrower than your final desired board width.

Beautiful.

Two boards, enough for two tables (24x24 inches), cost me about $100.  I would say that walnut is a little bit more expensive here in Texas than what you can find closer to where it naturally grows.  You will probably struggle to find a price list for the various lumber varieties as you walk around.  Grab a sales guy and get them running.

I'll talk more about wood selection, movement and properties when we start the glue up.  This is an engineering type blog after all.

Steel - I got the steel from a local steel yard.  Obviously.  You will spend twice as much trying to get steel from a box store or ordering online.  The place I shop is great because they sell seconds, or non-certified, steel at discount prices.  You just walk around until you find what you need, get a ticket, and the guys load it up for you.  These seconds are generally rusty and/or pitted, so it was perfect for this project.  I got about 25 feet of 3/4"x3/4" solid bar stock and 20 feet of 1.25"x3/4" solid bar stock for about $50.  Nothing fancy here, just get mild A36 hot rolled steel.  At a later time, because I forgot when I was at the yard, I picked up some half inch by eighth inch bar stock at Home Depot.  It was really expensive, but I needed a lip to support the top in a hurry.  I wish I would have gone with one inch by eighth inch for more support - more on this later too.

Pan Head Screws - Get some short (top board thickness minus 1/4") pan head screws to secure the top.  I chose coarse threads, even though fine would probably work for the hard walnut.  Rule of thumb - coarse threads for soft woods, fine threads for hard woods.  These screws are typically used to fasten drawer slides to drawers and attaching drawer faces to fronts.  I got mine from Woodcraft for a couple of bucks.

3/4" Pan head screws from Woodcraft.

Finish - What a broad topic.  I used, for the first time, a water borne Polyacrylic finish from General Finishes.  This is a game changer.  It dries fast and clear, without the yellow from oil-based finishes.  Get yours online or at a higher end finishing shop.  I spent about $20 on mine from WoodCraft.

There are some other consumables used, but I keep them on stock at all times (as should you).  That list would include rags, foam brushes, sandpaper, glue, etc. That's it.  On to the tools.

Tools

Don't panic just yet. You'll need a few common tools, some not so common for the apartment dweller DIYer, and some that you'd really want a dedicated spot with some good safety gear to back you up.  Let's start with the easy stuff.

(This list reflects what I used, we'll cover workarounds in the individual steps as we get there) Things I consider mandatory, or what I wouldn't attempt this without, are in bold.  The others can be subbed with more elbow grease and or good friends.

• Tape Measure
• Pencil
• Speed Square
• Drill with drill bits
• Metal Mitering Saw
• Welder (I used a Millermatic 211)
• Angle grinder
• Hand Files
• Magnetic Angle "Clamps"
• Woodworking Miter Saw
• Table saw
• Jointer
• Thickness sander
• Sanding block
• Clamps - both beam and bar and C and spring and quick... (Never enough clamps)

Don't look at this and see an impossibly long list of stuff you don't have.  You could really get this all done with a hacksaw, a buddy with a welder, and some wood glue and clamps.  There are loopholes to everything.

Time

How long does it take?  I probably had about 6 hours total invested into the table.  Keep in mind that I was able to quickly rip and mill the rough stock down, get it glued up and thickness sanded due to some high end tools that a friend graciously lets me use in exchange for good beer.  If you used S4S lumber and a hand held belt sander, It could be done in nearly the same amount of time, maybe an hour more.  Please note that hours doesn't translate into days.  You'll need some overnight drying time to factor in.

Getting Started

Go forth and gather your tools and material.  So far, you can imagine being into this project for less than $200 (for two tables!) and a weekend's worth of work.  Sounds like the perfect gift idea for that significant other..  When you get everything lined up, come back and I'll have some more ground covered on getting the metal cut and welded up.  We'll talk about saw stops, cutting steel and welding.  Good luck, post up your lumber and steel selections if you have them!

Measuring and Layout - The Final Event

This should be a short one because there is just too many tips, tricks and techniques for using the common tools you should have for your DIY projects.  Instead of a horribly long post about the merits, ins and outs and graphs and tables of the accuracy and precision of each tool - we'll explore them individually in a process I like to call: "YouTube learning".

What?!

Take a walk with me here, because I'm on to something huge,  I think.  You're set to watch the latest kitty video that your sister told you about on YouTube.  You know the one, you silly kitty video watcher.  The fat kitty tries to fit into too small of a box and we all sit around and laugh at why kitties like boxes so much.  We don't get it, but kitty sure does.

Why are kitties always in boxes on the internet?

Go ahead, watch it.  I know you want to.  But here's part of the trick - why did you watch it?  This is a DIY site for engineers.  We are practical.  We are calm.  We are calculating, we don't watch kitties jump into boxes.  But we did.  What's the other part of the trick you ask?  Go on over to YouTube.  Search for a funny video, or choose from some of the top ones for the day.  Book a solid 15 or more minutes to go through this exercise, but try to only catch "short" videos, say, three minutes or less.

Where did you end up?

Or, did you never quit and are on a never ending spiral of YouTube learning?  Starting at the above, and using only the recommended videos on the right.  Here's my story.

Fat Kitty in Box

Kitten Meets Hedgehog

Cool new Army tire technology

Future Bike

Wireless homopolor motor strange phenomenon
Gummi bear dropped into potassium chlorate

and ending with this monster:

and so on..

What's happening here and why are we even talking about this?  I don't know.  Somehow, my brain, and it may only be me, went down a weird path starting at kitty and ended at a crazy LED flashlight?  Should you be worried?  Probably.  But I like to think of the abstract idea that our minds, arguable the greatest computers in the world, are craving knowledge and information.  YouTube is a drug for that.  It may not always be good for you, but it satisfies your thirst for learning, entertainment; the firing of neurons.  Now here's a crazy thought for you to ponder: when you learn like this, are you consciously engaged or does your brain let your subconscious take over, kind of like when you "zone out" and stare into space?  Can you learn better, or faster, or retain more by letting your brain walk around as it chooses?  Should we let it, the most powerful thing on the planet, loose like that?  I'm curious to know if anyone has studied this, and what this phenomenon is called.  I can't find any research, but I'm not plugged into the medical world very much.  If anyone has more on this, I'm all ears.

I stumbled into this style thinking after reading the book, The Four Hour Chef, by Tim Ferriss.

http://fourhourchef.com/

Tim walks you through what he's discovered about learning.  The book is more about a new way to learn rather than a bunch of recipes, so I was hooked.  He believes that we can obtain 95% functionality of world class effort by careful study and observation.  It was also the first book published by Amazon, another groundbreaking feat, so I had to have it for that reason too.  While reading it, I was sitting in training, bored, and asked myself, is this the best way to learn? My company is spending tons of money on us right now, and we just aren't engaged.  What am I engaged in?  Kitty videos.  What if the learning piece was fast paced, engaging but not too deep all at once?  Would we be attentive and retentive?  I pushed to implement this at work, and either I'm too crazy, or I just don't get it.  No fish took the bait.

I think "YouTube learning" is analogous to how we read blogs, the newspaper, flip channels, etc.  Our brain is moving very fast and YouTube is just a great way to keep it stemmed.  What were the results of your YouTube experience?

And that's how we'll talk about measuring tools and their uses.  Ta da!  We will introduce them as our brain, or our projects, need them.  I don't see the need to compile a huge database in one post of how to use every tool I talked about in Measuring and Layout - Part II.  You won't remember it by the end, because your brain doesn't work that way.  You'll remember the post about the widget where we used the caliper to measure the depth because it will be an Aha! moment.  This is what I think anyways.  Good thing blogs are all about free thinking, eh?

PS - if you really want your mind blown, check out the Brain Games series that's hosted by National Geographic.  It will really push the limits of the way you think.

Tape Measures - Finally

I really want to do an experiment with my trusty Stanley tape, but I just don't have the time this go-round.  However, here are some tips to get you started:

Learn to read it!  The smallest marks on this model are in sixteenths of an inch.  The second largest are in eighths, the next are quarters and halves and finally the inch marks.  Don't sit there and count marks like a caveman, get familiar with your fractions and ways to do divisions (halves, etc.) in your head.  I might have to put some tips up on that...

Read it and weep.

Pro tip: "Typically" when working on trim or cabinets, you would read a measurement to someone in pure inches.  For example, measure a cut and yell out to the guy at the saw, "57 and 3/16."  For whatever reason, cabinet makers like to work in inches, they must have forgotten that there are 12 of them in one foot.  Framers, on the other hand, don't have time for that and the same measurement would be called out as: "Four foot nine and a quarter."  A quarter because typically framers work fast, and that kind of accuracy isn't needed.  Now you know the lingo.

There are other marks on a standard tape that really aren't too relevant right now.  Think "YouTube learning".  They indicate where your standard stud spacing should be and some other details.

Pay attention to the "tip".  A new tape measure can retract into the housing at a pretty good rate.  Take care to not get your finger caught in that train wreck or you'll pay the price.  But more important than your finger is the tab on the end.  Imagine that the tab gets bent and is not out of square.  You could lose a sixteenth or greater of accuracy in your measurements because you were careless with your tool.

If you've noticed, the tab on the end has some movement to it.  This allows you to accurately take inside and outside measurements by adapting for the thickness of the tab.  A critical tip here is to pull the tape tight when you're hooked over a board (outside measurements) and push the slack out when taking inside measurements.

For inside measurements.

"Calibrate" your tape by checking the fit and finish of the tab.  The fit should be tight enough to slide with just the right amount of pressure.  Vague, eh?

For outside measurements.

Check this against your other tape measures if you keep several scattered around.  You can really mess up some cuts, especially if dealing with trim work, if your tapes are off from each other.

Keep it Straight - your accuracy goes down exponentially if your tape isn't straight when you measure.  This is often hard to account for when you are working alone and trying to center a painting in a large wall.  Think about it like this:

If the tape were to sag or wasn't pulled straight, we would be measuring the hypotenuse of a right triangle, like the one below:

Introducing errors such as these:

Measurements in inches.

Measurements in inches.  Errors increase as the angle increases (deviations over shorter "true" measurements.

Where the graph is a representation of the table, whereupon and such-forth they both represent the aforementioned triangle picture.  All measurements are in inches.  As you can tell, the errors, and your precision, grow out of control astronomically - some would even say exponentially.  The phenomenon that the errors increase over smaller "true" measurements is a property of the tangent function.  Most of these errors are smaller than the resolution of our tape measure, but just be aware that the problem is there!

Marking 101

Now that we're doing our best to make accurate measurements, let's move on to converting accuracy into precision.  You're all set to make your mark on a project for a cut.  Take some time and bend the tape so that the edge is flat on the surface.  Use a sharp pencil, and not a carpenter's, or framing pencil, for your fine work.  Lastly, make the mark in a V shape, with the apex at your intended reference spot.  This trick will help you remember which end of the line you intended to mark.

Like so.  Sorry it's blurry.

Now, you have to determine your cutting convention.  Do you cut the line, do you leave the line or do you split the line?  Stick with it, but here's another pro tip: make an X to indicate the waste side.  This helps you remember which side of the line to cut after you've walked to the saw and forgotten.

X marks the spot to NOT cut.

Depending on what saw you're using, draw a straight line bifurcating the V mark.  When framing and using a miter saw, no mark is necessary as the saw cuts straight anyways- because you did set up your saw before use, right?  Personally I leave the line, or split it.  Always easy to come back and shave a hair off, depending on saw type of course.  It's hard to shave a hair off a large rip cut with a circular saw.

Inside Measurements

I don't have a good tip for inside measurements.  I bend my tape around which is considered bad juju.  I've never been off lately, but I have made thousands of measurements and cuts.  Some people insist on butting the back of the tape body against the surface and adding in the length to the marking on the tape.  I don't trust this because there is slack inside the roll and you just never quite know where you stand.  Another way I've seen it done is to measure from one end, make a mark and measure from the other end to that mark and add them together.  This creates two problems for me: the extra work adds extra errors and the added math can really complicate a good measurement.  Go ahead, add 9/16 plus 3 and 3/8 quickly in your head.

Add 3 inches.  To what, we don't know..

The Speed Square

I'll close this long post up with a video for two reasons: I don't think I can talk about the humble speed square better than Ethan Ewing can in the video below.

This guy knows his stuff.  While I haven't watched all of his videos, he does a great job explaining the ins and outs of the speed square.  I'm confident to recommend his other stuff sight unseen.  Just remember that the square is great for rough work.  I doubt you'd see one in a machine shop used to setup an angle, where a sine bar would work better.  For dimensional lumber, however, you can't go wrong, or with setting up your fence on your saw if you don't have an engineer's square.

The second reason is naturally, go to YouTube and see where your learning path takes you!  I hope you enjoyed the series, even though it feels half complete to me.  Coming soon we'll use these tools to make something pretty neat.  Thanks for reading!

Measuring and Layout Part III - A Brief History

Before I get too deep into the third part of the Measuring and Layout series, I'd like to point your attention to two very good, and very appropriate posts from the few blogs that I keep up with.  It seems that everyone has measuring on the brain - an especially important topic in this "new"  age of American industrial revolution - whether it's 3D printing or old school machining.

First, a well written treatise on Dial indicators by the man himself - Tom Lipton.  He explains some pros and cons and useful tips for various dial and test indicators.  Tom maintains the Ox Tools blog "Nothing Too Strong Ever Broke."  A link can be found in my "People Doing it Well" widget on the right.

Secondly, a great article on Measuring Twice and Cutting Once by Brett and Kate McCay over at the Art of Manliness.  The write up is an analog about how you can apply the ethos of the craftsman to your personal life.  It is a great reflection of applying yourself to do things well - a popular theme over here too.

Back on Topic

Back to measuring and layout, part trois.  I know I mentioned that we would be moving onward to the use of said measuring and layout tools, but I also mentioned a history lesson.  I like history, and this is my blog. So..

I think that the history of tools, manufacturing and most things "industrial" is important to know and understand.  With that said, I'm not one to force the new guy to only run the manual mill and lathe or use a hand plane until his fingers are bleeding.  It does make one appreciate CNC and routers and plasma, but I also agree with free innovation, and giving a 12 year old some G code and a 3D printing bot can bring about a lot of good in a short amount of time.

Yes, please.

The Humble Tape Measure

The days hour I spent looking for historical info on the tape measure didn't amount to much.  Wikipedia says that the earliest forms of tape measures were marks on leather straps used by the Romans.  Everything gets accredited to the Romans.  Many of you have seen and probably used the folding tape measures which were around before the mechanical roll up tape.  We're not interested in those as I don't know anyone that uses them for anything other than inside measurements and a straight edge.  Seriously, get with the times and get an authentic vintage Alvin J. Fellows Improved Spring Measuring Tape, US Patent No. 79,965, July 14, 1868.

Courtesy of Google Patents App.

Mr. Fellows didn't do it first, which is where the history got very gray on me [an Englishman, James Chesterman, patented the first spring tape measure in 1829 to save his failing hoop skirt business], but he did do it first in America.  His improvements are written thusly -

Being a humble man, Mr. Fellows didn't claim to invent the Internet, metal cased tape measures and detachable click springs, but he did invent this: 

Despite this novel idea of a locking and retractable tape measure, the tool didn't see much use until the 1940s.  The complete patent submission can be seen here.

The new Stanley PowerLock tape measures have come a long way since 1868 and incorporates many great features like a seven foot standout, Mylar coatings and more.  Like I said before, don't get too bogged down on the extras here.  Don't kink it the wrong way, don't pull it out too far and don't depend on it for tolerances less than half the graduated markings (i.e. 1/32 of an inch).  When you need things to be more accurate, it's time to change tools.

The Speed Square

If you aren't using a square for your layout - get ready for a game changer.  Relatively new, compared to the tape measure, the Swanson Speed Square was patented in 1925 by Albert J. Swanson.  Let's back that up some more.  I have to distinguish between patented and invented - roofing squares were around a long time before 1925, but this one was patented on that date.  The first patent filing I came across for something similar was in 1898 for a Roof Framing Tool by G. C. Thompson.  The late 1800s must have been a crazy time for making things accurate and precise.

Courtesy of Google Patent App.

A careful observer will note that something appears to be missing on this early model.  The flat edge perpendicular to one of the sides (not the hypotenuse).  This is the edge that allows the operator to easily make those angle marks without the need of the bevel gauge drawn in dashed lines above.  G.E. Standwood got close in his 1914 attempt - the Try, Rafter, and Miter Square seen below:

Courtesy of Google Patent App.

Sadly, I can't seem to find the original patent filing [although US Patent No. 4742619 Marking Tool With Wear Rims by Ronald C. Swanson seems to be the new de facto standard] for the Swanson speed square that we know and love.  If you stumble across it, let me know as I'd like to include it here.  The Swanson is great in its simplicity, no moving parts, it's hard to knock out of square and it has five functions in one tool.  Get one, get the original.

The Level

Enough about triangles called squares.  Let's get level headed around here.  The bubble level your grandpa had in the shed is often referred to as a spirit level - because the liquid inside the glass vial is a "spirit" such as ethanol, used for its low viscosity and surface tension.  The earliest recorded instances of a level being used were the A-Frame plumb bob type used by the Egyptians.  A brief US patent search reveals that this was still the norm up until the mid to late 1800s.  I can't find any real "levels" besides variations on the plumb bob until this later time period when excellent examples like the one from US Patent No. 478309 proposed by T. L. Burchinal in 1892 were revealed to the world.

Courtesy of Google Patent App.

Mr. Burchinal's plan was to "...provide a leveling-instrument which may be used in unhandy and out-of-the-way places , and one that will take the place of plumb-bobs and similar instruments."  He was on the right track, as no one wants to mess with a pesky string and weight, we want accuracy and precision!

Enter Mr. Henry Ziemann, whose patent I naturally cannot find, and his invention of the single vial adjustable spirit level in 1922.  He also founded the Empire Level company which is still around today.  It should be noted that he isn't the first to invent the spirit level, but supposedly the first to patent a single vial.  A 1915 US Patent No. 1190229 reveals a spirit level in all of its complicated glory.

Levels have come a long way, and great reference tools can be downloaded as an App for your smartphone.  Some of them will output in degrees in both the X and Y directions.  Pretty cool stuff right there.

Closing Statements

That's probably enough history for this round.  I don't attest to these accounts being the most accurate, but just a compilation of some quick digging in Wikipedia and Google's patent search engine.  You have to be careful with that last one as I assume it auto reads the publication dates and I have found some to be nearly 100 years off (the script 9s seem to pick up as 8s quite often).  Most amazing to me is the market explosion for measuring and marking tools in the late 1800s.  This post is just the tip of the iceberg concerning what was invented in that fast moving time period.  It's certainly an analog of today's advancements with laser measuring tools, laser levels, GPS driven earth movers and high resolution robotic triangulation.  Everything is changing very fast around us, but knowing where we came from can really help you put it all into perspective.

I could go on digging into all of the tools, and would especially love to dive into the Vernier calipers history.  Alas, the midnight oil has been burned and I leave it to you to pursue the histories of the other common measuring and layout tools.  If you're interested, comment or email me some of the stuff you have dug up.  Enjoy the week, and I'll get around to actually using these basic hand tools with some tips in the near future.

Measuring and Layout Part II - A bit of history with a bit of application

As promised I'm going to dive into the meat and potatoes of taking accurate measurements and making precise marks for your precision cuts.  Today I'll show you what I use nearly every day for measuring and layout followed by a short list of some things I wish I had.  After that a primer on how to use them (next time - as this one is getting long).

Accuracy and precision are always relative.  If I'm doing cabinet work or building some type of box for a project, I like to keep my tolerances (new word here) to within plus or minus 1/32 of an inch.  Let's say I'm framing in a new deck for the backyard - 1/8 of an inch will do just fine out there.  Why is that and how do you determine how precise we need to be?

It depends.

What's the material?  What's the outcome?  Who are the clients?  How much time do you have?  And really, how good are your tools?  Answering these will easily tell you how accurate and precise you need to be.  The long dimensional lumber that is typically used in construction today has a relatively small moment of inertia.  Because I know that, I know that if I'm framing a deck and need to pull a board over a small bit to make it fit, I can do it.  I don't waste too much time with the details.  (Unfortunately, I'm OCD and most of my rough cut lumber is dead nuts on - bad example?)  You could be a little more flexible in your work though.  Contrast this with cutting nice square steel legs for the upcoming series on the Cube Table build - my tolerances were within 1/32 of an inch.  It's tough to make that 3/4" thick steel bar bend to your will like yellow pine does.  Enough talk, on to the tools.

The ultimate tool.

Tools, you say?  Finally something interesting on a How-To blog.

Here's the compliment of measuring tools that I commonly use.  Not that impressive compared to some, but I've found that with some ingenuity you can really make these work in your favor.  (Note that I said I've got a wish list too..)  After all, this is a DIY blog for doing great work on the cheap - don't forget that.

Arranged to be OCD friendly.

Running in a clockwise spiral from the top left and ending roughly in the middle, here's what I've got and where you can get them.  Spoiler alert - I really like Amazon Prime.  With careful planning you can save money and have everything arrive on your doorstep.  Oh yeah, I don't get paid if you link from here, they are just one of my favorite retailers.

Low profile edge clamp - get one that will at least let you cut 48" plywood.

24 inch Bostitch level - have at least one good level.  I recommend the two footer and at least a four of six footer if you are in the mood to install cabinets or put up siding.

Incra rulers - The T-Squares are awesome, get the 6" and 18".  These will single-handedly increase your precision and accuracy by leaps and bounds over the plastic ruler you've been using.

Swanson Speed Square - Get the best. Get the original.  Swansons are thick, won't bend, and stay square when you drop it.  You will drop it.

Stanley tape measure - Get the original chrome 25 footer.  No gimmicks needed here.

Combination Square - Comes in handy a lot, but I use it less and less since I've gotten my Incra T-Squares.  This cheap one sucks isn't that great, and I would use one more if I had this one.

Marking tools - I like mechanical drafting pencils, a carpenter's pencil and a good eraser that doesn't leave much dust or residue when used on wood.  You'll need a 0.5mm lead to use with the Incras.  I use a fine tip permanent marker for the same reason and the green one to mark on metal with.  I also suggest a soapstone "pencil" if you work with metal much.  I can't find  mine.

A center punch - More of a marking tool, and not my favorite way to get a hole started (you're on your own after the first 60 seconds).  There are plenty better ways to get an accurate hole drilled in metal.

Magnetic square clamps - a must have if working with steel.  Mine are from Harbor Freight.  Get two.

Painter's Tape - Perfect for laying down on something that won't take a pencil or pen mark.  Like the ceramic coated metal of the vintage fridge I'm restoring.  Also great for laying down a straight line to make cut marks.

Brown and Sharpe Vernier calipers - You don't have to put down the big money for these or Starretts - but a $25 pair of digital or dial faced ones would work in a pinch.

Compass - These combined with the Incra ruler make a deadly precise circle.

Pricing

You can get the whole kit for around $250.  That's a lot of cash if you're buying it all at once.  At a minimum I'd start with the tape measure, the speed square, the level, one 18" Incra T-square and a better combination square.  Those few will get you started and were what I worked with as a framing carpenter and hobbyist for years.  These are an investment, and I'm a bad example here, but buy the best ones you can afford as they last a long time.  This is especially true when you read the wish list below.  Lastly, be careful with them.  Try not to drop  your precision squares and your calipers and indicators.  They are as tender as a newborn's head.

The Wish List

Now, on to my wish list.  These are some things that would allow me to either setup tooling better or help in keeping things square.  As I'm not running a machine shop I can keep the list pretty short; however, I'm always on the lookout for a better way to measure something.

First up - Setup blocks - These are cheap and probably aren't that great, but you get the idea.  Would be real handy clamping things together to ensure that they are square.  These come in all shapes and sizes and I'd like one of each, please.

Setup blocks.

Parallel Bars - I had never seen these until my brief internship at a machine shop.  What a great invention.

Parallel bars.  No monkey business here.

Machinist's Square - These are the cat's meow for checking the squareness of your saw's fence and blade.  I currently use the speed square, but you have to mind the carbide teeth so you don't mess up.

Square or L?

And lastly, a dial indicator with stand.  This is the perfect thing for checking the runout on your drill press, setting up your table saw or measuring Top Dead Center (TDC) on your engine.

That's all I've got to show you on some things you might want to have on hand to build your accurate and precise projects.  You won't be building a reactor or a battleship with what I've shown you, but your cabinets and end table projects will come out square and the in-wall speakers you install won't make you worry if your guests notice them being crooked.

With all that said, what do you use every day to keep it accurate and keep it precise?  I'd love to hear your tips and reviews of your favorite brands of the things I've mentioned.