CNC Machined
Every Speed® Square is CNC machined to a perfect 45° and 90° corner. Square marks that read true right off the pivot, cut after cut, year after year.
Heavy-Gauge Die-Cast Aluminum Alloy
A heavy-gauge aluminum alloy die-cast body, 15 times stronger than standard aluminum construction. Holds its 90° tolerance under drops, dust, and jobsite abuse.
Matte Finish
Glare-free reading in direct sunlight. The body doesn't blind you on a roof deck at midday like a polished square will.
Diamond™ Cutout
Look for the Diamond™ Cutout. That's how you know it's a true Speed® Square. Marks a one-motion seat cut on common, hip, and valley rafters.
Patented Layout Bar™
Aluminum bar that hooks onto the square head and slides along the body. Extends the square past its 12 in. reach for long stair stringers and full-sheet layouts, marks parallel lines without a chalk box, and measures the offset on out-of-square corners.
Includes the Blue Book
Swanson's pocket reference for roof pitch, rafter length, stair stringers, and field measurements ships with the tool.
Every Swanson Speed® Square is die-cast from heavy-gauge aluminum alloy with deep black-filled markings. Every gradation, rafter number, and degree mark is cast into the aluminum itself, not applied on top of it. Here's why that matters against a laser-etched square:
Markings stay legible for years, not seasons.
Laser-etched scales are surface-only. Sun, sweat, wet lumber, concrete dust, and the shoe of a circular saw riding the blade all wear the etching down until the numbers grey out. Deep black-filled markings read the same on year one and year ten. Try reading a laser-etched scale on a hot Arizona roof after two summers, the marks are gone.
Die-cast holds tolerance under jobsite abuse.
Drop a die-cast body off a scaffold, you get a dent, and the 90 degree corner still reads true. Drop a thin stamped or extruded square, it bends out of square, and once a square isn't square, every cut off it is wrong.
15X stronger than standard aluminum construction.
The Big 12® is CNC machined from a heavy-gauge aluminum alloy. Budget stamped or laser-etched squares are usually thin-gauge aluminum or high-impact composite, both of which flex when butted against a saw shoe as a guide.
Reads true in direct sunlight.
Black-filled marks on a matte die-cast body carry high contrast in the brightest sun. Laser-etched marks reflect light back at the reader and grey out exactly when you need them most, mid-cut on a hot roof.
CNC precision for the life of the tool.
Every Speed® Square is CNC machined to a perfect 45 and 90 degree corner. Laser-etched squares typically ship with stamped or extruded bodies where the corner tolerance was set by a die, not machined.
Buy the tool once.
A die-cast Speed® Square finishes the job it was bought for, and the next one, and the one after that. Framers hand these down from apprentice through retirement. Cheap laser-etched squares get replaced every couple of seasons; the difference compounds.
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SKU S0107
Available at trusted retailers nationwide
Direct pricing coming soon. See retailer availability below.
The Big 12® Speed® Square stretches the original 7-inch tool to a 12-inch reach, sized for framing big lumber, stair stringers, and full-sheet layouts. Seven tools in one: framing, try square, miter, protractor, saw guide, stair gauge, and out-of-square corner finder. Heavy-gauge die-cast aluminum, 15X stronger than standard aluminum. Includes the Layout Bar with hardware. The Layout Bar bolts to the underside of the square with two wing nuts; two adjustable stop pegs then lock to the exact rise and run you need. Once set, the square becomes a repeatable jig: drop it on the stair stringer or deck framing piece, register the pegs against the edge of the stock, mark, slide to the next position, repeat. Every mark comes out identical without re-measuring. Includes the Swanson® Blue Book for roof and stair layout.
Packaging
Carded w/Layout Bar + Blue Book
S0107
Pick up locally or order online from Amazon, Home Depot, Lowe’s, Walmart, Ace, Menards, or Acme Tools.
Made in the USA
Since 1925
Trusted retailers
Available nationwide
Pro-trusted
32,000+ verified reviews
In stock at retailers
Why pros reach for it
01
Every Speed® Square is CNC machined to a perfect 45° and 90° corner. Square marks that read true right off the pivot, cut after cut, year after year.
02
A heavy-gauge aluminum alloy die-cast body, 15 times stronger than standard aluminum construction. Holds its 90° tolerance under drops, dust, and jobsite abuse.
03
Glare-free reading in direct sunlight. The body doesn't blind you on a roof deck at midday like a polished square will.
04
Look for the Diamond™ Cutout. That's how you know it's a true Speed® Square. Marks a one-motion seat cut on common, hip, and valley rafters.
05
Aluminum bar that hooks onto the square head and slides along the body. Extends the square past its 12 in. reach for long stair stringers and full-sheet layouts, marks parallel lines without a chalk box, and measures the offset on out-of-square corners.
06
Swanson's pocket reference for roof pitch, rafter length, stair stringers, and field measurements ships with the tool.
A closer look
12 in. body, 70% more reach than the standard 7 in. Speed® Square. Sized for framing lumber, stair stringers, and full-sheet layouts.
Solid die-cast alloy, 15× stronger than standard aluminum construction.
Patented Layout Bar with hardware plus the Swanson® Blue Book for roof + stair layout.
Built for deck framing, stair stringers, and out-of-square corner layouts.
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