A B C OF THE STEEL SQUARE 61 







ference in the lengths given by different makers 

 though nearly all modern makes figure up 

 alike but this difference is so small that in soft 

 wood framing it has no effect. In hardwood 

 framing the framer never applies these rules, 

 but gets his lengths with the square and fence. 



The length of any brace simply represents the 

 hypothenuse of a right-angled triangle. To 

 find the hypothenuse, extract the square root of 

 the sum of the square of the perpendicular and 

 horizontal runs. For instance, if 6 feet is the 

 horizontal run and 8 feet the perpendicular, 6 

 squared equals 36, 8 squared equals 64, 36 plus 

 64 equals 100, the square root of which is 10. 

 These are the figures generally used for squar- 

 ing the frame of a building or foundation wall. 



If the run is 42 inches, 42 squared is 1764, 

 double that amount, both sides being equal, 

 gives 3528, the square root of which is, in feet 

 and inches, 4 feet, 11.40 inches. 



In cutting braces always allow in length from 

 a sixteenth to an eighth of an inch more than 

 the exact measurement calls for. 



Directly under the half-inch marks on the 

 outer edge of the back of the tongue will be 

 noticed two figures, one above the other. These 

 represent the run of the brace, or the length 

 of two sides of a right-angled triangle ; the 



