Frequently Asked Questions
What is SmartSquare?
SmartSquare is an improvement upon the 1925 technology often referred to as a rafter or speed square. It uses a spring mechanism to move from 90 degrees to a flat position, and deploys a "jig block" to allow you to make repetitive markings. These improvements are featured alongside level vials (should you choose), and a premium aluminum chassis that is expected of high end squares - but at a lower price of many high end squares. The technology of SmartSquare is patented.
Who is SmartSquare Tools?
We're a small, family, online-only company based in the US. We came up with the idea of the SmartSquare tool and set out to sell them to you. We quickly built a large audience on social media, especially following a massive interest at the 2023 National Hardware Show. As a company we aim for transparency (follow us on social media to see that), top-notch customer support, and quality. This website is a Shopify website, which means your data, your payments, and your shipping is processed by one of the most reliable companies in commerce today. You have likely purchased many things from Shopify websites whether you're aware of it or not. We are solely based online, as many companies are these days. That means we can ship you a SmartSquare tool in 2-5 days whether you live in Seattle, Miami, New York, or Tulsa. Being online-only is the future, and allows us to serve you best.
No free shipping?
There's no such thing as free shipping; it costs money to send chunks of aluminum across the planet. With Amazon you're paying your monthly Prime membership fee and other shops simply add the cost of shipping to their products without telling you and call it "free shipping." We simply choose to be transparent. With that said, the way the shipping math works with SmartSquare's oddly-shaped boxes is that if you purchase 2 or more squares we will stack them together and you will end up paying a HEAVILY discounted rate. So while you might pay approximately $8 to ship one square (US), you might pay only $10 for two squares or $11 for three or $11.75 for four. Ten squares might only cost you $15 in this scenario. This is all approximation but it's a pattern I've noticed with USPS. Definitely take advantage of buying more than one square, and if you're ordering 15+ squares, go ahead and email us and we would be happy to assist you with your order.
Why does your square cost "so much"?
First let's correct that statement: our square costs less than the other high end squares on the market, and we see absolutely no advantage that those squares have to ours. Quite the contrary. We've worked very hard and are very proud to offer it for such a fair price. We realize that our SmartSquare tools are not for everyone and we don't apologize for that. We're not interested in selling cheap tools, but premium instruments. If you want the $15 featureless hunk of melted aluminum at your local hardware store with highly inaccurate angle marks, you know where to find it. As customers ourselves we have determined in recent years, especially amid the race to the bottom and offshoring of hardware, that we (as individuals and as a society) simply cannot afford cheap tools anymore. As for SmartSquare, the underlying aluminum itself costs significantly more than these cheap tools in their entirety. We use carefully-sourced extruded 6061 T6 aluminum and diligently machine, level, tumble, and cut it, properly anodize it (a rare thing we've discovered in the tool space), and laser etch it with one of the best American-made lasers on the market. We also have our game-changing patented features that are not available on any other square. All of this is done in the USA. Our mission is to forge quality and truly innovative companion pieces for craftsmen who give the utmost seriousness to their work.
International + Canadian shipping?
We now ship to Canada! However, Canadian buyers are responsible for tariffs and for any return shipping (whatever the reason).
You may also purchase our squares at Amazon.Ca and Amazon.Mx
Metric measurement?
We're working on a metric version. It's not difficult: the same concept for SmartSquare works just as well in metric. It's mostly a matter of changing the width of the fence/heel. We have perfectly usable metric squares as of May 2024. However, we have no release date in mind. Please sign up for our newsletter to be informed of all updates.
The greater difficulty at the moment is dealing with international shipping and all of the hassles it brings. I assure you--if it were so simple we would have been selling these from the beginning! If you have any experience selling internationally please reach out to us.
Refund policy?
If you're having any problems with a SmartSquare, please reach out to us by replying to one of your order emails. We stand by our products and welcome your thoughts or concerns at any time.
Regarding returns, we go into the most detail here. But essentially: if you want a refund, then email us within the first 30 days and we'll take care of it. After 30 days, email us by responding to one of your original order emails and we'll respond on a case-by-case basis. We're very open-minded about returns and in our early months we want to offer a no-questions asked refund policy if you don't like the product.
Can I buy SmartSquare in a brick-and-mortar shop?
Yes you can. If you live in Southern California stop by OC Tools. We'll be adding more physical retail places along the way. If you want to sell SmartSquare at your shop, please send us an email. We'd love to talk.
Email newsletter?
If you sign up at the bottom of any page on this website you'll be signed up for our email newsletter. We will inform you occasionally about new products, new colors, infrequent sales, and similar important events that we think are worth your time. You can opt out at any time. As frequent online buyers ourselves, we despise shops that spam on a weekly basis with nothing important to say. You can be sure that your email address will be treated as we would want someone to treat our email address. We consider our email audience to be the most interested people in SmartSquare who we will reward with offers before anyone and who will often receive exclusive discounts and opportunities to purchase products.
Out of Stock?
We've done our best to estimate demand and to be prepared for it, but odds are that we're going to hit "out of stock" with various products. It's entirely possible (though we hope this is not the case) that we might be slammed with demand to the point where we are out of stock for weeks, if not months, on certain items. We encourage you to pick up whatever color is available at the time you visit our store, or to select our excellent SmartSquare without vials.
We're doing our best to fix this moving forward.
What is the Future?
All inventions arise from a disappointment with the current state of things. SmartSquare is a disruptive technology. Most "developments" in the rafter square market in recent years have revolved around how to sell customers the same chunk of triangular aluminum at 10-15x its original price. At SmartSquare we think that innovation is what justifies price, and we're just getting started. If you think SmartSquare Classic is nice, wait until you see what we have in store next: multiple patented square designs that completely remove the need of common carpentry tools. The following video is just one sample of what's coming.