When I was building my house, I was constantly juggling three tools: the tape measure, a speed square, and a pencil. With the Morgan square, there’s no juggling because the tape measure and the pencil can ride on the square, and you don’t have to remove the tape to use it. The tool also has some clever features to make measuring and marking faster and more precise.

Basic features
Available in aluminum or plastic models, the Morgan square is designed to be a handy square with a cradle into which your tape measure can clip with the tape partially extended and ready to use. The square itself is laser-etched with both metric and imperial measurements. There is also a clip to snap in a common carpenter’s pencil.

Those are the obvious features. Not so obvious are how the blade of the square is exactly 1-1/2 inches wide with a ¾-inch center line, all to match up with common 2x stud framing. There is an additional mark at 1-1/2 inches so you can quickly mark a second stud for things like window and door framing.

Not just framing
But this tool is not just for framing and rough construction. Precise marking is crucial whether you are on the job site or in the shop. Most marking operations involve a couple of steps: measuring and marking. It’s common for folks to make a tick mark with the tape and come back with a square to extend that mark. Not only does that take more time, but also it is an opportunity to introduce error.

Using the Morgan square combines the processes so the same tool that is being used to measure is already in place for marking. Plus the tape measure is in a more secure position, not likely to fall off the edge of the workpiece while measuring and marking. (That never happens to you and me, does it?!)

Saving time
The tool’s emphasis on time saving comes with a heart-rending back story of how the inventor came up with the idea because he wanted to have more time with his son, Morgan, who was dying from leukemia. How much time you can save with the Morgan square depends on how you use it. 

I haven’t done a lot of framing since I framed my house years ago, but I can see how this tool could save time in framing chores. More importantly for the work I do daily in the shop, there are clearly some incremental savings in time and convenience with the Morgan square.

The tool comes in a plastic version starting at about $23 and goes up to aluminum models in various sizes and colors topping out at about $55. Learn more at themorgansquare.com.