Originally Posted by
Drew Wiley
John - the real deal levels are certified, with the certification note right in the box, just like lots of the US made Starrett precision equipment. Each piece is tested against a factory standard. They make more than precision equipment, so that's not the case with one of their own label common carpenter's square or holesaw or hacksaw blades etc. But it is routine with the pricey items. Some kinds of levels are re-adjustable, but others fixed, and basically unalterable unless the machined housing itself corrodes to the degree that it is not longer perfectly flat. That can happen. For instance, I once sold a person a custom especially long precision Starrett straightedge, accurate along the whole length to about .0002 inch. He waited six months for delivery, but didn't pay attention to the instructions, and then just stuffed it unboxed in a closet in this salt air climate. He didn't realize that the kind of steel involved requires routine oiling to prevent rust. When he took it out a few months later, that $800 straightedge was no more accurate than a $10 one because the edge was pitted. But for a nominal fee, he sent it back and they re-machined the critical edge, and had to wait a few months more in order to have it on hand.
That was back when I was selling mainly to machinists and mechanics. Much later, at a different business, I was dealing with very high-end ($$$$) cabinet shops and custom furniture makers. The Starrett tools they used comprised many of the same model numbers as back when Starrett first began in the latter part of the 19th C - combination squares, wing dividers, etc. But things were so well machined and standardized all along that someone could come in with a combination square head made in 1905, and I could order a blade made a 110 years later, and it would fit perfectly. Happened rather frequently in fact. The only real difference is that a modern blade has a satin chrome finish, easier to read, plus metric options if one wishes. I keep both metric and inch blades on hand. Another thing one notices is that once you tighten the knob to a Starrett combination square, everything ends up perfectly square every time. That simply doesn't happen with ordinary hardware store combination squares; you have to check each time if the application is critical.
Remember, generations of machinists have relied on the reputation of companies like Starrett and Brown & Sharpe, Mitutoyo, etc. It isn't like what one encounters in Cheapo Depot where tens of thousands or even millions of a particular tool item gets outsources, shipped, and marketed without even a single one of them ever being tested, not even the prototype. Happens all the time in those kinds of venues. Whole different ballgame. Just like I hinted in the preceding paragraph, the serious level models in question have are time tested for at least a hundred years. If you find a clean one in your grandfather's toolbox, it will probably be just as precise today. Otherwise, there are ways of testing.
The same outfit I last worked for, and served as buyer for in a number of categories, was also by far the largest Stabila level dealer in the country. No, not machinist quality, but certainly a cut above most other options. Even the bubble position black markings were physical and inside the vial, rather than painted or a decal outside it. There was a distinct reason for that, even though it required a certain amount of fussy hand-tuning every instance. Lifetime warranties were involved; but there were always a certain number of dummies who mistook a level for a crowbar, so each complaint had to go through a distinct inspection protocol before replacement. Some of their models were readjustable, others permanently fixed in epoxy and especially stable box extrusions, with one true machined edge. Basically, you get what you pay for. The Chinese can clone the look of darn near anything, but not the quality.
Bookmarks