# My Starrett 36" rule broke



## chipmunk (Jan 28, 2012)

Does anyone know if L.S. Starrett rules are guaranteed against breakage?  I dropped it and the last three inches broke off. This is a hardened steel rule with square.


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## chipmunk (Jan 28, 2012)

Mayhem said:


> Contact them and ask them.




Exactly what I intend to do Monday morning, in the mean time I was wondering if anybody knew for sure. Their web site is very vague on any sort of Warranty.


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## 12bolts (Jan 29, 2012)

Your gonna get a bunch of different opinions here as warranties are often legislated by states and countries.
What Starret Australia retailers are required to offer/provide by law may be vastly different to what UK consumers get as opposed to what you may or may not get in Minnesota.

Cheers Phil


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## george wilson (Jan 29, 2012)

It may depend upon how old it is.I had a USA made Starrett dial caliper,as well as some other brands in the toolmaker's shop in Col. Williamsburg. I had not used the internal measurement jaws on the Starrett,and when I did,I ruined a part because they were .008" OFF.

I called Starrett and got this guy who was not helpful at all. He said the caliper was out of warranty. I explained that the caliper had never been dropped,that I had just never used it for inside measurements. Finally I got him to let me mail it to them so they could determine if the caliper had ever been damaged. It did come back with a repair sticker in the box. This time it was only .004" OFF!!

Somehow I got hold of a vice president,and told him the story,and that I didn't see how it could still be  .004" off after getting special attention. He told me to mail that caliper back and he'd send me a new one,which he did.

Your rule should have been spring tempered ,I THINK. As such,it should not have broken when dropped,regardless of its age.

You need to first get them to describe how hard their rule is supposed to be. A maximum of 52 Rockwell C. is a good spring temper. 52RC is sort of pushing it for spring temper. I made dozens of saws for Williamsburg as Toolmaker. They were made from 1095 blue spring steel stock. This same steel is used by the other CUSTOM makers of premium saws. 52 is harder than any of the old time GOOD saws,but is hard enough that you can crack a tooth when setting them if you aren't careful. If they agree that their rules are SPRING tempered,and not just fully hardened,they ought to replace it regardless of age,because the rule would always have been too hard. The important message here is to get them to tell you 
how hard their rules are tempered. If they are tempered harder than 52 R.C.,you are out of luck. Personally,I see no reason why a rule should be hardened over 52 RC,but that's just my opinion.


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