OK - now I’m curious, what were the most common mistakes people made reading a tape measurer? Because I’m having trouble working out how someone could screw that up lol
We had a guy we called “10/16” (ten sixteenths) because he was told to grab some 5/8" (0.625" or 16mm) steel plate, but he couldn’t find any he could only find 10/16" and 12/16".
People will count the little lines on the tape and not remember if they are 1/32, 1/16, or 1/8.
Oh OK - that does make a bit more sense. Still not exactly Nobel prize material, but fucking up the fractions at least makes more sense than not knowing how to read numbers and count lines lol
Metric would help with everything lol. I dream of the day we finally make the switch
There would for sure a transition period, otherwise it would be total chaos, not just at a personal level, but an industrial one. And I don’t doubt that somepeople will continue using inches and cups until the day they die.
As for the speed limit comment, that’s a almost a non-issue - practically every car on the road today either has a setting to switch from MPH to KMPH (for digital speedometers) or for analogue speedometers it will generally tend to show both. At that point you don’t need a frame of reference, just make the number on your dashboard <= the number on the sign. That’s it. Though as you say, it would almost certainly be a case of both units being on all the signs for a long while.
It wouldn’t even take a couple generations IMO. Maybe a decade or two for official stuff to move over. I have absolutely no doubt that plenty of stubborn people will completely refuse to move over to metric for their personal lives, but that’s fine tbh. No one cares in Billy over in Idaho wants to keep measuring his ingredients in tablespoons/cups/pints/etc or say it’s a 20 mile drive instead of a 30km one. As long as professionals can all rely on things being in metric in professional settings
I worked with a girl who would say “4 and 3 ticks!” meaning 1/8ths. We laughed at her enough that she tried to improve and started saying “4 point 3!” that lead to a discussion about decimal inches. I really blew her mind when I showed her the scale in 12ths on carpenter squares.
I worked on a site with two carpenters once, and one would measure and the other cut. One guy would call out “inch and a quarter strong” or " inch and a quarter weak" etc. Meaning 1 inch and 3/8 or one inch and 1/8. Perfect cuts every time.
Isn’t strong or weak mean where the cut needs to be on the line? Since the blade is usually 1/8", weak means that the cut is made before the line, removing the thickness of the blade on the measurement (1 1/2" becomes 1 3/8") and strong means that the cut is made after the line, leaving the actual measurement. This is how I was thought, but I am not in the construction industry.
Depends on the crews tolerances? I’ve used + or - to refer to 16ths and only call out 1/8ths. 1 1/2" would be “One and four” 1 7/16ths would be “One and three plus”
In old timey boat building they denoted feet°inches°eighths°plus so 58 5/16ths would get written as 4°10°2+
Or they even say this is a sign of wear and means you should throw it out.
And because I enjoy sharing knowledge more than boasting I know more than others: the reason it moves is to account for the thickness of the metal hook itself.
It makes a difference if you are hooking it onto the back of something and measuring from there, OR butting it up onto something and measuring from there.
If you want accurate and consistent readings in both of these situations, the hook has to move. It basically pivots around the true point you’re measuring from.
Everywhere I’ve worked, you’d “burn an inch” or “burn a foot” meaning you don’t use the metal tab, you hold the 1" or 1’ mark at the start and measure from there.
At least for me, that has more to do with misremembering what I measured than mismeasuring it
Can’t count how many times I the workshop I measured something, made a mental note of it, walked back to the workbench, only to have to walk back and remeasure it because now I’ve forgotten what I just measured lol
I got in the habit of writing that shit down on scraps of paper or wood. And then, of course, I got in the habit of dropping those scraps of paper or wood into the growing pile of scraps of paper or wood back in my shop and picking up the wrong one when it came time to cut.
OK - now I’m curious, what were the most common mistakes people made reading a tape measurer? Because I’m having trouble working out how someone could screw that up lol
We had a guy we called “10/16” (ten sixteenths) because he was told to grab some 5/8" (0.625" or 16mm) steel plate, but he couldn’t find any he could only find 10/16" and 12/16".
People will count the little lines on the tape and not remember if they are 1/32, 1/16, or 1/8.
I think metric would help this.
Oh OK - that does make a bit more sense. Still not exactly Nobel prize material, but fucking up the fractions at least makes more sense than not knowing how to read numbers and count lines lol
Metric would help with everything lol. I dream of the day we finally make the switch
I fear it.
I’m sure I could adapt, I just don’t want to.
However, if there was a transition period it would be fine.
Teach it in schools, post signs for both for a while, a couple generations and boom, fully metric.
Just don’t tell me the speed limit is 30 kilometers an hour, I have no frame of reference for that really.
There would for sure a transition period, otherwise it would be total chaos, not just at a personal level, but an industrial one. And I don’t doubt that somepeople will continue using inches and cups until the day they die.
As for the speed limit comment, that’s a almost a non-issue - practically every car on the road today either has a setting to switch from MPH to KMPH (for digital speedometers) or for analogue speedometers it will generally tend to show both. At that point you don’t need a frame of reference, just make the number on your dashboard <= the number on the sign. That’s it. Though as you say, it would almost certainly be a case of both units being on all the signs for a long while.
It wouldn’t even take a couple generations IMO. Maybe a decade or two for official stuff to move over. I have absolutely no doubt that plenty of stubborn people will completely refuse to move over to metric for their personal lives, but that’s fine tbh. No one cares in Billy over in Idaho wants to keep measuring his ingredients in tablespoons/cups/pints/etc or say it’s a 20 mile drive instead of a 30km one. As long as professionals can all rely on things being in metric in professional settings
Yeah, fractions are dumb. Or I’m dumb and fractions are easy, but why don’t we split the difference and switch to metric?
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Or, in impeery’all, a toe away from that
Why don’t we split the difference and make a meter equal a yard? I will concede to a longer yard.
I worked with a girl who would say “4 and 3 ticks!” meaning 1/8ths. We laughed at her enough that she tried to improve and started saying “4 point 3!” that lead to a discussion about decimal inches. I really blew her mind when I showed her the scale in 12ths on carpenter squares.
I worked on a site with two carpenters once, and one would measure and the other cut. One guy would call out “inch and a quarter strong” or " inch and a quarter weak" etc. Meaning 1 inch and 3/8 or one inch and 1/8. Perfect cuts every time.
I like this
Isn’t strong or weak mean where the cut needs to be on the line? Since the blade is usually 1/8", weak means that the cut is made before the line, removing the thickness of the blade on the measurement (1 1/2" becomes 1 3/8") and strong means that the cut is made after the line, leaving the actual measurement. This is how I was thought, but I am not in the construction industry.
Depends on the crews tolerances? I’ve used + or - to refer to 16ths and only call out 1/8ths. 1 1/2" would be “One and four” 1 7/16ths would be “One and three plus”
In old timey boat building they denoted feet°inches°eighths°plus so 58 5/16ths would get written as 4°10°2+
Some people dont know why the metal bit riveted to the end moves…
Or they even say this is a sign of wear and means you should throw it out.
And because I enjoy sharing knowledge more than boasting I know more than others: the reason it moves is to account for the thickness of the metal hook itself.
It makes a difference if you are hooking it onto the back of something and measuring from there, OR butting it up onto something and measuring from there.
If you want accurate and consistent readings in both of these situations, the hook has to move. It basically pivots around the true point you’re measuring from.
Everywhere I’ve worked, you’d “burn an inch” or “burn a foot” meaning you don’t use the metal tab, you hold the 1" or 1’ mark at the start and measure from there.
Measure twice cut once is a saying for a reason.
If you already knew this expression, here is chapter two:
Account for the width of the blade.
Ahh our good friend, kerf!
For years I just drew a line and then sawed down the middle of it. 🙄
Oh my sweet summer child.
This is what happens when you have a banker for a dad.
Makes sense. My dad’s an engineer, so I got a solid education in most tools.
Somehow I’m also an idiot with finances. I guess the moral is I had a hands off dad who didn’t know shit.
At least for me, that has more to do with misremembering what I measured than mismeasuring it
Can’t count how many times I the workshop I measured something, made a mental note of it, walked back to the workbench, only to have to walk back and remeasure it because now I’ve forgotten what I just measured lol
And this is why I always have a bunch of marking and numbers and other vandalism on whatever board or piece of material I’m using.
I got in the habit of writing that shit down on scraps of paper or wood. And then, of course, I got in the habit of dropping those scraps of paper or wood into the growing pile of scraps of paper or wood back in my shop and picking up the wrong one when it came time to cut.