ebay steel rulers. Special offer. 10% off that first centimeter !

[mikegunn]

Call me an idiot for not noticing immediately ! The steel ruler I have been using for a couple of weeks now has 1 mm missing from the front end. Looking for a replacement, some of the images on the listings actually show identical faults perfectly clearly, if you bother to zoom in.
No guarantee, of course, about the set I have just ordered , which look fine in the ad.

.View attachment 96181

I think I have got away with my gross inattention though. I check thicknesses further up the ruler, and from memory the only butt-ending I have done is when initially setting the fence on the band-saw, before a trial on some scrap wood.

It could be that the first cm is actually a cm that has been divided Into nine equal parts. But how does one check? Your post brings many thoughts to mind. If measurement is to work universally we all need to sing from the same song sheet, and that to be traceable to a single standard. When we buy a new rule, steel or otherwise we tend to accept on face value that it will be reasonably accurate and it probably won’t come with a certificate of conformance either. So how do any of us ensure that our measuring instruments are correct? I confess that these days I don’t, although in a former life I kept a 1” slip block as a reference. I once worked for a large engineering company which had a significant workforce employed in a metrology department, giving quality assurance to all measuring instruments.
Mike

 

[coopec]

I once worked for a large engineering company which had a significant workforce employed in a metrology department, giving quality assurance to all measuring instruments.
Mike

I once worked in a machine shop (as an accountant) but somehow I found that all measurements were adjusted for temperature. So what the hell if the ruler is slightly out!!

"The international standard temperature for dimensional measurements is standardized in ISO 1 as 20 degrees Celsius (°C). The statement above is from the US tolerancing standard, and shows that all drawings that have dimension marked on them, by default, refer the to dimensions at 20°C."

all machine shop measurements at certain temperature - Google Search

 

[earlybird]

The storeman in a physics department where I worked once said to me "I can't give you one of those, because I only have three and if I give you one I'll only have two." Hugo

A version of that happened to me, except there were two items in store, and "some-one else might want the last one".
Storemen were also expected to stock "long stands", which apprentices were sent to collect.

 

[TernVI]

For everyday use, the steel rules from Toolstation seem adequate.

Am I alone in often wanting the mm scale to be on the other edge though?
It would be nice to have mm along both edges, I rarely use inches.

 

[JumbleDuck]

Storemen were also expected to stock "long stands", which apprentices were sent to collect.

See also: long weight, tartan paint. glass hammer, left-handed screwdriver.

 

[rogerthebodger]

As an Engineering design draughtsman I never used a rule or ruler I used an Engineer's scale for measuring and a drawing machine for drawing line.

To mark out in my workshop I use engineering dividers marking on to engineering blue painted onto the workpiece.

A steel rule is used for setting the dividers so if the rule graduations goes to the end you have to start part way along the rule and add on the start point.

A retracting tape measure has no place in a precision workshop and I only use a tape measure in structural steel work where precise accuracy is not needed.

BTW I do have a left handed Tee squire on a portable drawing board used with an adjustable drawing "square"

 

[Stemar]

if the rule graduations goes to the end you have to start part way along the rule and add on the start point.

The trick with this is to start at 10cm. It makes the maths easier than any other figure than one, and you're a lot less likely to realise you messed up by 10 cm before cutting than 1 cm. Do NOT ask me how I know this

 

[Poignard]

The store keepers in the Royal Navy's training workshops treated everything on their side of the counter as if it was their personal property; priceless heirlooms of great sentimental value, to be preserved for ever and kept safe from the grubby and unsympathetic hands of mere apprentices.

 

[rogerthebodger]

left-handed screwdriver.

A left-handed screwdriver is needed to undo screws or to screw in left handed screws

Ratchet and spiral ratchet screwdrivers are ambidextrous both left and right handed.

No such think as sandpaper. If glass paper, emery cloth. wet and dry paper, silicon carbide paper, aluminium oxide paper.

Before modern abrasive paper was available shark skin was used to same wood in particular.

 

[Poignard]

I remember the storekeeper in HMS Renown who had a sign behind his counter which read:

"Isn't it a lovely day? Just watch some bastard louse it up!"​

 

[Lomax]

For everyday use, the steel rules from Toolstation seem adequate.

Am I alone in often wanting the mm scale to be on the other edge though?
It would be nice to have mm along both edges, I rarely use inches.

Check out Axminster's selection of rulers:

Rules - Marking, Measuring & Levels - Hand Tools | Axminster Tools

Top quality rulers which won't break the bank. I particularly like the look of the centre finding model.

 

[Stemar]

Like someone I knew. The sign on his desk said, "I can only please one person a day. Today isn't your day and tomorrow isn't looking good either." Unfortunately, it summed up his personality perfectly.

 

[Lomax]

What I would like (apart from the centre finding ruler above) is a 500mm metric ruler where the (engraved) scales are right-to-left on one side, with no "dead" bit at the end (what's up with that anyway?). A quick flip and you're measuring from the opposite edge. I need 500mm because a 600mm ruler won't fit in my toolbox. Seems a rare beast unfortunately.

Edit: And if it must have a hole, make it a small one and put it exactly at "10" (or exactly at "1"), so that the ruler can be used as a crude compass (of the drawing variety).

 

[thinwater]

Are you being abrasive? Storemen never like being rubbed up the wrong way.

If I wanted to be pedantic, I'd say "ruler" for lines, "rule" for measuring. Also "scale" for measuring maps and plans - scale ruler or scale rule I don't know.

If OED says that a ruler is for measuring and drawing lines (definition 2) and that rule more related to regulations (first 5 definitions--measuring is #6), are you being pedandic, or perhaps something else? Unless OED is wrong .

 

[rogerthebodger]

This is what Mr Google says

What does ruler mean?
noun. a person who rules or governs; sovereign. Also rule. a strip of wood, metal, or other material having a straight edge and usually marked off in inches or centimeters, used for drawing lines, measuring, etc. a person or thing that rules paper, wood, etc.

As a verb to rule

verb (used with object), ruled, rul·ing.
to control or direct; exercise dominating power, authority, or influence over; govern: to rule the empire with severity. to decide or declare judicially or authoritatively; decree: The judge ruled that he should be exiled.

 

[thinwater]

...No such think as sandpaper. If glass paper, emery cloth. wet and dry paper, silicon carbide paper, aluminium oxide paper.....

Rather stubborn today? Language does evolve.

Norton is the worlds largest abrasive manufacture. sandpaper.
3M is number 2. sandpaper.

From Oxford Reference:
Sandpaper
Strong reinforced paper or cloth coated with abrasive silicone material or metals that are graded from fine to coarse. The abrasive paper is used for removing a thin layer of surface material from an object—levelling, shaping, or cleaning. Different abrasive materials include sand, emery, aluminium oxide, silicon carbide, aluminium zirconia, chromium oxide, and ceramic aluminium oxide. The different materials are used for different purposes.... ...

 

[thinwater]

This is what Mr Google says

What does ruler mean?
noun. a person who rules or governs; sovereign. Also rule. a strip of wood, metal, or other material having a straight edge and usually marked off in inches or centimeters, used for drawing lines, measuring, etc. a person or thing that rules paper, wood, etc.

As a verb to rule

verb (used with object), ruled, rul·ing.
to control or direct; exercise dominating power, authority, or influence over; govern: to rule the empire with severity. to decide or declare judicially or authoritatively; decree: The judge ruled that he should be exiled.

An Englishman quoting Google over OED? What has the world come to?

Of course, that is the point about language. It is slippery.

 

[rogerthebodger]

Rather stubborn today? Language does evolve.

Norton is the worlds largest abrasive manufacture. sandpaper.
3M is number 2. sandpaper.

From Oxford Reference:
Sandpaper
Strong reinforced paper or cloth coated with abrasive silicone material or metals that are graded from fine to coarse. The abrasive paper is used for removing a thin layer of surface material from an object—levelling, shaping, or cleaning. Different abrasive materials include sand, emery, aluminium oxide, silicon carbide, aluminium zirconia, chromium oxide, and ceramic aluminium oxide. The different materials are used for different purposes.... ...

Yes but does anyone actually use sand to make their cloth coated with abrasive.

I suspect not as you can get Silicosis from working with sand and other sand dust.

 

[rogerthebodger]

An Englishman quoting Google over OED? What has the world come to?

Of course, that is the point about language. It is slippery.

Yes especially when you live in an ex British colony

 

[thinwater]

Yes especially when you live in an ex British colony

Still sore about that?