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

S

Slocumotion

Well-Known Member
Joined
18 Jan 2013
Messages
180
Location
Orkney
Visit site
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.

.20200807_105405.jpg

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.
 
Rejects being sold off cheaply on ebay possibly?
 
I never measure from the end of ruler when precision matters. That's only when using a tape for rough "house carpentry." I learned this in elementary school, because wooden rulers where always dinged on the end. You start at "1" and add 1 to the measurement.

Drafting scales begin about 1 cm from the end.

But yeah, that's pretty funny. There are times when you would like to use the end of a steel rule.
 
I bought 3 plastic verniers on eBay for about 80 pence each (I can never find one of them when I want one!) I also have steel rulers I bought on eBay but you have to be careful not to spill acetone/turps on them because the markings disappear

But I also have a digital vernier for more accurate work and I only paid about £ 7 on eBay (That was a great buy)
 
Initiate an eBay return. You will probably get an immediate full refund and not have to return it.

I have done it several times and am building up quite a collection of useless tools to give as Christmas presents!
 
Yes, these are manufacturing rejects, I bought a box of them at a jumble and have used them to make various things. Nice stuff to work with.
 
BlowingOldBoots said:
Technically it is a Steel Rule, not ruler. Elizabeth I is a steel ruler. My knuckles were rapped so often by the college store man when I asked for a steel 'ruler' when in the workshop....
Click to expand...

I'm from the US. We don't have "rulers"... unless you count the recent nonsense.

And yes, the use of "ruler" for rule is sloppy word choice even here.
 
I inherited a cheap steel tape measure from my Dad, it was about 3mm out!
So I checked all the others I have.
Even the cheap ones from B&Q seem to be near enough for government work.
 
BlowingOldBoots said:
Technically it is a Steel Rule, not ruler. Elizabeth I is a steel ruler. My knuckles were rapped so often by the college store man when I asked for a steel 'ruler' when in the workshop.
Click to expand...
I hate to disagree (actually I love to disagree - I'm an academic) but the OED has "ruler" going back to Wycliffe's Bible of 1382 and "rule" back to 1340, and lists them as synonyms. Measurement divisions are not essential as the function of a rule(r) is to enable ruling; that is, the drawing of straight lines.

Have you ever asked a traditional store man for "sandpaper"?
 
Graham376 said:
Lots of them around like the one illustrated, I got suckered as well. Also, most of them are printed rather than engraved so doesn't take much use to wear the markings off. Even tape measures can vary so I always use the same one throughout a job.
Click to expand...

I have a couple of tape measures on which the centimetre numbers are printed midway between the centimetre markings (ie centred on 5mm, 15mm, 25mm ... ) which is a pain in the neck as I can never remember whether to read the number to the left or the right.

coopec said:
I bought 3 plastic verniers on eBay for about 80 pence each (I can never find one of them when I want one!) I also have steel rulers I bought on eBay but you have to be careful not to spill acetone/turps on them because the markings disappear

But I also have a digital vernier for more accurate work and I only paid about £ 7 on eBay (That was a great buy)
Click to expand...

I have a nice Draper plastic vernier which was a couple of quid at Largs chandlers and a very nice digital one which I got for under a tenner at Lidl.

neil_s said:
At least there's some consistency, here - I've got a 24 inch rule missing the first inch.
Click to expand...

You realise that every woman has heard that excuse, right?
 
JumbleDuck said:
I hate to disagree (actually I love to disagree - I'm an academic) but the OED has "ruler" going back to Wycliffe's Bible of 1382 and "rule" back to 1340, and lists them as synonyms. Measurement divisions are not essential as the function of a rule(r) is to enable ruling; that is, the drawing of straight lines.

Have you ever asked a traditional store man for "sandpaper"?
Click to expand...

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.
 
penberth3 said:
Are you being abrasive? Storemen never like being rubbed up the wrong way.
Click to expand...
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." Forget Hugo Boss's 1934 collection - the world's most terrifying and implacable uniform is the brown warehouse coat.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top