Swingman said:

Made in China, 6", stainless steel, dead accurate against my brass setup
bars, rack and pinion adjustment has no backlash, fit and finish is much
better than expected, very easy to read dial, marked in 1/64ths and .01, but
easy to interpolate to 128ths, and about the only con thus far is that it's
too heavily made for a top apron pocket

In short, a very nice, solidly made, 'woodworking precision' tool for $35
plus $9.25 shipping, ordered from the Grizzly website, arrived in four days
including a weekend.

I'm impressed, and would do it again.

Got mine, some years ago, from Highland Hardware for $29.95 - no
shipping. The larger, outer portion of the of the dial is marked in
fractions, the smaller, inner dial in decimal. At the time, all the
others I looked at were marked in decimal on the outer ring.
As of this Tuesday, it remains priced at $29.95.

http://www.tools-for-woodworking.com...OD&ProdID=1047

It has held up well, although it too was made in China. Stainless
steel, fairly smooth, precise rack/gear mechanism, came in a plastic
case with a sheet of rust retardant. It is probably the most used
measuring tool in my shop, but as you point out, a little too heavy to
stay in a vest height pocket.

They probably _all_ come from the same sweat shop in China...

I have an old Made in USA Hempe nylon dial caliper for that I use for
things that don't require as much precision. (The nylon has warped
and deformed slightly at the tip, but hey, I picked it up for $5 over
5 years ago.) I used it far more than expected, and was the
motivation for acquiring a newer, metal replacement.

I use it primarily for adjusting mortise depths (sliding rod extends
from the rear), planer settings, and small, precision offsets on trim
and dados. I also use it for precise measurements when cutting
segments for segmented woodturnings that have to line up "just right".

http://webpages.charter.net/videodoc...tedBowl05l.jpg

I am surprised however, that you of all people, waited this long to
acquire one! ;-)

FWIW,


Greg G.