"DGDevin" wrote

I've developed the habit of carrying a little 6' tape in my watch pocket,
it's now part of the stuff I always have like my wallet, keys, money-clip
etc. Somebody mentioned carrying a cheap caliper in the car--what a great
idea, I have at least one of those Harbor Freight digital jobs that cost
ten bucks, so in the car it goes.
That was me. I used to do a fair amount of metal work years ago. I would
frequent salvage yard because I could often find some (cheap) welded peices
that could be easily converted to what I want to build. And the odd shaped
remmant that could be used as well.

The only thing was, I never knew how thick these peices were. Some projects
this mattered a lot. On others, it was not important. I started carrying
the calipers with me. I could quickly determine if I could recycle a
castoff from another place. And I have had the calipers with me ever since.
They have been useful many times.