"roger" spake thusly:

I use the same tape (12' Stanley) for most everything. It's
hooked onto my britches every day of the world. Most of my
right-hand pockets show wear from constantly wearing the
damn thing. It's been calibrated at the hook using a six-inch
machinist's rule. I never let the hook slam home, brake with
the fingers and cushion the hook with finger.

My favorite band tape and length also. Have two for the shop, one for the
vehicle I use to go to the lumber yard, and one for the office ... all the
same model 12' Stanley, and all 'calibrated' to a foot when I bought them.
(I used a steel rule in the store to get four that read as close as possible
against the rule ... I really didn't care if the steel rule was accurate or
not, just used it as an index)

snip

I'm shocked at the number of the posters who don't understand
the function of the sliding hook--I thought everybody knew.

It's amazing how little understanding some folks have of the tools they use.
Someone here not too long ago had been using a miter saw blade backwards,
and another had been _pulling_ his compound miter saw like a RAS to make a
cut.

The hell of it is, I have so many tools that I may well be doing something
equally wrongheaded out of ignorance myself.

--
www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 1/02/04