"Tom Dacon" wrote in message ...

So after I posted my petulant little rant, I headed off to the web to look
once again for a 4-inch fractional caliper, and to my vast surprise someone
has re-introduced such a thing into the market since the last time I scoured
the web for it. A company I hadn't heard of called Hardwicks
(http://www.ehardwicks.com) in Seattle, "Rust and dust since 1932" offers
both a 4-inch and a 6-inch fractional/decimal caliper, in metal, no less.
And in stock. So I fired off an order right away for a four-incher - I'll
see how it works out and report back, in case anyone cares except me.

But anyway, thanks for all your comments. Puckdropper had a good
suggestion - if there was a little up or down arrow that was visible when
the measurement was close to a major division, that would be pretty handy,
even better if it showed you what that nearest division was. Although it
leaves it up in the air what constitutes a major division - kind of depends
on the precision you're working to, I guess. I like to work to a pretty
close tolerance in the shop, but I'm a wooden boat guy not a cabinet maker,
and these are the words I live by:

A cabinet maker works to the nearest 64th;
a house builder works to the nearest 8th;
a boat builder works to the nearest boat.

Tom