On 5/16/2014 6:14 AM, John B. wrote:
On Thu, 15 May 2014 20:00:29 -0500, "David R. Birch"

Competent machinists recognize that a "mill" measurement is .001".

David

Do they now? I, for one, never hard it described as such. It was
always "a thousandth".
--
Cheers,

John B.

I haven't heard it used by other metalworkers, and I don't use it
myself, but I know what NON metalworkers mean when they say it. It's not
that obscure, especially for someone used to the metric system, where
"milli-" means a thousandth of something. When talking about inch
measurements, I also usually say "thousandth" although I often shorten
that to "thou" in speech.

David