wrote in message
ups.com...
This question is for people that USE story sticks. There are many
posts on the rec that talk about what they are.

I typically use a straight piece of 1x2 pine for story sticks/boards/poles,
but it depends on the situation. The number used depends on the complexity
of the project. I'm in the middle or residing my house (fiber cement) and
I'm cheating the courses using two different 1X2 story poles. The house is
actually a house with an addition and the addition construction is so
different from the main house that a single story pole wasn't viable.

As concerns markings, I use a pencil. In some cases the marks are little
more than elevations (siding) but a profile may be sketched also. Note that
the story board may need to be wider than a 1X2 if the profile is wider. In
the case of the siding I also put a level reference on the house and story
poles to cope with the transitions between sections of the house and to deal
with physical out of level conditions, e.g., to get the first course on in
the right place and cope with level variance across windows and doors (it's
all a compromise).

John