On Thu, 07 Apr 2005 23:35:53 -0700, wrote:

When we were having our house remodeled, the contractor used a 1 inch
square piece of wood with all the cabinet measurements on it. I
haven't seen anyone else use this system of making cabinets. Is this
an old system not used any more? Can't really find anything of much
substance on the internet either. Thanks for your time and efforts.

My late Dad was a cabinetmaker in the NE of England before and just
after WW2, until his trade gave way to machinery. He often used one
which - I think - he called a story stick. More than one in fact - I
can remember more than half a dozen for various jobs.

He also had a sliding version for measuring recesses - a pinch stick
he called it (don't ask) - or perhaps a pinch rod (it was a long time
ago). In fact he had gauges, large and small for just about
everything he made. Never measure when you can gauge was his motto.

His benchtop was often used as a kind of story stick too, with
measurements and distances marked out on it so that pieces could be
repeated quickly. When pencil and/or chisel marks got too deep to
just sand off, he would re-plane his benchtop - perfectly.

He could put his fingernail on a mark and use the stick to scribe a
line down a plank - and I doubt it could have been bettered with a
proper marking gauge. And he wasn't shy of hammering a panel pin
through the stick for scribing or radiusing.

And if he eschewed measuring tapes and rulers (not always, but for
choice), you should have heard him go into a rage about metrication -
which he always reckoned was a measuring system for people who never
needed to make anything! Which I've always agreed with, frankly.

He would often tell you that - depending on the work - you could have
it measure right or look right - as long as you realised they weren't
always the same thing. I used to hear that from paperhangers, too.

Happily I inherited his enthusiasm. Unhappily I inherited just a
small portion of his skill.

John