Anybody ever attempt to do woodworking or carpentry using metric
measurements?

I attempted it once after a fellow woodworker convinced me he liked it
better and it was easier. I got so confused and gave up due to worrying
about wrecking my project supplies.

I admit I have been screwed many times on using a feet and inch tape
measure, like this.
- Measure fitting spot at 5'6"
- go to wood piece
- pick up other tape measure
- measure 56"
- cut wood
- fit piece into spot
- swear a lot
- remeasure spot
- wonder WTF happened?
- repeat until tape measure breaks glass in window.

On 2/21/2011 3:51 PM, Josepi wrote:
Anybody ever attempt to do woodworking or carpentry using metric
measurements?

I attempted it once after a fellow woodworker convinced me he liked it
better and it was easier. I got so confused and gave up due to worrying
about wrecking my project supplies.

I admit I have been screwed many times on using a feet and inch tape
measure, like this.
- Measure fitting spot at 5'6"
- go to wood piece
- pick up other tape measure
- measure 56"
- cut wood
- fit piece into spot
- swear a lot
- remeasure spot
- wonder WTF happened?
- repeat until tape measure breaks glass in window.






I have worked at a couple of chemical plants that were all metric. It
is far easier for me than inches/feet. I don't know why I don't use it
at home other than the fact that I would constantly have to convert in
order to purchase something for any project I am working on. Many things
now are measured in both inches/feet AND metric, so I may have to dig
out my old metric tape and have a go at it.

The other thing that keeps me from changing is the construction
calculator which will do either one, but takes a lot of the worry out of
calculations in inches/feet.

--
Robert Allison
New Braunfels, TX

On 2/21/2011 4:00 PM, Robert Allison wrote:


I have worked at a couple of chemical plants that were all metric. It is
far easier for me than inches/feet. I don't know why I don't use it at
home other than the fact that I would constantly have to convert in
order to purchase something for any project I am working on. Many things
now are measured in both inches/feet AND metric, so I may have to dig
out my old metric tape and have a go at it.

The other thing that keeps me from changing is the construction
calculator which will do either one, but takes a lot of the worry out of
calculations in inches/feet.

Interesting read on the subject: "Measuring America", on how
civilizations are built by systems of measurement and how strongly
political and economic factors are involved.

http://www.amazon.com/Measuring-Amer.../dp/0452284597

--
www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 4/15/2010
KarlC@ (the obvious)

I went to the Foreign Depot for some two-by-fours, but they were a lot
smaller than I expected...

On Mon, 21 Feb 2011 17:12:02 -0500, DJ Delorie wrote:

I went to the Foreign Depot for some two-by-fours, but they were a lot
smaller than I expected...

Yeah, about 1-1/2" (1-5/8" swelled, wet pressure-treated tubafores) by
3-1/2" since the Sixties.

--
The more passions and desires one has,
the more ways one has of being happy.
-- Charlotte-Catherine

I think someone should invent/make a pair of special glasses, such
that when one looks at imperial measured stuff, they see it in
metric... and, with the same glasses, vice versa. That would save
everyone some time and headaches.

Besides, what if we can only count up to 9?

Sonny

Perfect!
Metric typically uses base 10 and 0 to 9 are all the digits you need to
understand!

No more dividing by 12, or 16th of an inch. We saw you cheating a few times,
counting the 32nds after the inch line instead of multiplying it out and
adding one.

How many times have we gone to the saw, repeating out loud, "one 32nd shy
of 11/16"?


LOL

--------------------
"Sonny" wrote in message
...
I think someone should invent/make a pair of special glasses, such
that when one looks at imperial measured stuff, they see it in
metric... and, with the same glasses, vice versa. That would save
everyone some time and headaches.

Besides, what if we can only count up to 9?

Sonny

The only two countries in the world that don't mandate the use of the
metric system are the US and Myanmar (Burma).

On Feb 21, 8:47*pm, "Josepi" wrote:

Metric typically uses base 10 {snip}

Typically? What are some of the other bases?

R

Larry Jaques writes:
Yeah, about 1-1/2" (1-5/8" swelled, wet pressure-treated tubafores) by
3-1/2" since the Sixties.

For the humour-impaired, they were about 1.5 cm by 3.5 cm.

On Mon, 21 Feb 2011 21:08:05 -0500, DJ Delorie wrote:


Larry Jaques writes:
Yeah, about 1-1/2" (1-5/8" swelled, wet pressure-treated tubafores) by
3-1/2" since the Sixties.

For the humour-impaired, they were about 1.5 cm by 3.5 cm.

Crap, that's only roughly 5/8" by 1-3/8". Not even humorous.

--
The more passions and desires one has,
the more ways one has of being happy.
-- Charlotte-Catherine

"Josepi" wrote in message
...
Anybody ever attempt to do woodworking or carpentry using metric
measurements?

I would think most every one out side the US and certainly in europe the
wood workers work with the metric system vs the imperial.

Anybody ever attempt to do woodworking or carpentry using metric
measurements?

To quote Dave Barry:

"Thus the metric system did not really catch on in the States, unless
you count the increasing popularity of the nine-millimeter bullet."

Funny I was just reading about that. This is known as the .357 magnum
calibre.


wrote in message
...
To quote Dave Barry:

"Thus the metric system did not really catch on in the States, unless
you count the increasing popularity of the nine-millimeter bullet."




Anybody ever attempt to do woodworking or carpentry using metric
measurements?

In article ,
Josepi wrote:
Funny I was just reading about that. This is known as the .357 magnum
calibre.


wrote in message
...
To quote Dave Barry:

"Thus the metric system did not really catch on in the States, unless
you count the increasing popularity of the nine-millimeter bullet."


Just to pick nits, a .357 caliber bullet actually does measure .357 inches.
A 9mm bullet is .355 inches.


--
There is always an easy solution to every human problem -- neat,
plausible, and wrong." (H L Mencken)

Larry Wasserman - Baltimore Maryland - lwasserm(a)sdf. lonestar. org

On 2/21/2011 6:15 PM, wrote:

Anybody ever attempt to do woodworking or carpentry using metric
measurements?

To quote Dave Barry:

"Thus the metric system did not really catch on in the States, unless
you count the increasing popularity of the nine-millimeter bullet."


Most films (i know, i know, what's a film?) were measured in mm

8mm
16mm
35mm
70mm
120

etc.


--
Steve Barker
remove the "not" from my address to email

Josepi wrote:
Anybody ever attempt to do woodworking or carpentry using metric
measurements?

I attempted it once after a fellow woodworker convinced me he liked it
better and it was easier. I got so confused and gave up due to worrying
about wrecking my project supplies.

Ever had a friend who stopped smoking, drinking, or eating meat? Or
started jogging, losing weight or _____(fill in blank)? Or discovered
a new religion? Remember how they bragged and nagged trying to get
you to do the same? I think everyone has a little missionary in them.

We (USA) have always used inches, pounds and gallons and are happy and
comfortable with them. Will changing to the metric system make us
happier, live longer, lose weight or sleep better? I don't think so.
Foreign manufacturers use metric and I can put up with finding a
wrench to fit, but when they start preaching to us to change the way
we live and do things I balk.
--
Gerald Ross
Cochran, GA

It's hard to be serious when you're naked.

On Feb 22, 9:09*am, Gerald Ross wrote:

* Foreign manufacturers use metric and I can put up with finding a
wrench to fit, but when they start preaching to us to change the way
we live and do things I balk.

Even if it makes more sense than that ancient British system, eh?
Loyalty to the Queen and all that rot, eh?
You want to stick with the speedometer reading in Furlongs Per
Fortnight, so be it. Yessiree, Bob, I guess you'll show the world
who's the smarter one, eh?
The rest of the planet will reduce errors by using a simplified metric
system.
I grew up with metric, came to Canada and switched to inches, then the
country switched to metric... by now I'm pretty well versed in either,
but I use inches in my shop, but metric on my CNC.

Gawd... some people...

Robatoy wrote:
On Feb 22, 9:09 am, Gerald wrote:

Foreign manufacturers use metric and I can put up with finding a
wrench to fit, but when they start preaching to us to change the way
we live and do things I balk.

Even if it makes more sense than that ancient British system, eh?
Loyalty to the Queen and all that rot, eh?
You want to stick with the speedometer reading in Furlongs Per
Fortnight, so be it. Yessiree, Bob, I guess you'll show the world
who's the smarter one, eh?
The rest of the planet will reduce errors by using a simplified metric
system.
I grew up with metric, came to Canada and switched to inches, then the
country switched to metric... by now I'm pretty well versed in either,
but I use inches in my shop, but metric on my CNC.

Gawd... some people...

Amen!

--
Gerald Ross
Cochran, GA

It's hard to be serious when you're naked.

Robatoy wrote:
: On Feb 22, 9:09*am, Gerald Ross wrote:

: * Foreign manufacturers use metric and I can put up with finding a
: wrench to fit, but when they start preaching to us to change the way
: we live and do things I balk.

: Even if it makes more sense than that ancient British system, eh?

Yeah, but it doesn't.

: The rest of the planet will reduce errors by using a simplified metric
: system.

Do you have any citations on error rates to back that up?

-- Andy Barss

"Robatoy" wrote in message
...
On Feb 22, 9:09 am, Gerald Ross wrote:

Foreign manufacturers use metric and I can put up with finding a
wrench to fit, but when they start preaching to us to change the way
we live and do things I balk.

Even if it makes more sense than that ancient British system, eh?

It makes more sense only when learning it. After it is learned, there is no
difference other than preference.


You want to stick with the speedometer reading in Furlongs Per
Fortnight,

I have never seen own so marked. Do you have an exaple you can show?

The rest of the planet will reduce errors by using a simplified metric
system.

How so?


I use inches in my shop, but metric on my CNC.

I use inches for both.

On Feb 24, 1:14*pm, "CW" wrote:
"Robatoy" wrote in message



You want to stick with the speedometer reading in Furlongs Per
Fortnight,

I have never seen own so marked. Do you have an exaple you can show?


http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o...So_Serious.jpg

Gerald Ross wrote in news:X6udndKg-
:


*snip*

Foreign manufacturers use metric and I can put up with finding a
wrench to fit, but when they start preaching to us to change the way
we live and do things I balk.

If a device is all metric or all standard, no problem. I can work in
either system, but if the device is split between the two systems the
annoyance levels go way up. Why should I have to have both my 12mm and
1/2" wrenches out when trying to put something together? They're almost
the same size, might as well make them one or the other.

Puckdropper

In article om, Puckdropper puckdropper(at)yahoo(dot)com wrote:

If a device is all metric or all standard, no problem. I can work in
either system, but if the device is split between the two systems the
annoyance levels go way up. Why should I have to have both my 12mm and
1/2" wrenches out when trying to put something together? They're almost
the same size, might as well make them one or the other.

Been There and Done That. I owned four GM vehicles that were made between 1978
and 1986, and all four of them had a mix of metric and SAE fasteners. It
cranked up my blood pressure every time I had to make a repair on one of them
-- never knew which socket set I was going to need. But my son's 96 Firebird
is all metric. Thank goodness.

"Doug Miller" wrote

Been There and Done That. I owned four GM vehicles that were made between
1978
and 1986, and all four of them had a mix of metric and SAE fasteners. It
cranked up my blood pressure every time I had to make a repair on one of
them
-- never knew which socket set I was going to need. But my son's 96
Firebird
is all metric. Thank goodness.

Yep. I found that if a part bolted into the engine block, it was SAE. If
it was an accessory or body bolt, it was metric. That was a full sized 87
Chevy van.

I recently got a 06, but have not done much wrench turning yet. New engine
design, so probably metric. I hope it is all metric, like you said.
--
Jim in NC

In article , "Morgans" wrote:

"Doug Miller" wrote

Been There and Done That. I owned four GM vehicles that were made between
1978
and 1986, and all four of them had a mix of metric and SAE fasteners. It
cranked up my blood pressure every time I had to make a repair on one of
them
-- never knew which socket set I was going to need. But my son's 96
Firebird
is all metric. Thank goodness.

Yep. I found that if a part bolted into the engine block, it was SAE. If
it was an accessory or body bolt, it was metric. That was a full sized 87
Chevy van.

I recently got a 06, but have not done much wrench turning yet. New engine
design, so probably metric. I hope it is all metric, like you said.

I'd expect so. I'm not sure when GM finally went all-metric, but evidently it
was sometime between '86 and '96. We had a '96 Roadmaster before my other son
wrecked it. Replacement was a '96 Saturn. A few years later, we bought another
Saturn, a '99. My FIL has a '97 LeSabre that I do the maintenance on. All four
of these cars are all-metric, just like my son's '96 Firebird -- so I have a
hard time imagining that anything newer has gone back to SAE fasteners.

On 2/22/2011 6:16 PM, Puckdropper wrote:
Gerald wrote in news:X6udndKg-
:


*snip*

Foreign manufacturers use metric and I can put up with finding a
wrench to fit, but when they start preaching to us to change the way
we live and do things I balk.

If a device is all metric or all standard, no problem. I can work in
either system, but if the device is split between the two systems the
annoyance levels go way up. Why should I have to have both my 12mm and
1/2" wrenches out when trying to put something together? They're almost
the same size, might as well make them one or the other.

Puckdropper

When that happens I just grab 2 crescents; my 12" and my 304 mm and I am
ready for either one.

--
Robert Allison
New Braunfels, TX

"Josepi" wrote in message
...
snip
....
I admit I have been screwed many times on using a feet and inch tape
measure, like this.
- Measure fitting spot at 5'6"
- go to wood piece
- pick up other tape measure
- measure 56"
- cut wood
- fit piece into spot
- swear a lot
- remeasure spot
- wonder WTF happened?
- repeat until tape measure breaks glass in window.


Embarassingly that just happened to me over the weekend (except for the
dramatic ending) while using two different tapes, one marked largely with
feet, one not. Measured for two notches spaced 5' 3 1/4" from one end on a
12' long 1x10. Rough cut the notches at 53 1/4". I went to dry fit it for
fine tuning and was astonished I got THAT far off. Consistently 10" too
short. I replaced the board, destroyed the evidence and wasn't going to
tell anyone. Then I read this!
Thanks!
Scott

"Scott" wrote
Embarassingly that just happened to me over the weekend (except for the
dramatic ending) while using two different tapes, one marked largely with
feet, one not. Measured for two notches spaced 5' 3 1/4" from one end on
a 12' long 1x10. Rough cut the notches at 53 1/4". I went to dry fit it
for fine tuning and was astonished I got THAT far off. Consistently 10"
too short. I replaced the board, destroyed the evidence and wasn't going
to tell anyone. Then I read this!

The other common mistake for me and students is to measure with the tape
right side up, the measure upside down, and count the fraction on the wrong
side of the inch mark.
--
Jim in NC

"Morgans" wrote in
:


"Scott" wrote
Embarassingly that just happened to me over the weekend (except for
the dramatic ending) while using two different tapes, one marked
largely with feet, one not. Measured for two notches spaced 5' 3
1/4" from one end on a 12' long 1x10. Rough cut the notches at 53
1/4". I went to dry fit it for fine tuning and was astonished I got
THAT far off. Consistently 10" too short. I replaced the board,
destroyed the evidence and wasn't going to tell anyone. Then I read
this!

The other common mistake for me and students is to measure with the
tape
right side up, the measure upside down, and count the fraction on the
wrong side of the inch mark.

I've made that error before! I wonder if alternating the background
color would help avoid it. Odd inches would be in one color (orange?)
and even inches would be in a different color (yellow?).

Why don't we ever seem to cut the piece 1" too long?

Puckdropper

On Feb 21, 4:51*pm, "Josepi" wrote:
Anybody ever attempt to do woodworking or carpentry *using metric
measurements?

I attempted it once after a fellow woodworker convinced me he liked it
better and it was easier. I got so confused and gave up due to worrying
about wrecking my project supplies.

I admit I have been screwed many times on using a feet and inch tape
measure, like this.
- Measure fitting spot at *5'6"
- go to wood piece
- pick up other tape measure
- measure 56"
- cut wood
- fit piece into spot
- swear a lot
- remeasure spot
- wonder WTF happened?
- repeat until tape measure breaks glass in window.

That's why carpenters always read off their tapes in inches,
never feet and inches.

Yeah, and that "someday" finally came for me and I threw the darn thing out,
in the garbage. Now if I didn't have a tape measure I would have to find one
somewhere or buy a few more but I wasn't going to waste wood as often with
that mistake, again. Went on for years until I had enough, one day....LOL


"Father Haskell" wrote in message
...
That's why carpenters always read off their tapes in inches,
never feet and inches.



On Feb 21, 4:51 pm, "Josepi" wrote:
Anybody ever attempt to do woodworking or carpentry using metric
measurements?

I attempted it once after a fellow woodworker convinced me he liked it
better and it was easier. I got so confused and gave up due to worrying
about wrecking my project supplies.

I admit I have been screwed many times on using a feet and inch tape
measure, like this.
- Measure fitting spot at 5'6"
- go to wood piece
- pick up other tape measure
- measure 56"
- cut wood
- fit piece into spot
- swear a lot
- remeasure spot
- wonder WTF happened?
- repeat until tape measure breaks glass in window.

Stuart wrote in
:

In article ,
Josepi wrote:
Anybody ever attempt to do woodworking or carpentry using metric
measurements?

All the time these days

Drywall in Europe comes in 4x8ft sheets:
Directly from the website of a big box store (Gamma):

# size 122x61 or 244x122 cm.
# thickness 9-12-15-18 mm.


--
Best regards
Han
email address is invalid