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.
Don
I seen it called a "story stick." Never used one myself or taken the time to learn the system but a lot of cabinet makers use them.
It's called story stick. Here's an article explaining the details:
I've heard "story board", "story stick", and "preacher board". I never heard the word "history" used in this context.
In the 70's a guy told me that if I used a thin piece of lumber on doors and marked the hinge butts on it, I could easily transfer the measurements to the new door/jamb, etc. Other door specifications were also written on the wood. Asking why it was called a preacher board, he said that it "never lied". (this young carpenter's helper was impressionable at the time.) :)
woodstuff
A "story stick" - pretty much essential for doing fitted work into alcoves. Jere Cary's kitchen cabinets book has a good piece on them.
I use *story* sticks on my larger projects. They're great because they tend to eliminate measuring errors. Make the measurements once and then mark everything from the stick. If it's a project you're likely to do more than once, just write what it is on the stick and save it for future use.
Chuck Vance
A "story stick". You'd use one if doing a lot of the same measurements. One of those simple, handy tools, like a hammer. You'd measure once [and check] on the stick, and apply that. Less chance of errors in repeated measurement.
Maybe "story stick" would be a better phrase to google for.
Man what a group. Thanks for all the replies. Sounds like a good way to go, especially after I know what to call it now. Keep up the great work.
Don
snipped-for-privacy@dcn.davis.ca.us wrote in news:k1bd51h47r80u1n9sg4bgavtgb0aeo1kc1@
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I learn a lot more from the old guys than I ever do from books. And now, due in part to fine examples, I'm becoming one. ;-)
Patriarch
I use one on almost ever project.
Dave
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Which, a book, a fine example, or an old guy?
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
I have never heard any of the sticks mentioned. I do have and do use a "story pole".
Commercial carpenter with 40 years in the trade.
(top posted for your convenience) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Keep the whole world singing . . . . DanG (remove the sevens) snipped-for-privacy@7cox.net
Not to be confused with "tick-sticking". An art indeed. Used to duplicate complex 3-D shapes. I use it all the time.
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