Where to get accurate tape measure?

[Leuf]

Hmm, well you made me run down and check mine. Probably something I shoulda done before I started measuring with them. I got two 10'ers, one for the shop and one for in the house. One of them goes out a

1/64th or so between the 2" and 3" marks, the other is good at least up to 24". Of course I had the one that was off in the shop. They do have a smaller hook than I'm used to and do tend to slip off if you pull with the tape not down flat. I still reach for my stanley 16' anyway unless some idiot left it at the other end of the shop again, but it has metric on one side which is inconvenient sometimes.

-Leuf

[bridgerfafc]

well, you're wrong and you're right. you already go brought up to speed on why the hook is loose, so I'll leave that alone.

tape measures are not high precision instruments, and they can be out enough to matter in some critical applications. pretty much the best ones on the market for most kinds of wood trades are the ones made by stanley, though most of the ones you'll find for sale for above about $8 are gonna be pretty much the same. so if you need better accuracy that a tape measure can give you, go down to the machinist's supply house and buy a nice hardened steel rule. and bring lots of cash- you'll need it.otherwise, give up on using numbers to represent distances and start using story poles. then you can be exactly as accurate as you need to be in any given situation.... and best of all, for free.

[jo_jo]

Well, now that I get home, I pulled both the tape measures. Both of the ends move by an amount that is easily greater than the thickness of the hook. One is very old, so I might expect that, but the other is practially brand new, a "TaskForce" tape. The TaskForce moves about twice as much as the thickness of the hook.

In any case, I just marked the styles against the actual hole to make the mark. Those turned out better, and I'll take the advice several of you offered and find a metal yard stick or something similar.

[J. Clarke]

The "name brand" is "Fastcap", Woodcraft, McFeelys, and just about everybody stocks them. I haven't noticed any more inaccuracy in mine than in any other tape. Note that the lie-flat tape can get bent easily for some reason.

The one guy on Amazon seems to have gotten a bad one.

[Lew Hodgett]

This accuracy discussion brings to mind my class in surveying a long time ago.

Back then accuracy was defined to 3 decimal accuracy.

Making a 100 ft measurement with a partner, a couple of plumb bobs and a tape was a very interesting exercise.

Included with all the other variables was tape tension.

Too much tension, the tape could be made to stretch.

Too little tension, the tape would sag.

Both represented errors.

And then there were the gals would would sun bathe on the roof of the building across the street from the surveying lot, but we won't go there.

Lew

[Dave Balderstone]

[Larry Blanchard]

Since a lot of other folks have explained inside/outside measurements t= o you, I'll merely ask if anyone on this group feels like researching how many= times this question has come up. I can remember at least twice before, and I= think both were fairly recently, but since my aging brain is creeping towards=

senility I'm not sure of that - my wife says it's more like running tha= n creeping :-).

--=20 It's turtles, all the way down

[Leuf]

I don't recall it recently, but I do recall it coming up on the show "While you were out" where the carpenter was trying to explain it to the host, who wouldn't believe a word of it. The carpenter eventually gave up and went back to work. I think we all had to have it explained to us at some point, and we all went "duh" once we got it. But this guy was just having none of it.

-Leuf

[B A R R Y]

I have a few versions of those, and I really like them.

I have a 16 ft. "Lie Flat", a 16 ft. "Story Pole,a nd a 25 footer. They were ~ $7, and I'd buy 'em again when these break.

I also a "CenterPoint" 16 ft. center finding tape that I really liked.

[Pat Barber]

Fastcap...excellent...very limp but is great for layouts on a flat surface. They also have a few more flavors...

web site but excellent products...

D> While we are on the subject . . .

[DonkeyHody]

Thanks guys, I think I'll give it a try.

DonkeyHody "Even an old blind hog finds an acorn every now and then."

[CW]

I put very little stock in Amazon reviews. An inordinately high percentage of the reviewers seem to be deserving of the nickname "Bozo".

[B A R R Y]

I think I've read some of the same reviews.

[Mark Blum]

I love when one of those 'bozos' says "This is a fantastic tool, but it was missing a minor piece, so I had the company send me a replacement, and so I give it 2 stars".

Sure it's annoying to have some minor problem that needs to be resolved, but to give a tool a low overall rating based on that is misleading.

[Phred]

On 4 Jan 2007 12:24:09 -0800, "jo_jo" scribed:

Jesbus! If you just got into woodworking, a 14 foot wide project would be a bit more to chew than maybe a shelf or small cabinet... That's half the size of my bloody living room! No wonder your asking for tips.

I have some pretty good tools and would shake my head at that project, especially with drawers where you need alignment and at least some basic joinery skills. Cutting dados ain't fun without the right tools.

As far as the tape question is... Use it for rough cuts like building a roof or something with 2x4. Not for joinery or cabinet work. I use a nice 48" aluminum square for long rips and a small (18") combination square for precision stuff like cabinetry work.

Also, make sure your mitre saw is aligned and sharp.

Best,

Phred

[John Grossbohlin]

You could make one...

and easier would be to not measure with a ruler. Use a story stick. Or, use two sticks that can be laid next to each other with one end of each stick touching the inside of the sides of your case, and then place a mark across both sticks. The sticks can be laid on your stock in the same relationship to each other and the length marked on your stock...

John

[B A R R Y]

My favorites involve writers who have clearly never read the user manual and have no idea how to use the tool.

These are the folks who want to take 1/4" cuts in 12" wide maple with a lunchbox planer or grind welds off of steamship with a 4 1/2" finish sander and 100 grit.

[M Berger]

[Lew Hodgett]

You can always make the problem go away, use the "10" mark as "0".

Not nearly as convenient, but it has worked for me for a lot of years.

Lew

[B A R R Y]

There's the old saying "burn an inch" to avoid using the hook. It's very easy to cut parts one inch short when burning an inch.

Burning 10 makes the errors very apparent before the cut!