any chance of you guys going metric ? :)

[bread and roses]

Originally Posted by dave_k

That would be rather considerate. I think it would depend on their union agreement. One would think a little sandpaper would do the trick as well.

Why would you use sandpaper when you've got all that holystone?

[dave_k]

Originally Posted by bread and roses

Why would you use sandpaper when you've got all that holystone?

You caught me Aspen. I am a fake pirate, I don't even know which end of the boat is the front. I had to google holystone to learn what it was. I always wondered what those pirates were using to scrub the decks in the movies. I figured it was a sponge.

[bread and roses]

Originally Posted by dave_k

You caught me Aspen. I am a fake pirate, I don't even know which end of the boat is the front. I had to google holystone to learn what it was. I always wondered what those pirates were using to scrub the decks in the movies. I figured it was a sponge.

I was just trying to sling some terminology there.

I think the worst thing about the imperial system isn't the fractions, but the nominal designations. At least when you get a 32mm spacing specified, it's actually 32 mm apart. And if we converted to metric, we'd be stuck with these awkward 19mm measurements and so on, but at least the numbers are what they are. Not that I want to switch- I'm good at fractions, and I've mastered this system, so the backwards obstreperousness of it keeps down the competition. Not to mention change is bad.


I'd like to chalk this all up to history, but then I think about biscuits. The biscuits I use are all 0, 00, and 000 sizes. Biscuits are a modern product. When deciding how to designate their sizes, why on earth didn't they at least choose a scale that didn't end before the most popular size occurs? And why not designate the biscuit size in terms of its length, in inches or mm?

What frustrates me the most is all the different series of numbers we have. We've got wire gauges where the numbers go up as the wire gets smaller; and screw numbers that get larger as the screw gets larger. But they have no correlation to drill numbers, where the numbers go up as the drill gets smaller, but it's a different set of numbers than the wire gauges; (and don't forget that steel wire has a different gauge) and nails are designated in d, which gets bigger as the nail gets bigger, unless they're gun nails, in which case they're given in gauge, the same as wire guage, except that they're square; until they get bigger, when they're given in decimal inches.

So I have 9 wire, .1144 inches in diameter, unless it's in a 16d sinker, where it's .113 inches. The drill of that size is a #33, that's the nominal diameter of a #4 screw. If I'm predrilling with a #33 screw, I'll use a #6-40 tap and a #6 screw. And all this is the same size as my 9 gauge wire, but that is much, much smaller than my 10 gauge shotgun. Which I will have to get out if someone wants me to work in tenths of feet.

[dave_k]

Originally Posted by bread and roses

I was just trying to sling some terminology there.

And nicely slung too I might add

Originally Posted by bread and roses

What frustrates me the most is all the different series of numbers we have. We've got wire gauges where the numbers go up as the wire gets smaller; and screw numbers that get larger as the screw gets larger. But they have no correlation to drill numbers, where the numbers go up as the drill gets smaller, but it's a different set of numbers than the wire gauges; (and don't forget that steel wire has a different gauge) and nails are designated in d, which gets bigger as the nail gets bigger, unless they're gun nails, in which case they're given in gauge, the same as wire guage, except that they're square; until they get bigger, when they're given in decimal inches.

So I have 9 wire, .1144 inches in diameter, unless it's in a 16d sinker, where it's .113 inches. The drill of that size is a #33, that's the nominal diameter of a #4 screw. If I'm predrilling with a #33 screw, I'll use a #6-40 tap and a #6 screw. And all this is the same size as my 9 gauge wire, but that is much, much smaller than my 10 gauge shotgun. Which I will have to get out if someone wants me to work in tenths of feet.

Then when you finally get all the fractional, wire gauge and numbers figured out you go to get a drill bit for a 5/16"-18 and they tell you you need a size F bit. makes you want to cry.

Be thankful your not in the railroad business http://parovoz.com/spravka/gauges-en.php

[dave_k]

We could of course measure in in the 19th century Austrian measure the klafter. How long is a klafter? That's easy 6 Fuss.

Or Hong Kong Fun's. A Fun = 3.7148mm

You can never have too much fun

http://www.sizes.com/units/index.htm

[rogerg]

In an earlier post I talked about guineas, pounds, shillings, pence, ha'pennies and farthings

2 farthings = 1 ha'penny

2 ha'pennies = 1 penny

12 pennies = 1 shilling

20 shillings = 1 pound

1 guinea = 1 pound 1 shilling (I think)

By the age of seven we could add and subtract multiples of these. Damn, we had good teachers back then.

roger

[Tom Bainbridge]

rogerg you are right on all the above, now just to confuse you guys.............

since the early 1970s weve had 100 (new) pennies to the pound (shillings ceased to exist)

guineas dont exist anymore as a unit of currency, but the unit is still used in some auction houses

as i understand it, expensive horses are traded in guineas

[frenchie]

any chance of you guys going euro ? :)

[Tom Bainbridge]

id use euros in a split second

the problem is the scaremongers in the english press and in parliement. they tell the morons that the world will end if the english pound doesnt exist

i dont believe this nonsense

the only currancies in the world that could possibly compete with the dollar are maybe the euro but far more likely the yuan

[bconley]

I had a new guy on the job and asked him for a measurement and he replied 6 and 3 of the little marks! either way he would have been right.

To err is human to arrg is pirate.

Bill

[Tom Bainbridge]

bc, you may or may not believe it, but the same happens in metric.

i have to teach all my guys in millimeters to avoid confusion

here we have loads of east european immigrants who are used to working in centimetres

and of course some of our guys (20 years younger than me) still work in inches (and 3 small bits)

hell..................... its a pain

but they always learn

(they havent got much of a choice :) )

[kawendtco]

Originally Posted by dgbldr

Actually, we already have, a long time ago. If you look at any recent US-made car, it is completely metric. Not a single inch-size nut or bolt. Same for most scientific, industrial and other technical fields.

In construction, you can have it either way. There is nothing to prevent you from converting your drawings to metric and building the entire building to those prints. Material sizes are what they are and I wouldn't want to change them. Wouldn't be fun renovating a house with new studs that are 2 mm wider or narrower than the existing.

its seems we already are dealing with studs different thicknesses. and that is on new work with studs out of the same stud pile. and wafer board... if you need 5/8s just wait for the first rain you will have as much 5/8s as you can get wet(from 7/16 wafer board.)

[dave_k]

Originally Posted by Tom Bainbridge

bc, you may or may not believe it, but the same happens in metric.

i have to teach all my guys in millimeters to avoid confusion

here we have loads of east european immigrants who are used to working in centimetres

and of course some of our guys (20 years younger than me) still work in inches (and 3 small bits)

hell..................... its a pain

but they always learn

(they havent got much of a choice :) )

We never work in centimeters, sometimes we will say how many meters something is in conversation but when calling out dimensions it's always in millimeters. 20 mm ply, 80 slab, 600 beam side, 3600 column, 12000 wall ... etc.

I remember this conversation with a helper who exaggerated his experience to get a job.

carpenter on one side of a wall form up to his knees in mud with a skil saw: How long do you need that brace cut?

helper on the other side of the wall: 23 and 3 ........ (hesitation)

carpenter:(impatiently) 3 What???

helper in a loud confident voice: FIFTHS.

[retro-patrick]

Two units of measure I never see, even on the longest lists, are the half-blade and the you-know-what-hair. the latter being about half of a half-blade. These are usually measurements used for recutting of board that the saw man cut a little too long.

rP

[ChrisVJ]

When the British went metric lumber lengths were in "Metric feet." The merchants were too mean to round up to real metres or halves so they rounded down to 300mm. Now an eight foot length came up short rather than long and you had to remember to buy in 300, 600, 900, 1200, 1500 etc.

For those of us brought up on imperial it is not 'working in metric" that is difficult, it is looking at a plan and visualising the size of the room.

I am in Canada. They have been metric for years but the carpenters, who learn metric at school, all seem to work in feet and inches, including the Frenchies from Quebec!