Imperial or Metric, whats you flavour?

2169 Views 19 Replies 14 Participants Last post by HusqyPro, Sep 8, 2009

The Coastal Craftsman

Discussion Starter · Sep 6, 2009

Im curious to know what you guys use for measurement. I have grown up with Metric and always found using it more accurate than Imperial but cant find nice Metric tapes out here anywhere. Always have to order online. What do you find more accurate?

1 - 20 of 20 Posts

davitk

· #2 · Sep 6, 2009

Math is easier using decimals, but sheet goods will always come 4' x 8', 10', 12' on the better side of the Atlantic. Better get used to it we ain't changing.

BTW good metric tapes, whether warranted or not, seem to be available everywhere.

Inner10

· #3 · Sep 6, 2009

Whats metric? :w00t:

Mostly imperial.

More accurate? I don't hear ya...the accuracy of a measuring tape is relative to 2 parts the maker of said tape and the chump reading it. I don't care what pattern the little lines and numbers are in it doesn't affect accuracy.

Are you saying that you read a metric tape to the nearest MM but you only read an imperial tape to the nearest 8th inch? I'm confused.

As for a tape goes I want pure imperial, no combination crap. And I want readings on the front and back.

WarnerConstInc.

· #4 · Sep 6, 2009

i use both.

woodworkbykirk

· #5 · Sep 6, 2009

all imperial here. when i was starting out i thought the idea of a combo tape was good but quickly found em too busy and confusing.

recently i had a new fatmax tape's spring go 2 hrs into using it so i returned it for new one. accidentally picked up the combo and then figured id keep it because it had 32's on it for the first 12 ", its been sitting in the toolbox , even the 32's too busy....

as for using metric, only time ive ever needed to know it was in school when it came to code questions as, the code is in metric. we still needed to be able to convert it over to imperial

Winchester

· #6 · Sep 6, 2009

No choice but to use both.

Our building code is in metric, but our materials and everything else is imperial.

WarnerConstInc.

· #7 · Sep 6, 2009

I have a Fast Cap tape that is all metric.

I have tools that the scales are in MM, I hate mental math.

Kitchen crown is better measured in mm.

Cletus

· #8 · Sep 6, 2009

The typical metric tape is more precise because the marks are closer together. Accuracy depends on the user.

I'm only allowed to use a stick with one mark on it. :wallbash:

Tor

· #9 · Sep 6, 2009

Here in Norway everything is officially metric. But because of old oral tradition most people in the building business, at least where I'm from, still use inches on some occasions:

Nails: we almost never say 2,0/50, 2,5/65, 2,8/75, 3,4/95, we call them 2, 2 1/2, 3 and 4 inch nails.
Dimensions of lumber are almost never named in mm. We say e.g. 7/8"x6", 1"x8", 2"x6". But when it comes to the lenght of lumber, we always use m, cm and mm.
The folding rule is called tomme-stokk ("inch stick") even though most of them just have cm scales. Some have both inches and cm.

Also, the most common hammer sizes over here are 13, 16 and 20oz. I have no idea how much that is in grams. E.g., a 16oz hammer is called a "16 hammer."

Some relatives of mine in Canada found this a little weird. And they told me that the actual size of North American 2"x4" is 1 1/2" x 3 1/2". I found that a little weird.

Our 2"x4" is 48x98mm or we can get it as a true 2"x4" or 51x102mm.

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maninthesea

· #10 · Sep 6, 2009

I really just wish someone would win this battle and we only had one standard.
I work on machines where the compressor blocks are metric and allmost everything else is Imperial. Drives me nuts!

Cheers Jim

davitk

· #11 · Sep 6, 2009

Inner10 said:
Whats metric? :w00t:

Mostly imperial.

More accurate? I don't hear ya...the accuracy of a measuring tape is relative to 2 parts the maker of said tape and the chump reading it. I don't care what pattern the little lines and numbers are in it doesn't affect accuracy.

Are you saying that you read a metric tape to the nearest MM but you only read an imperial tape to the nearest 8th inch? I'm confused.

As for a tape goes I want pure imperial, no combination crap. And I want readings on the front and back.

Me thinks BC missed out on the time-honored tradition of working with grumpy old carpenters "here, go hold the dumb end of the tape!" :laughing:

strathd

· #12 · Sep 6, 2009

davitk said:
Me thinks BC missed out on the time-honored tradition of working with grumpy old carpenters "here, go hold the dumb end of the tape!" :laughing:

Sometimes I have them hold the dumb end of the chalkline too !

The Coastal Craftsman

Discussion Starter · #13 · Sep 6, 2009

I see you guys have some of the issue's i have. Same thing happens in UK with both systems being used but Metric was what we used in school and college. Always found it a lot quicker and accurate to be using metric just because of being able to look at the tape and instantly see that i had a measurement of say 1235.5mm I'm not as fast or as accurate with imperial just because of the busyness of the tape when using 32's. There's def a place for both though. Wouldn't want to swap to metric for lumber though.

Something else i notice as well is the way my digital laser measure gives me some crazy figures for imperial. I'm used the the type like 2' - 5/16th's type but that gives me another type i have no idea how to read.

Mrmac204

· #14 · Sep 6, 2009

had a quote to do a few weeks back - someone of a different culture than I, and it seems that there's a process to the sale negotiation. By that I mean, lets do this, and that- no wait don't include this now but... yada yada

so then he wanted the lengths of crown/baseboard per room. I gave them to him in metric

well he wanted them in imperial(me too, I am old school, but I have a calculator that converts)

so now when he gets his "brother" or "uncle" to do the work, they will have to work in metric or convert - sometimes you just know when you have a tire kicker.

B.K

· #15 · Sep 7, 2009

Finish Work, EX: Stairs, i'll work in metric. Simply because its more accurate, id rather be 1mm off than 1/16th of inch (As if that ever happens :whistling)

Framing, F that! If framing was put to the closest MM man the grumpy carpenters would turn into killers.

Funny story, well not so funny to the guy this happened to.

Buddy was framing up a building decided to convert from Metric to imperial.

Bad idea.

The front of the building was about 40' long, with about 10-12 windows. All openings were off, by the 10th or 12th window they were over 10-12 inches off from where they were suppose to be, and it showed. (Couldn't put the last window in, cause it went out past the corner of the building) He had to grab the metric tape and do it all over again.

Thats why i never convert, unless i need a quick measurment. Other than that, i'll take out my trusty Lufkin tape and measure the thing.

-Bill

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Inner10

· #16 · Sep 7, 2009

The typical metric tape is more precise because the marks are closer together.

1/32 is smaller then 1 MM.

"here, go hold the dumb end of the tape!" :laughing:

I worked with a guy years ago that always used that line, and after watching alot of people struggle to use a tape he had good reason to refer to it as the dumb end.

BHR

· #17 · Sep 7, 2009

I truely dislike metric. As soon as I graduate from school what do they do??? Convert from Imperial to metric BAH!

They change all the dimensions by code to metric but everyone still uses Imperial terms for materials - what a joke! If any of my guys come on site with a combination tape measure they will find it tossed away and be made to go buy an imperial one...to many mistakes made with combo tapes.

But I mean really - we still can't get things right here after all these years of being "converted" We still have the metric buck (loonie) it's worth .92 cents US - see what I mean

Cletus

· #18 · Sep 8, 2009

Cletus said:
The typical metric tape is more precise because the marks are closer together. Accuracy depends on the user.

Inner10 said:
1/32 is smaller then 1 MM.

Yes, but who uses a tape marked out in 32nds?

There is a difference between precision and accuracy.

Winchester

· #19 · Sep 8, 2009

Cletus said:
There is a difference between precision and accuracy.

Yep. Brings back memories of University Physics :shutup:

HusqyPro

· #20 · Sep 8, 2009

Winchester said:
No choice but to use both.

Our building code is in metric, but our materials and everything else is imperial.

Architecture students at UofI are trained to draw plans in metric. Then they have to be converted to Imperial for the contractor to build what they drew. How screwy is that?:blink:

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