www.protoolreviews.com: Many people know how to read a tape measure, but did you know there are other built-in features besides the numbers and lines on the blade? I’ll help you unlock the secrets and understand how much more versatile a tape measure can be!
4 comments:
Recently I’ve been considering investing in a mini tape measure for my keychain since I’m not the biggest fan of carrying around a big clunky full size tape measure around with me during hang calls, so I figured this article would be interesting. I was not disappointed! I knew about how the jiggle in the metal end of tape measures is a feature and not a bug, but I didn’t know that the notch in it was specifically designed to be able to catch on nails. I also didn’t know anything about the color changing numbers or roofing diamonds. Since I don’t do much roofing or deal with framing studs often, I doubt I’ll have to think about either of these features much, but it’s nice to understand why they’re there. I did appreciate the note that the size of the tape measure itself is printed on the back of the housing! I figure that may come in handy someday. Finally I have to say that I think the use of the metal end of the tape measure as a marking tool is probably ultimately foolish. You will probably only ever be able to use this method on lumber, so first of all, why isn’t the metal end against the end of the lumber? You’re not going to be able to get a completely accurate measurement if the tape measure isn’t flush against the wood while you make your marking. Not to mention you probably aren’t getting an accurate measurement when you’re marking with a tiny metal thing regardless. Just get a pencil!
I always enjoy reading articles like this even though they do not contain what is considered interesting “industry news”. I am always looking to make life easier and more efficient when working so articles like these are of interest to me. I do think it is interesting that something I keep seeing all over the internet is the clarification of why the front hook on the measure moves slightly. I grew up knowing why but it seems according to the amount of random videos I have seen explaining why that is, that it is not in fact common knowledge. I know that I had been taught at some point why every 16 inches was highlighted on the cake but prior to reading this article I probably could not have told you exactly why other than it was intended for construction. That being said however I was surprised to learn that the black diamonds are used for roofing tiles. I have seen them often on tape measures but never really worried about what it was and I think that fact that an average tape measure has that is fascinating. Overall, I enjoyed reading the article.
I've only ever used a tape measure the same way. The only one of these tips I knew about was the give that the metal has and why it is built to accommodate that into the measurement. I also knew that the housing was able to be taken into account when measuring, but I never remember to measure that way, for me it’s easier to measure by bending the numbered tape into the corners instead of having to do math. I hadn’t thought of using the tape measure itself to mark a distance, usually, I have a sharpie or pencil on my person or I just make a mark with my fingernail. I can also say I honestly didn’t know that some tape measures have a magnetic end although I do see the usefulness of it. I like to read articles like this about tools I have been using for a while just to see if there are any useful techniques that I may have missed that would be useful for me. Sometimes I come across info that doesn’t pertain to my use case like the black diamonds being used for roofing or the red numbers for studs, but occasionally I find invaluable information.
I thought that this was a really well written article and a really fun read. I think that this was a really good line up of fun facts about tape measures, and a couple of them were things that I had absolutely no idea were true. Tape measures get skimmed over a lot since fundamentally they are quite straightforward: it is a tape that gives you a measurement, and you read the numbers to figure out what that measurement was. Since the only time I personally have used a tape measure for construction purposes has been for a theatrical application, one of the facts that I found was interesting was that the little black diamonds were for placing roof trusses. I had no idea that the typical distance apart for those was such a specific measurement. I also did not know that you could count the body of the tape measure in your measurement since I personally have only done the bendy thing with the tape.
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