Machinists, designers, engineers and architects as well as home DIY enthusiasts often use these small, convenient measuring tools when a larger or more complex measuring device is not needed. They are also helpful to anyone who is making a hand-drawn chart or graph. This ruler is typically metal and can be slid across surfaces for placement easily. Hook Ruler

Sliding T-Bevel – Good | Better | Best– Most often used in combination with a protractor, a sliding T-bevel lets you mark angles. It is also known as a bevel gauge. The sliding T-bevel is excellent for transferring those angles to other tools like the blade of your table saw. Digital models don’t require a protractor. This pair of set square rulers, or triangles, is used in technical drawings, in engineering and architectural renderings. Each triangle serves as a straightedge at a right angle or other angle set against a baseline. A set square has the measurement markings of a ruler plus a half-circle design protractor. Many complex renderings for future buildings, bridges, large portico constructions and other structures require the use of set square rulers. These tools help ensure that the correct angles are used to produce these structures for safe, secure use. These rulers help with correct drawings for both linear and geometrical forms for structures. Adjustable TriangleWooden measuring tools are reported to have been used as early as 2650 B.C. These simple yet essential tools have since been used for measuring dimensions, drawing lines and serving as a guide for cutting materials. Throughout their history, rulers of varied sizes and shapes have been produced from wood, ivory, copper and other metals. When you look at all the different rules being sold in retail stores, they're all pretty much intended for framing houses or general purpose use without any thought on how to make them better for those of us who build furniture and cabinets. Flexible Ruler Invented by Frank G. Hunt". National Museum of National History. Archived from the original on 30 June 2016 . Retrieved 7 June 2016. A ruler, sometimes called a rule, scale or a line gauge, is an instrument used to make length measurements, whereby a user estimates a length by reading from a series of markings called "rules" along an edge of the device. [1] Commonly the instrument is rigid and the edge itself is a straightedge ("ruled straightedge"), which additionally allows one to draw straight lines. Some rulers, such as cloth or paper tape measures, are non-rigid. Specialty rulers exist that have flexible edges that retain a chosen shape; these find use in sewing, arts, and crafts.

Combination Metric and Imperial Tape Measure – Good | Better | Best– This one is kind of obvious. Most woodworkers prefer tape measures but some prefer folding rules to do the majority of their measuring. They are available in metric, imperial (fractions), or a combination of both on the same tape measure. A story pole tape measure has a blank area you can draw on in pencil so you can mark various parts of your project right on the tape. This facilitates better repeatability when laying out multiple parts of the same size. This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Mortise Gauge – Good | Better | Be s t– A marking gauge scribes a line down the length of a board with its small spike. The better ones have a circular wheel for cutting into the wood instead of a spike. Mortise gauges are marking gauges with two spikes or wheels. They are used for laying out both sides of a mortise or a tenon at once. Ludwig Wittgenstein famously used rulers as an example in his discussion of language games in the Philosophical Investigations (1953). He pointed out that the standard meter bar in Paris was the criterion against which all other rulers were determined to be one meter long, but that there was no analytical way to demonstrate that the standard meter bar itself was one meter long. It could only be asserted as one meter as part of a language game. A variety of rulers A m (6 ft 6 + 3⁄ 4 in) carpenter's rule Retractable flexible rule or tape measure A closeup of a steel ruler A ruler in combination with a letter scale

Scratch Awl – Good | Better | Best– An awl is a woodworker’s best friend due to its many useful functions such as starting screws, accurately starting a hole for drilling, and scribing lines. This durable measuring tool and its markings will not dull or fade, and the numbers and markings will never rub or scrape off with use. This specialized ruler is designed for use in direct drawing as well as project design. It is made of a highly durable anodized aluminum alloy and is guaranteed to last for long-term regular use. Engineer Scale

I helped build a pole barn once. All we needed was a tape measure, level, lumber crayon, and chalk line. In a typical pole barn, if you were off by 1/2″, no one would notice in most cases. If you are building a grand piano, accuracy is paramount and it takes many specialized measuring tools not found on this list. The type of work you do determines the importance of each tool on this list. In all instances, you can never go wrong with build the best quality tools you can afford. Modern rulers are available in all the colors and shades of the rainbow and in a wide array of materials, including wood, plastic, rubber, aluminum, stainless steel and others. This adjustable 8-inch arc triangle is used frequently by architects, engineers and designers for rendering drawings and the interior layouts of buildings. Its aluminum hinge and adjustable point screw let you adjust the triangle to the ideal angle needed. Because it is clear plastic, it never obstructs important parts of the drawing beneath it.

Desk Ruler

The following woodworking marking tools and measuring tools represent the foundational tools every woodworker needs to have in their possession. Miss out on any of these and you cost yourself time—possibly even money.

Twenty-one varieties of rulers that are in common use today and serving different purposes include the following: Desk Ruler Another popular layout available in our 24", 36" and 49-1/2" rules reads left-to-right on one side and right-to-left on the other. It’s perfect for measuring from your table saw rip fence to the blade. And if you work in both inch and metric measurements, there’s a 49-1/2" model with a left-to-right inch scale on one side and a left-to-right metric scale on the other. Find sources: "Ruler"– news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR ( November 2023) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message) Russell, David R.; with photography by James Austin and foreword by David Linley (2010). Antique Woodworking Tools: Their Craftsmanship from the Earliest Times to the Twentieth Century, Cambridge: John Adamson ISBN 978-1-898565-05-5 OCLC 727125586, pp.64–74 In geometry, a ruler without any marks on it (a straightedge) may be used only for drawing straight lines between points. A straightedge is also used to help draw accurate graphs and tables.First it's much more accurate with precise laser engraved markings. Second it's straighter and heavier. Third it sits flat because of a recess down the centre of the bottom surface. Fourth, it has both a standard and a centre scale. Fifth, the markings are engraved on a 30 degree bevel for easy alignment to pencil marks. And finally, it looks nicer. VERTICAL SCALE & NOTCH: You can use the end vertical scale 1/4-3/4 inch to measure the height of your table router bit, or your table saw blade, There's a small notch in the end for a pencil to keep it in place while dragging the rule to make an alignment line and work well for marking