Sorry Paul, This comes up pretty frequently and I therefore assumed you would have known or thought of it.
One very common method very many of us use is to buy a fairly good quality standard locking tape measure from most department stores and probably all hardware and building supply stores.. a 16 foot retractable tape should be enough for most people, I don't think locking models come any longer than 25 feet. What is important is that it has a good firm and positive lock. Some hold better than others. You will probably pay 15 to 25 or 30 bucks for a good one depending on length, width, quality of case, anything from brittle plastics to magnesium is available. You pull the tape out to the length you require, say the length of a door header or the width of a table, what ever it is you need to cut to, then lock the tape and carefully carry the tape to your stock and transfer that distance to the stock. You won't know the actual size in ordinal numbers but you will cut a piece the size you need. I used exactly this method to cut and fit siding to this two story house which is 32 by 36 feet. I did loose the measure a couple of times and had to go back up the ladder to remeasure, I found that laying a board in the miter saw roughly to length before taking the measure reduced my risk of accidentally loosing the measure between coming down the ladder and to the cutting table. Where the length was big I would carefully fold the tape end to case to make it more manageable and help me keep a finger just where the tape goes into the case so I might help the brake and detect any movement. For long measures this can be the very best method. the tapes are relatively cheap, they go in a pocket or carpenters tool belt and mostly they resist the sortn of abuse that tools unavoidably sustain on a building site. In a shop basement or what ever they don't take up a lot of room and they are pretty adaptable. Having said all that I also really like my rotorule. I have not yet made any of the variations on the telescoping rules people are talking about here but I think I might when I have to do a lot of finish trim here, I always find it difficult to accurately measure a miter to precise length and I suspect that a sliding measure with the end cut to the angle may help transfer that length to the saw. I will probably also buy one of those coping jigs to use with my router. Anyway, hope this is helpful. ----- Original Message ----- From: Paul To: [email protected] Sent: Sunday, November 22, 2009 7:28 AM Subject: [BlindHandyMan] Re: The Lone Measurer I love the idea of the builder's tape, do you just get that from a hardware store? Thanks Paul [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
