This is a bunch of crock, Paul!!! I've ALWAYS used a metric tape for ALL my carpentry stuff (even though I concede I haven't done as much as a true professional probably would during his lifetime)!
I have no reason *WHATSOEVER* to agree with this mister below. On the contrary, when I did some experience trying to use this mediocre ifp tape I always had a miserable time adjusting. Actually, honestly, I could not get myself to see ANY advantage WHATSOEVER (but I DID try, honestly!...), especially with regards to binary subdivisions. In addition, I'd go even further to say that I cannot for the love of me see how ANYONE (who is *truly unbiased*) could agreed with this individual. It goes against every fabric of logic and reason I can think of! (NOTE: And NO, I'm NOT exaggerating... ;-) ) Marcus On Sat, 30 Aug 2003 14:03:43 Paul Trusten, R.Ph. wrote: >In his October 2002 New Yorker article on metric, David Owen comments: > > "...the same urge for consistency at any cost is often evident among wholly >rational metric advocates, who seldom acknowledge thta there could be >situations in which coldly logical metric units work less well than quirkier >alternatives. An example is carpentry. The units in which American building >materials are idiosyncratic in the extreme---they include gauges, penny >sizes, nominal dimensions, and a host of other anachronistic >absurdities00but the over-all system works well, in part because it arose >organically from human activity instead of being imposed from above by >theoreticians. The standard metric measuring tape was clearly not designed >by anyone who regularly worked with wood: a millimetre is smaller thant he >tip of a builder's pencil and narrower than the blade of a saw, and the >closely packed, uniform gradations on the tape are hard to make out at a >glance except in bundles of five. In contrast, a customary American >tape--with its easily distinguishable divisions of sixteenths, eighths, >quarters, halves, inches, feet, and sixteen-inch framing intervals---is >harmoniously suited to the way in which it is used. The American building >industry will probably adopt the metric system someday, but American >carpenters are not idiots or Luddites for continuing to use a system that >works." > >I want to defer to subscribers to this list who are outside the United >States, especially Canada and Australia. What was the reaction of carpenters >to metrication? To what extent do they agree or disagree with Mr. Owen? > >Paul Trusten, R.Ph. >3609 Caldera Boulevard Apartment 122 >Midland TX 79707-2872 USA >432-694-6208 >[EMAIL PROTECTED] > >"There are two cardinal sins, from which >all the others spring: impatience and laziness." > > ---Franz Kafka > > ____________________________________________________________ Get 25MB of email storage with Lycos Mail Plus! Sign up today -- http://www.mail.lycos.com/brandPage.shtml?pageId=plus
