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Thread: I must be OLD! I HATE the Metric System!!

  1. #76
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    MPH only makes perfect sense when the country is surveyed in a road grid of square miles, as is Canada. Offering directions in the country was easy, going north or south, crossroads are every two miles, and traveling east or west, a crossroad every mile. Now that everything has changed to kilometers, you need a pocket calculator.

  2. #77
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    Quote Originally Posted by ken hatch View Post
    The big advantage of going metric is it will cut your measuring mistakes to almost nothing. I went metric about ten years ago and I can't remember the last time I made a measuring mistake.

    I have both Imperial and metric tools in my shop, truth is it makes no never mind which is used other than a 8mm chisel matches up with a 5/16 mortise chisel and no one that I know of makes a 5/16 bench chisel. ken
    I've used both the imperial and metric systems for over 30 years in the aerospace industry. I worked in a calibration lab.
    Linear, physical, electronic and optical measurement tools were sometimes metric, sometimes imperial, sometimes both.
    I can switch from one system to the other in my sleep.

    So, Ken, why do you say using the metric system cuts your measuring mistakes to almost zero?
    Not arguing with you at all...I just don't understand why that would be so, because I sure would like to cut my measuring mistakes to almost nothing.

  3. #78
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    The big advantage of going metric is it will cut your measuring mistakes to almost nothing.

    Dyslexia is an equal opportunity cause of measuring mistakes no matter which system is used.

    Minimizing numerical measurements and using a story stick has greatly reduced my mistakes.

    jtk
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

  4. #79
    Quote Originally Posted by Clarence Martinn View Post


    Well, it's either I am getting OLD !! , or being stuck in the House because of the Coronavirus shutdown !! Went through the latest woodworking catalogs , and took a look at some nice Wood Chisels. I am used to the standard 1/4. 1/2, 1/8, 3/4 and 1 INCH !! Wood chisels.. WELL...... The set I looked at was in METRIC !!! Oh, it was nice looking alright. But, when I compared the Metric sizes to STANDARD INCH sizes, some were under sized, some were over sized. WHY !!! can't they make Metric sized Chisels that are equal in size to STANDARD size Wood Chisels ????

    Off my Soap Box now !!
    I'm slowly (VERY slowly) starting to make the mental comparisons from metric to imperial. But it's not just that. For instance, when buying plywood we find 1/4", 1/2" & 3/4", though they are all "undersized", none of which match common metric dimensions. I used a caliper to check and I'm getting 5.5mm, 11mm and 18mm.

    So if I want to buy router bits for creating dados, I can only use "undersized" imperial bits. Even if we make the transition, we still have to contend with things like that.

    In other words - it's good to be old.
    “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness..." - Mark Twain

  5. #80
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    Quote Originally Posted by Julie Moriarty View Post
    I'm slowly (VERY slowly) starting to make the mental comparisons from metric to imperial. But it's not just that. For instance, when buying plywood we find 1/4", 1/2" & 3/4", though they are all "undersized", none of which match common metric dimensions. I used a caliper to check and I'm getting 5.5mm, 11mm and 18mm.

    So if I want to buy router bits for creating dados, I can only use "undersized" imperial bits. Even if we make the transition, we still have to contend with things like that.

    In other words - it's good to be old.
    Another problem is my metric blades made for a Record #405 are different than another manufacturer's choice for size. Some makers use 18mm for 3/4" others use 20mm. Some make 25mm equivalent to 1" some use 24mm.

    Could it be a conspiracy to sell more side rabbet planes?

    jtk
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

  6. #81
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    I'm curious as to why the cutter size really matters that closely. I could probably mic most of mine and find them to vary (despite being nominally xx dimension). In the hand tool case, everything tends to be relative anyway and in the case of router bits, there are better ways to ensure that those dados are perfectly sized that do not involve buying special bits and would likely cost some scrap and a couple carriage bolts (making that relative too)
    ~mike

    happy in my mud hut

  7. #82
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    I'm curious as to why the cutter size really matters that closely. I could probably mic most of mine and find them to vary (despite being nominally xx dimension).
    It is helpful to have various tools match in size. A mortise in a style is one example. Running a slot with an undersized plow blade can be a mess if the mortise chisel is slightly larger. Going the other way isn't a whole lot better for creating neat work.

    Making a dado for shelves when using Borg pine/fir at its standard cut of 3/4" it is less fussing if the blade cutting the dado is 3/4"/19mm rather than having to trim an 18mm dado or repair a 20mm dado.

    My electric router hasn't been used in years. It is too noisy for my woodworking enjoyment.

    Since tools designated in dimensions to my liking exist, why should my choice to purchase those matter?

    If the Borgs and everywhere else start selling a skinny 3/4", there are already some 18mm blades in my kit.

    My tools have also been checked with a mic. Sometimes it is useful to know which one is slightly undersized for use when needed.

    jtk
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

  8. #83
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    Just a point... 3/4" is actually 19.05mm.... if your ply is US made as 3/4" it really should measure 19mm, but if it's import from Europe ( Baltics?), 18mm is the european standard size, - maybe sold in the US as 3/4" or "close enough"...??

  9. #84
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    Quote Originally Posted by Halgeir Wold View Post
    Just a point... 3/4" is actually 19.05mm.... if your ply is US made as 3/4" it really should measure 19mm, but if it's import from Europe ( Baltics?), 18mm is the european standard size, - maybe sold in the US as 3/4" or "close enough"...??
    Yes, the relationship of 3/4" and 19mm is pretty standard for automobile lug nuts. 0.05mm is less than 0.002". Most all of my 3/4" auger bits are off by more than that.

    In the land of "close enough" a person is lucky if their 2X4s are 1-5/8" by 3-1/4".

    When pavement thickness or concrete pour is specified as 4" a contractor's measuring standard is often an off cut of 2x4.

    jtk
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

  10. #85
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Koepke View Post

    When pavement thickness or concrete pour is specified as 4" a contractor's measuring standard is often an off cut of 2x4.

    jtk
    I've never thought about that. 4" concrete could be really 3 1/4" to 3 1/2".

  11. #86
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    While still working, when in Canada, a wonderful place, doing training with contractors I would be inches/ft/oz/lb. I would apologize saying that being American we are to smart to use metric.

  12. #87
    Quote Originally Posted by Jack Frederick View Post
    While still working, when in Canada, a wonderful place, doing training with contractors I would be inches/ft/oz/lb. I would apologize saying that being American we are to smart to use metric.
    Did anyone reply "General Jack, we are all Americans"?
    Last edited by Mel Fulks; 09-25-2020 at 1:21 PM.

  13. #88
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    Fir me the issue isn’t conceptual, but physical. I can read 1/16th” increments on imperial rules, which is as small as I usually need. But I have a devil of a time discerning 10ths of millimeters on a metric scale.

  14. #89
    Quote Originally Posted by Jon Snider View Post
    Fir me the issue isn’t conceptual, but physical. I can read 1/16th” increments on imperial rules, which is as small as I usually need. But I have a devil of a time discerning 10ths of millimeters on a metric scale.
    I would expect so. A 10th of a millimeter is a LOT smaller than 1/16". In decimal inches, 1/16 is 0.0625", while a 10th of a millimeter is about 0.003937".

    Mike
    Go into the world and do well. But more importantly, go into the world and do good.

  15. #90
    Quote Originally Posted by Mel Fulks View Post
    Did anyone reply "General Jack, we are all Americans"?
    People say that but, of course, our names come from our countries and not our continent. For Canada, it Canadians. For the United States of America it's Americans.

    Mike
    Go into the world and do well. But more importantly, go into the world and do good.

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