On measuring

[James Pallas]

I have always wondered why there does not seem to be a lot of use of story poles (sticks). I have always believed that most errors occur during the repeated use of measuring devises. We have discussions about having multiple marking gauges and not changing them and things similar. The pole is just a big gauge that stays consistent throughout a project. When things get serious go and no go gauges are used and things similar. Just has me wondering as I use story poles a lot.

[ken hatch]

I have always wondered why there does not seem to be a lot of use of story poles (sticks). I have always believed that most errors occur during the repeated use of measuring devises. We have discussions about having multiple marking gauges and not changing them and things similar. The pole is just a big gauge that stays consistent throughout a project. When things get serious go and no go gauges are used and things similar. Just has me wondering as I use story poles a lot.

James,

Yep, story sticks are part of my kit. Measuring is usually limited to the first piece and everything that follows is marked off it or by use of a marking gauge or story stick. It cuts down on mistakes but I can find a way around 'em and still end up scratching my butt and wondering how "that" happened.

ken

[Jim Koepke]

Story sticks work so well one of my projects inspired me to make a story stick gauge:

Story Stick Gauge.jpg

https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?226134

They are a very handy tool to have.

Even my dovetail layouts often are often marked on a piece of scrap to help keep consistency throughout a project.

jtk

[David Eisenhauer]

I don't have any photos showing story sticks in use, but I use them for furniture builds as well. It does not always work out where I can gang-mark right/left/front/back pieces and, in that case, I use short individual sticks for various stile lengths between rail mortises or drawers, etc. rather than a single full-length stick. The short, individual sticks may only be 1/8-1/4" thickness but the ends are squares and they are labeled with a felt tip. I try to keep all story sticks laid out together in an out of the way place so they don't get lost and/or damaged. I also use a marking knife on my full-length sticks for joinery points so that I can transfer the mark as exact as I can.

[chris carter]

I use story sticks. I pretty much only use a ruler for the initial measurings or when there's no other choice. After that it's all lining up one piece against something else, a measurement from a marking gauge, or a story stick. The one place where story sticks get the most use is dovetails when I want them to somewhat match from one side to the other (but if they are exact people think you used power tools!). I usually just grab any ol' scrap from my scraps table.

[James Pallas]

When learning to build cabinetry a mentor instructed me to build a story pole with a drywall square. You mark all of you constant measurements on the edge and then use a triangle file to cut notches on the edge. You can use a pencil in the notches to do you regular layouts, shelf spacing, drawer spacing, etc. It makes a handy tool when repetition is the name of the game. He also taught me not to measure anything you didn’t have to. Table saw blades were set with blocks not rules, cross cuts were set with stops and blocks against the fence. At the end of the day you could usually count the errors on one hand after hundreds of cuts.

[Charles Guest]

If making multiple copies of something a stick is great. If making a one-off the effort to make a stick with all the necessary ticks for a reasonably involved project might not be a good investment of time. It depends on how you attack your cut list.

A stick (or pole if you will) is an absolute necessity if making a built-in that will be built at the bench but installed on site.

[James Pallas]

The pole can be just one leg and a top board that can tell most of the story. Anything that keeps you away from the continued use of a tape or rule.

[Charles Guest]

The pole can be just one leg and a top board that can tell most of the story. Anything that keeps you away from the continued use of a tape or rule.

If you're making a carcase piece, once the basic box is built to planned dimensions pretty much everything else is cut to fit inside the box -- very little measuring involved. Chairs are usually done off templates and/or rods (a full-size drawing), so a stick or its equivalent is certainly involved there. But, you rarely make one chair so the rule of multiples needing a stick or a rod is usually in play anyway.