Switching to Metric in the shop, Is it even practical?

[Jim Dwight]

The only thing that bothers me about these discussions is when metric users want to say they have already won and imperial will die out. Might be true but it is egotistical. Pretty much the same thing as saying their chosen system is better. There is no better and worse, they both work fine. But forcing people to use a system that makes no sense to them can lead to issues. Especially when drafting is done in computers, it is super easy to just get your preferred dimensions on the final drawing you use.

The one Festool power tool I own is a domino and I love it. My shop is small and it takes up a lot less space than the hollow chisel I used to use. Plus it is faster and more accurate. But until somebody starts offering cutters in imperial, I am stuck with metric mortises and tenons. Not a big deal. They work just as well. But it does take a little more time since the metric dimensions are meaningless to me.

Other than my domino I work in imperial. I like airguns, however, and they come mainly from the far east or Europe so they are described with metric dimensions. I think in metric more for my airguns than for woodworking. I can do it but I only use metric if I have to.

[Alex Zeller]

I must admit, i snickered several posts up when @Jim Becker mentioned working with construction lumber in being Imperial. Let's see...a 2 x 4 is 1.5" x 3.5" (more or less, adjusted for warp & wane). The once we get to the 2 x 8, we have to adjust to 7.25". Granted, we don't normally have to put those edge-to-edge so that helps.

Just always strikes me as funny!! Until i have to sister up a header on a 2 x 8 stud wall!!
earl

It's even funnier than that. Hardwood is sold in quarters. You don't buy rough cut wood 1" thick, you buy using the quarter system. You buy 4/4 (4 quarter) to make 3/4" S2S boards. For those of you who live in the metric world what replaces the quarter system? What would be the equal to 5/4 rough cut? 32mm?

[Mark e Kessler]

I use both in the shop, it feels quite natural for me that way. My planer and saw are both full digital, the planer I prefer Metric as it is easier for me to hit a number while moving the table as opposed to trying for 0.459 for example. The saw i like the height in metric and the flip stops, ripstop in fractions however they can be switched to Metric or decimal inches on the fly and very quickly, I do switch to metric when the dimensions get tricky. My WideBelt is in decimal inches which I am fine with. I mostly design, draw and build in imperial. However I have found with an all digital saw tuned and calibrated properly (and planer) I hardly have to measure part to part or “parts” that often for other than a quick check if i forget where i am.

[Greg Quenneville]

It's even funnier than that. Hardwood is sold in quarters. You don't buy rough cut wood 1" thick, you buy using the quarter system. You buy 4/4 (4 quarter) to make 3/4" S2S boards. For those of you who live in the metric world what replaces the quarter system? What would be the equal to 5/4 rough cut? 32mm?

I bought approx 4000 lb ft (9 cubic metres) of North American wood for our house and it all came in fat 40mm rough boards, which isn’t quite 7/4. My previous local hardwood purchases were at a rural mill in Tasmania and those boards were approx 5/4 but not sold that way.

[Myk Rian]

You'll always find a use for metric, especially if you have to work on a bicycle or a car. I have tool cabinets for both. I gave a dozen dual scale tape measures for Xmas presents last year. 2 years ago it was dual scale dial calipers.

[Chris Parks]

You'll always find a use for metric, especially if you have to work on a bicycle or a car. I have tool cabinets for both. I gave a dozen dual scale tape measures for Xmas presents last year. 2 years ago it was dual scale dial calipers.

I was working on cars in both the imperial and now metric age so I have tools for both and the imperial are split into AF and Whitworth just to complicate things further. My son decided he too wanted to be a technician and life was much simpler, metric only and no 1/2" sockets at all. I find it amusing the socket sets are metric but the drive size is imperial!! TV's and tyres are a bit mixed up as well, tyres are specified in metric for width but imperial for wheel size. Industry, (aviation apart??) have gone metric and I recall the US auto makers telling the government that if the US did not go metric they were changing over anyway and they did.

[Brian Holcombe]

Most manufacturing is metric from what I can tell.

[Jim Becker]

Most manufacturing is metric from what I can tell.

Yes, that's happened over time, especially in a global marketplace, which is understandable. While the measuring system we individual use for our various pursuits doesn't really matter as long as we're comfortable with it and it works for us, "global cooperation" kinda requires one system.

[Wes Grass]

Previous comment about defaulting to decimal using a dial caliper...

'Somebody' had one in fractional inch. I couldn't make any sense of it at all.

[Steve Demuth]

Previous comment about defaulting to decimal using a dial caliper...

'Somebody' had one in fractional inch. I couldn't make any sense of it at all.

I use a Starrett fractional inch caliper all the time in the woodshop. It gives me readings to 1/128" of an inch (interpolated from 64ths on the dial). One of my favorite tools.

[Steve Demuth]

The only thing that bothers me about these discussions is when metric users want to say they have already won and imperial will die out. Might be true but it is egotistical. Pretty much the same thing as saying their chosen system is better. There is no better and worse, they both work fine. But forcing people to use a system that makes no sense to them can lead to issues.

I agree that neither is inherently better for the individual. The fact that one is an international standard really does say something for building tools based on that standard, and shifting away from the idiosyncrancies of the other.

[Jim Becker]

'Somebody' had one in fractional inch. I couldn't make any sense of it at all.

My first caliper was a dial with fractions...years ago. I only use digital now and it does inch fractions, inch decimal and metric. I never use the fractional setting unless it's measuring a drill bit or something.

[Halgeir Wold]

I’ve said it before and say it again…it is all about what you are and/or get used to….
I grew up with metrics, but I and others old geezers like me still refer to construction lumber in inches, - Even if it has gone fully metric decades ago, and I do know the exact metric dimensions very well…….
A lot of plumbing fittings Are still referred to in inches, although modern compression conduit and fittings are all in millimeters
I’m just about to retire from over 40 years in space and geophysics related electronics, where everything has ben a mish-mash of metrics and imperial, - I just don’t care… I quite simply got used to it…..

[Terry Therneau]

Yes, it is what you get used to. I use either in my shop, though I am trying to move towards a story stick. But for midsize distances, like the size of a house lot, I still see things best in rods --- the result of running a lot of farm machinery on plots of land with rows that were 40, 80 or 120 rods long; an acre is 160 square rods. (My house sits on a 10 rod by 20 rod parcel.) One funny fact is that the portages in the Boundary Waters Canoe area are still noted in rods on the maps; there can't be very many paddlers for which this is a natural unit.

Terry

[Randy Heinemann]

I apologize if I'm repeating other posters viewpoints, but I confess that there are just too many responses for me to read. When I bought my first Festool, before they began equipping North American tools with imperial markings, I decided to try metric. This was reinforced by taking a couple of Festool classes from Brian Sedgely at Festool who is an enthusiasitc metric proponent (enthusiastic period). I don't disagree that metric measurements are easier to work with in some ways, especially when finding the center or dividing them up. However, given that by the time I bought my first Festool and took the classes, I had about 30 years of woodworking using imperial measurements, the whole effort was soon abandoned in favor of returning to imperial. It was just more comfortable for me after spending my first 50+ years of life and 30 years of woodworking using them. Then, take into account that woodworking, for me, is intendend to be a relaxing, enjoyable activity, as free of mistakes as possible, I just feel that all of us should just use what we feel the most comfortable using. I think that all the Festools I own have metric scales. Mostly that doesn't matter since, when routing or cutting depths, I don't usually measure but rather use what I'm trying to fit to gauge the correct depth. So, my suggestion is, don't worry about using metric or imperial just use what works for you and makes the whole effort enjoyable. It's just more relaxing and productive for me.