Imperial or Metric

Metric or Imperial


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It depends on what you're doing.

In furniture, I use imperial units mostly for setting general dimensions, external usually. Once those are established, I rarely measure anything. Mortises are either 1/4", 3/8" or 1/2" because those are the bits I have for my router, but once cut those dimensions mean nothing, either. I use calipers, not to measure but to transfer dimensions. I use story sticks rather than rulers, because they're more accurate. Cut to fit, plane to fit, chisel to fit. Measurements don't mean that much in furniture; they're more general guidelines than absolute requisites.

Building is another matter. There I use imperial exclusively and pay a great deal of attention to careful measuring. Stud spacing, stud length, rafter pitches, lengths, door and window openings are all critical because they're you're working to a standard used by everyone else and product suppliers, too. Windows, doors, cabinets come in fixed dimensions, so it's important that the same standards are used and adhered to.
 
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Living in the USA, I have always used Imperial measurements for everything. I'm comfortable using Metric as well. In fact, there have been times that it's been easier to transfer a measurement in Metric rather than try to split a 64th! :rolleyes:

Like Bruce, I use story sticks in many cases after making initial cuts to specific measurements. :thumb:
 
I was brought up on imperial, but NZ changed to metric in 1976.
In my opinion that was a great forward thinking move ,BUT we still get plans and stuff from USA which we have to dig out our old rules or use conversion tables etc ,so to be truthfull i hate using the imperial system now,:huh:
Metric is SO much more user freindly.:thumb:
Cheers
Graham
 
I do both. Imperial is my default and metric is great for incremental or comparative measuring. It is nice to just be comfortable with both. America tried to convert twice while I was in school so a little sank in and then a little more. I worked for Canadian company for a year and that will cure you of any Celsius blues ;-) I have managed to ignore Bob's Rule so far.
 
I can't answer the poll. I use Imperial almost all the time, but rarely, I have to divide some awful fraction in half, like 7 13/16. So then I might use a metric rule.
 
......., there have been times that it's been easier to transfer a measurement in Metric rather than try to split a 64th! :rolleyes:
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What's a 1/64"? :D

It doesn't matter, its the same exact thing, just one has easy to write fractions, and the other has decimal places. Or, you can write the fractions in decimal points.

All either system is, is a benchmark. I could come up with my own if I liked, but it'd still be the same thing, just another benchmark.
 
So what if 10 barley corns laid end to end equals an inch and twelve inches happens to be the length of the resident king's foot. Where would we be without furlongs and fathoms? Let's not even get started on rods and chains.

I spent the last 35 years, as a Tool & Die Maker, doing thousandths of an inch or less. Now 1/16th of an inch or 1 1/2 mm seems like room enough to swing a cat!! :D

Yard sticks or even eyeballing for roughing. Story poles for finish and repeat production. :thumb:
 
You need one more option Cynthia. I picked exclusively work in imperial even though at work they use the true 32 system. :wave:
 
Ive spent my entire professional life using the metric system for weights and measuring volume, but never ever used it for length.
I just found this old balance in my store when I retired, and this is my set of weights I purchased when I went to my first year of collegel.(cough, uh......ok, the second time I started college, 1974.)
I just pulled it out 3 days ago thinking Id like to make a shelf in my office one day and put it there to remind of my younger days. My weights look brand new, guess I shoulda been in lab more often doing experiments with chemicals and less time experimenting with girls.
 

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Only metric in all of my research papers. Really SI units.
Yes even for length .... meters down to angstroms.

My wife is a retired nuclear power operator in the USA. Most measurements were standard USA engineering school units not metric ex. BTUs, PSI, etc. What a mess that was ... What I called old school to upset her :D
 
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In answer to my own question, I'm comfortable in both (after having lived in Europe for years) but I've made an arbitrary decision to use Imperial in woodworking, since I'm starting out. I'm buying stuff in Imperial units and won't buy metric unless I have to. I don't really want both, and at heart I think in inches first. But I'll probably try to avoid measuring, as such, and just use a story pole.

The one thing I've never been comfortable with is temperature in Celsius. If you tell me it's 57 degrees F outside, I know what that means instantly......if you tell me it's 11 degrees C, I have to stop and think about it...... :rolleyes:
 
Hi,

Ken said it all, "It's too easy to make a mistake" using Imperial.

With metric it is like making change---dollars, dimes, cents, etc. It is just automatic---especially if you had chemistry, physics, biology, etc. in college. All of that is done in metric. Heck the whole world is metric except US...that's a pun for us.

I multiply, add, divide, subtract any numbers I use and I do it in a fraction of a second in my head when I use metric---again, just like making change at the store.

With Imperial I get some number like 43/32 and I want to do something with it, I start going through coniptions like, "44/32 is close and I can divide that in my head. Divide by two and I get 11/16. Then I need to use that result with another number where I did the same thing and the error compounds. AND it has taken a bunch of time, whereas in metric the whole caboodle would have been done in a fraction of a second and would have been accurate.

Imperial measurements are one giant step backwards for mankind.

Auto mechanics, refrigerator repair men, hobbiests, etc. have to have two sets of open end wrenches, two sets of socket wrenches, two sets of accurate measuring devices, etc. Using Imperial is costing the people in this nation a gigantic amount of money...It is a crime!!!

The mom and pop garage is having a rough time surviving in these times. Doubling the cost of their tools is not helping. Think how much it costs the military in equipment costs, in communicating with the rest of the world, etc.

By now I assume you know which way I voted. My vote was a lie however. I said that I use both systems equally well. I don't. I am tremendously more accurate and efficient using metric. That is true even though I was born in the good ole USA.

Rant is over.

Enjoy,

Jim
 
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