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Story Stick.... anyone else use em.

Don Baer

Don Baer

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I was just getting ready to break down some sheet good and don't own a table saw. In the past when I did I did I used to rough cut my dimensions and then finish the cuts on the TS now with my reduced inventory of tools I was trying to think how I was going to make sure that the panel I am getting ready to break down were all the same dimension, all of a sudden it came to me... Story stick.... so anyone else still use one when making repeat cuts for consistency..
 
Yep, in different configurations, I guess. In some cases, I'll mark a stick with points where cuts need to be made or hardware attached. I've also used my little CNC to make templates to follow like a story stick. Another thing I'll do routinely is cut pieces to set drawer slide positions or panels. Lots better than measuring everything.
 
Sort of... in various ways.. Not really what you might call disciplined about it.

I have found I like using a marking knife to carry over dimensions, always put the flat side to the "keep" end of the work so you're measuring sharp cut edge to sharp cut edge. I also make "piece a" and then measure "piece b, c, d" off of it - but always measure from a, do not do a->b->c to avoid accumulated errors (sometimes piece a is just a scrap where I sneak up on the fit so if I go over I can waste more scrap not real wood).

I think generally it's easier to work/mark from "crisp edges" than lines, at least for hand work because you have a reference point to butt up against. I also use adjustable rulers and a small array of marking guages in the same fashion.
 
When I've built things to measured dimensions, I've always tried to determine (and hit) the critical ones, and then build everything else to fit, usually using the "cut piece of scrap" method Ryan mentioned or something similar.
 
I use a variation of a story stick while turning. For certain items that I turn repetitively I use a piece of wood about 1/8" thick and 1 1/2" wide into which I have driven some brads head first into one edge of the stick. These brads are used to locate major and minor diameters, parting cuts, overall length etc. While the rounded up blank is turning in the lathe I use the points of the brads to scratch those transitions onto the wood. I have three of them I use frequently.

I have also used a variation of the above by using the same slivers of wood into which I filed triangular grooves at the transition points. I use the grooves to control the point of my pencil as I draw lines around the spinning blank to mark the locations for certain features, lengths etc.

I imagine if I was a production turner of spindle items I would have lots of story sticks in my tool box.

Another variation on the story stick that I used to use while making sea urchin ornaments are a couple of cones into which I had cut steps with a parting tool at a regular frequency. These steps were then colored with different markers to help identify each step. One stepped cone was rather long and skinny and the other was broad and short. When I was making lots of urchin ornaments I used these cones to size the ends of the tenons that fit into the urchin shells. The holes are never the same size on any two shells it seems and the holes are different on the top and bottom of the urchin itself. I would insert the cone/s into the hole/s in the urchin and remember which color was the best fit. Then I would set my calipers to that diameter and use them to establish a tenon that fit snugly into the shell's top and bottom.
 
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