Great video. . The ‘creeping cuts’ tip for using the mitre saw is gold. As a new mitre saw owner I’ve struggled to get accurate cuts. Cheers for that tip,
Hi Stuart. As a DIYer of over 40 years experience I'm always amazed by how much you know and how little I know ! Always learns loads from your videos. Keep 'em coming please. Huge thanks for sharing.
Well just found out the distance between my thumb and index finger is 6ins ( I'm only 5ft and petite!). As well as for DIY that will come in handy in my quilting and patchwork hobby, as well as for my gardening hobby when planting bulbs!! Thanks!
Having found myself without a tape when needing to measure something in a DIY Store I merely nip round to the ‘tape measure department’ and ‘borrow’ one - replacing it when I’ve finished… Works every time!👍
Some good tips there Stuart. Despite knowing how to use measures myself and working in engineering for a while, I once managed to measure a shed 10cm longer than the concrete base I'd had laid out in my back garden. Thankfully the shed guys were great and they lopped 10cm off both sides enabling the back wall of the shed to come in and the roof now overhangs a wee bit. I was so embarrassed but we had a good laugh about it.
I have 20 degrees C on my tape too. Really useful tips, thanks for sharing them - my favs being the perpendicular ruler tip - I would never have thought of that - and the other I should have thought of being the difference between the saw blade thickness and the tungsten tip. Great stuff.
Hi Stuart Two things I'd add. You mentioned that trimming a board with a plane is awkward. However you can quickly knock up a shooting board to use with your plane which makes it easy and quick. The other is if you don't have an old tape to use on your staff, self adhesive tapes are cheaply available on EBay etc. Thanks for a great channel. Ian
Clear, concise and well demonstrated without music. Measuring internal spaces with a couple of sticks taped together also a good method as no need to creep up with the cut. 'Story sticks' in general really useful, but covered elsewhere. Hultafors Talmeter is the one tape measure that stands apart from the others - for me at least. Thanks Stuart.
Nice! I used to work in an industry where I used grease pencils. Of course, with a wide mark, you can't get an accurate measurement unless you start marking short and "color" up to the measurement. Then a tic on the keep side for which side is the measurement. Same concept as you used on the example with the sharpie, but I use it everywhere. Then it doesn't matter how wide your marker is as you're referencing the edge of the mark.
Measure twice and cut once. With the tape measure as a cabinet maker, I would ensure guys I was training knew how to calibrate the end of the tape for exact internal and external measurements. I enjoyed this video mate.
Very informative video Stuart, I would like to add when working with another person, it is important that you compare tapes. I worked in a small custom cabinet shop, we would check our tapes often.
I've worked in the industry with lots from the US and all are used to working in metric so I think it's more the homeowners that are sticking to the old system. However, more and more I do hear m/mm being mentioned on US RU-vid videos so maybe gradually happening.
as a DIYer i struggle using measuring tapes - esp the ends of the tapes where they become bent - anyhow great vid and tips - esp the last one - Dads genius tips..nothing better! Thanks
Thanks for the tips. Really appreciate it. The hand measure theme we use also as Asians. We callnit a GEET. the rest of the tips were useful. Please keep them coming as experience is a valuable source and very much appreciated. Kimd Regards Karamat Hussain
We were taught to use our finger measurements to accurately estimate the thickness of backfat on pork carcasses more than 50 years ago. Backfat thickness is a factor in determining the quality of the product.
One thing to mention is to check the zero of the tape. Sometimes the hook part can be loose by a couple of mm. As land surveyors we were always taught to measure the sides of long buildings in the same direction to avoid skew measurements.
Most imperial measurements are based off our bodies. Thumb width ~ 1 inch Hand width ~ 4 inches used to measure horses Foot ~ 1 foot. Also the same distance from your wrist to the inside of your elbow. (Also a cubit) Nose to outstretched end of arm ~ 1 yard. Finger tip to finger tip with arms stretched out to the sides ~ 1 fathom (This is your height too). How far an average man can run flat out or how far a horse can pull a plough before needing to rest ~ furlong. 1000 paces ~ 1 mile. What you can comfortably hold in one hand ~ 1 pound.
Well, the span between my thumb and forefinger varies by at least 10-15% depending on my mood and the stress I feel at work so I'll probably still have to fall back on a stress-free yardstick, I guess .) anyway, always getting pretty good tips in your videos - thx
Great video as always… your last tip I do something similar I’m a size 10 in shoe which is 12 inches so if I’m without a tape measure I tend to use my feet as the measuring tape to get a rough idea of how much timber i need.
@@ProperDIY - Hiding from Covid-21. When I'm allowed out I've been looking for a plot of land on which to build another house - but everything is so slow at the moment... I just checked my tape - it says '1995', but I've never bothered to actually read this stuff... hahaha. I was taught decades ago to keep to one tape, but you explained it better. It was nice to catch up...
Yet another interesting and informative video Stuart. I was totally unaware of the tolerance indicators for tape measures and the hand span measurement is brill too (A rule of thumb maybe?? LOL)
I find it very hard to find metric only tapes here in Ireland. It’s a real balls when I’m trying to make a precise mark on something at an awkward angle and it always seems to be the imperial side of the tape where the mark wants to be
I must admit I haven't seen a folding ruler since I was a child and in the construction industry you will not find them as a serious measuring device - our quality systems won't allow it hence why I didn't mention it.
If I cutting somewhere near the middle of the board I always put an X on the side of the line that is the waste side. Makes sure you never cut on the wrong side of that line.
Instead of 1 pencil mark I'll sometimes put a second one (without measuring) on the rough wide of the blade. Also makes sure I don't cut on the wrong side of the line.
Are there equivalent "standards" in N.A. ? ( I, II, and III) Also, at the end of your show, you show finger standards that you use. That's funny! I've been doing similar measurements for about 2 generations. Your father wasn't the only person to use this trick.
I bought my first house in 1985 and I’ve been a keen DIYer ever since. If only I could have seen this back then, I’m fairly sure I would have produced a lot les fire wood. All the tips are winners, but knowing the size of your hand is genius. Thank you. PS. Right thumb to ring finger…. 8” 😉
Whoa whoa whoa - when you do the 1/3mm shaving by butting up the wood to the body of the circular saw blade... when you lift the blade up (ready to start the cut), don't the blade teeth just push the wood back 1/3mm? Another interesting vid though!
No, what you find is when the blade is not rotating it's quite flexible and just bumps past the work piece on the way up without moving it (as long as you are holding it tight). Once it is rotating at high speed, it is a lot more solid (centrifugal force) and cuts absolutely straight even if it's just a fraction of a mm.
As usual, I learned stuff. Many thanks. Just a question on butting timber to the face of the saw blade to remove fractions of a mm from the end of a piece of wood. When lifting the saw, won't the offset of the blade teeth knock the wood away from the saw meaning when you lower it, the saw doesn't actually touch the wood? Clearly I saw it working fine in your video so assume it doesn't, but I can't understand how the timber remains in place and isn't knocked by the teeth.
Surprisingly it doesn't. The contact area of the teeth dragging against the job when lifting the saw is so small that it hardly moves. It's a trick that works just fine on a wide kerf (thick toothed) blade like the one used. To be certain, use a clamp to hold the job firmly. If you're using an ultra fine cut blade; get the measurement right first time as it's harder to use this technique to "sneak up" on a line.
What you find is, as the blade comes up (not rotating) it just 'bumps' past the timber. Once it starts rotating the centrifugal force make the blade much stiffer and it cuts the timber cleanly.
