Just realized half the guys on site still don't know how to read a tape measure right

Last Tuesday I watched a journeyman burn a whole hour cutting a 12-foot beam because he read the 32nds wrong, and it made me wonder how many of you actually check your measurements twice before you strike the torch.

3 comments

3 Comments

brooket4317d ago

Read the 32nds wrong" hits too close to home honestly. I still double check mine like three times if I'm cutting something expensive because my brain just refuses to see the little lines sometimes. It's funny how the smallest mark on that tape can cost you a whole piece of material if you're not paying attention.

kai_chen217d ago

Read something the other day where a guy was saying he switched to metric tapes just to avoid the whole 32nds problem. Kind of makes sense honestly, since millimeters are just numbers on a line instead of trying to count tiny hash marks. But then you gotta convert everything back if plans are in inches, so it's not exactly a fix. Always feels like there's no winning with the old fractional system, just gotta hope your eyes are cooperating that day.

betty_perry2417d ago

Oh yeah, "read the 32nds wrong" is basically my life story some days. I swear every time I need a precise cut, my eyes just decide to play hopscotch with the tiny lines and I end up going "okay, that's the 16th, then the 32nd is... wait, which one is the 8th again?" It's like my brain short-circuits when it sees all those little hash marks packed together. Half the time I'm just guessing and hoping the piece doesn't end up looking like a snake bit it.