The Woodworker & Woodturner – August 2019

http://www.getwoodworking.com August 2019 The Woodworker & Good Woodworking 35

27 Stanley’s delightful ‘Pull-Push’ rule

30 Vernier scale of a ‘ten-thousandths’ micrometer

28 The Powerlock’s ‘arcuate brake member’

31 Simple wood screw depth gauge

26 Safely extending the Farrand Rapid Rule

29 Measuring saw thickness with the micrometer

32 Testing for evenness of depth

To release the blade you lift the tip over the lip of
the cup, squeeze the ends of the brake and Hey
presto! the blade extends automatically (photo
26 ). This is opposite to the modern rule, which
rewinds automatically, and may have alarming
consequences as I found out the first time I
used it. With the brake off, the blade unfurled
and shot across the shed like a javelin. I hadn’t
known it was designed for use independently of
the retaining cup, and only afterwards turned up
an instruction leaflet advising that the blade be
pointed away from the user and lightly braked
between finger and thumb. To reinstall the blade
you push it back in while the brake is off, which
is easier than it sounds.
After a successful start, Farrand’s rule business
was hit by the depression and in 1931 he sold
the rights to his invention to Stanley. They further
developed the flexible rule with a closed D-shaped
case protecting the attached blade (adding 2in
to an internal measurement) and a sliding
terminal to ensure an accurate zero. Stanley
had ditched Farrand’s extending mechanism
early on, reverting to ‘pull-push’ operation, with
a black-on-white blade in a textured plated case.
Understated and solid, this example from the

1950s (photo 27) is no larger than required to

house the blade, as tactile as a pocket watch

and likewise consulted with ease.

The flexible rule has put on a little weight

since then as more features have been loaded

onto it, the most useful being the bright yellow

blade lock of Stanley’s Powerlock tape (photo 28),

which was described in their 1963 patent as an

‘arcuate brake member...slidably engageable’

with the front wall of the case.

Curiosity & invention

As the son of a toolmaker, I inherited a handful

of micrometers, and while I’d never be parted

from these superbly engineered devices I’ve yet to

find an application for them in woodwork beyond

satisfying my curiosity as to the thickness of a

shaving or a saw blade (photo 29). The Starrett

No.230 with a Vernier scale engraved on the

barrel (photo 30) reads to an eye-straining

0.0001in (0.0025mm). Although the thickness

of shavings is by no means irrelevant, since you

don’t want to plane off a wodge of material when

a mere wisp will finish the job, generally it’s the

quality of the surface left behind the plane that’s

paramount, and in this context I reckon it’s handier

to develop confidence in working by eye and

feel than be dependent on measuring tools.

Still, the essential screw principle of the

lofty micrometer does find a place in my very

down-to-earth and simply-made depth gauge

(photo 31), albeit as a coarsely threaded wood

screw. The point of the screw is filed flat so as

to bear on the surface of the wood rather than

dig into it. For testing the evenness of depth in

certain situations, I haven’t found anything better

(photo 32).