Microsoft Word - Woodshop 101 Part 1 of 3

Abbreviation-To

make shorter.

Note to Parents

Your children will probably catch on to
this quickly if they are already familiar
with fractions, however; the problem
usually comes from adding all this
together such as something that’s 3’ 8
¾” long. To avoid frustration early on
find objects around the house that are
even on the inch marks or the foot
marks. After they are comfortable with
this start adding in items that are small
but forces them to figure out the fraction
mark like 3 ¼”.

Let’s take a closer look at the ruler in figure 1. You’ll notice that it’s

divided equally into parts. The ½ mark is in the middle or half the

distance between the start and ending of the inch. The next smaller

equally divided part we have is the ¼ mark. There are 4 of these marks

that make up an inch just like there are 4 quarters that make up a dollar.

If we add these together, ¼ + ¼ + ¼ + ¼ = 4/4 or 1 inch. The same is

true for the next smaller equally divided part1/8.Bycountingevery

other line, which is the portion that equals1/8,you’ll count 8 lines.

Adding these lines together you get 8/8 or 1 inch. With the1/16mark

you count all the lines because each line is1/16to the next line. Adding

these lines you get 16/16 or 1 inch.

One thing you need to know about writing measurements

outisthatmostofthetimethewordsfootandinchare

abbreviated. The abbreviation for a foot is (‘) and the

abbreviation for an inch is (“(. So if you just measured the

length of a board and it was 3 feet 10 inches you would

write 3’ 10”.

My head hurts now, can we take a break?

Ok,ifthisisstillallalittlefuzzy,trythis. Gogetapieceofnotebook

paper. The piece of paper will represent an inch. Fold it in half long

ways and crease the paper, label this as ½”. Take the outside corners

and fold each to the middle or ½” mark, label these as ¼”. Fold the ends

this time to the ¼” line; mark this as 1/8”. Again fold the outside edges

this time to the 1/8” line and label this 1/16”. You have just done the

same thing as in figure 1; divide a given amount, in this example an inch,

into equal parts.

Many times you will have to measure things

that are much longer and wider than 12”,

which is all a typical ruler will measure. That’s

why woodworkers carry a measuring tape. A

measuring tape is much like a ruler only it can

be used to measure much longer distances.