Tape Measure Pro Tips

[Music] first the tape measure is a rewinding steel ribbon carbon steel a spring essentially we'll talk about layout in a minute but first I just want to talk about the structure of how to take works Stanly tapes have three rivets that connect the holder to the end of the tape that keeps it from fatiguing as quickly here but you notice how that hook slides it slides exactly the thickness of the hook so whether you are getting a pulling measurement or a pushing measurement the net distance from the surface that is critical to your measurement is going to be the same in reference to the marks on the tape because that hook will slide its own thickness if that was rigid either the pulling measurement or the pushing measurement would be accurate and the other would be inaccurate by the thickness of the hook another feature of the hook on a stanley tape is that little slot that receives very nicely the edge of a head of a nail that enables you to do a couple things you can drive a nail and hang your tape you can have a nail and hook your tape on it and have an anchor point that won't come off no matter how the wind is blowing and it also turns your tape into a compass watch this you drive it down until it's about a quarter inch away from your substrate you hook your tape on to that nail and then let's say I wanted a forty-eight inch diameter circle I can draw a perfectly uniform arc pretty handy there are times when you can use the hook on the tape as pencil for marking a cut depending on where you are and if you want to save a few moments if I've got to cut this 2x4 off at 39 inches I can more 39 with my thumb scribe it with the hook so a tape measure will even make sort of a low-grade straightedge if you're in a hurry and need to get an approximate rough line pull it tight [Music] now that's not a perfect line but sometimes it's all you need your tape measure is ascribed it's a gauge let's say I need an 8 inch button cut off this piece of plywood put the 8 hold it against your index finger hold the pencil tight against the book you'll see drywallers do that all the time but a framer can do it too so in the United States framing structures to accommodate four by eight sheets of plywood 16 inch layout is very standard stanley facilitates that nicely with framing the 16 inch layout in red with a black arrow of both sides of the paper 16 32 48 64 to the end of the building so it's very intuitive that one foot and two foot are also layout values for an 8 foot or a sheet of plywood bit work and stanley mark those with a big black arrow mark the same way at every foot layout a lot of people don't know there's another layout on a stanley tape that works with an 8 foot dimension beautifully and I've used it on this little roof system check it out [Music] 0:19 and 3/16 indicated by that little black square 38 and 3/8 indicated by that little black square so as with the 16 inch layout the 19 and 3/16 inch layout is extended for the whole length of the tape so if you've got a roof system that the engineer is called out the 19 inch center stanley tape will do it gotta love this family so the standard stanley construction issue tape measure one inch wide will extend 7 feet from the support of your hand and remain rigid that's pretty handy for pointing out specific topics of conversation where you need another nail or something fixed or straighten it also is handy when you're down on the ground you need to get up and hook something that's why a 1-inch white tape is a labor saver compared to a shorter fluffier weaker tape now Stanley has taken that concept of extending a tape measure one step further with their fat Mac series this is a 25-foot batt max the blade width on this is an inch and an eighth almost an inch and 3/16 this thing will remain rigid for 11 feet think of that can hardly believe it sometimes that's a long way you can reach up with hook something a long way no ladder required pretty nice so I don't know what kind of tape you use but if you're familiar with it and it has all of the characteristics all of the features that you need use it because one sure way to make an expensive layout mistake is switch tapes you're not familiar with the font you're not familiar with the coloring you're not familiar with how they indicate the layout you make a layout bobble it could cost so if it works for you use it but my experience is Stan Lee is the versatile tool so one so the elephant the living room is this why are we stuck with me material system I don't have an answer for that and it's not my fault so I grew up learning the imperial system I love it it's not my brain works it's how I visualize numbers and how I ask minute distances I'm unable and unwilling to change what you've meant trick users have got a point and an advantage having said that one advantage of the imperial system is it's a pretty good math trainer it gives a kid a reason to understand fractions and fraction decimal conversions early perhaps I know you guys know all that stuff too but I'm just trying to justify what it is that I use so being stuck with an imperial system and an imperial tape did you know that this is a little slide rule for instance let's make up a couple numbers let's say that I have to subtract three feet two and seven eighths from eight feet nine and a quarter I go eight feet nine and a quarter with the end of the tape hold on hold on am I in an aquarium I come back down to where three feet two and 7/8 intersects the other side of the table and the answer to our problem is 66 and a quarter inches five feet six and a quarter inches BAM that's pretty quick you can do that with big numbers you can do that with this bigger numbers you can call your cape out for let's say I'm going to subtract seven foot six from 18 foot two and a half 18 foot two and a half hold on 18 18 feet two and a half and I'm going to subtract seven foot six you may have already done that in your head you measure guys are pretty sharp seven foot six is ten foot eight and a half it's kind of a parlor trick we like parlor tricks check out my string video if you believe so in Arizona carpenter or Las Vegas carpenter I've worked in Las Vegas for eight years we'll have tapes that last for two or three years sometimes unless they get stepped on or just wear out you know the mylar coating wears off the back and it's been getting rough but when you're working in a rainy environment in Pacific Northwest where six or eight months of the year you're in the rain and six or eight months of the year you're in the mud and your tape was always collecting water and dirt and mud they wear out fast if you have a chance keep your cheap drive and never never never never stick it into a five-gallon bucket of water and swish it around thinking that you're going to clean it up you're not you're going to kill it so keep your tape dry you can oil it if you want but that just make the dust adhere so I almost forgot there's a spring loaded clip a spring on the back for slipping it onto your pocket or onto a belt it comes off with a Philips screw the spring is relieved it's kind of cut out in the middle makes kind of a hole it can be used to hang the tape on a pegboard or something kind of handy doesn't do much for me because I just kind of broadcast my face wherever I happen to be and I have a hard time finding one one of the reasons for that is because if it's in my bag and I go to my bags and I pulled out and I use it in a shop and I leave it on my pocket sometimes I go home with it so it's a good idea to take the clip off of the back of one of your tapes some bags the part of the tape pocket is so tight that it won't fit with the clip on there but I tend to take one off and dedicate it just to writing around in my bag it reduces the likelihood of me pulling it off with some of the project and not getting it back one of the things you know I did that thing about subtracting using this as a slide rule if you're not comfortable with numbers if you're not strong with numbers and they bug yet it obviously can be used as a cross-check on the dividing number and to you know if you've got a device nine foot eight and a half into real quick and you do the math but you're not sure you can just put the end of the tape on the number and look down at the end and it looks like it's about 58 and a quarter inches that's easy intuitive you've probably already figured that out you may not need to but there are lots of things you can do with the tape that you may not have thought of and I won't definitely not mention to all of them so do me a favor if your software or some other tape tricks shortcuts waiting you the Stanley pasted I haven't pointed out or thought of let me know put it in the comment I love to learn from you I really appreciate what you did for me on the octagon scale on the framing square thanks and I look forward to whatever else you can contribute [Music] you

Channel: Essential Craftsman

Views: 3,320,100

Keywords: Construction Tips, Tape Measure, Hack, Hacks, Framing, carpenter secrets, journeyman tricks, Larry Haun moves, Steel tape, measurements, job skills trade school, construction, contractor, building, builders, measuring, building hacks

Id: p-AlTvciSQ8

Length: 11min 43sec (703 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 26 2017