DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

Since I have a science background I'm fairly comfortable with metric but my first 20 years (being the formative period) I was heavily immersed in English measurements. Metric was something done in Europe, which was not local, therefore not something to pay attention to. So I still do lumber in English measurements for the most part. Cooking measurements are a mix, although predominately English. In school there was for a time a fad of making up new systems. I believe MIT measured one of the local bridges in Smoots (the height of some student by that name). Furlongs per fortnight was a nice measure of speed.

As an exercise for the reader, express your car's mileage in inverse acres. (Miles/gallon has the units of length/volume, which can be reduced to 1/area). Or, if you prefer metric units, use inverse hectares.

PS: I used to buy 2x4 lumber from a sawmill. It was 2" by 4" and rough cut, not kiln dried. That was the only way to work with oak lumber since you could put a nail through an oak board if it was green, but if it had been dried, you had to drill a hole first.

I've never done any work in Europe. I know that the local sockets come with 1/2" drives, even the metric ones. Do they use 12mm drives in Europe? Or elsewhere?

I used to use drywall screws a lot, to the point where I bought them in 5 lb boxes. They had a combination philips/square drive head which was useful. You could use one driver for all the sizes. One year they switched the drive to a hex spline and different length screws needed different size spline drivers. A real pain. I had to have 3 different drivers when I wanted to repair something. Eventually I threw away all the hex spline stuff and changed brands in order to get the philips drive screws. The manufacturer claimed that the hex spline drive was more reliable, but that was not my experience.

therwol Loc: USA

It was the Harvard Bridge that connects MIT with Boston. Here is the amusing story of how the Smoot became a recognized unit of distance measurement.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoot

KenW Loc: Portland OR

40' is 12.1 meters in my book. In my trade we go to meters after 39" I would guess what throws most of you guys is their is no metric equivalency for the foot as it is 30.4 cm. In units of measuring there is the Inch to the Centimeter and the Meter to the Yard and Kilometer to the Mile and so on. We have been taught a system where 12 inches is king. We hear Square Feet, Cubic Feet, Linear Feet every day and then we are ask to convert to a system without a unit of measurement for the Foot. We say Mt Everest is over 29,000 feet and The Mariana trench is 36,000 feet deep. We don't use yards or miles to describe those measurements but feet.

10MPlayer Loc: California

Then just to confuse us all we have the International Foot and the Survey Foot.

"The International Foot (which we were all taught in school) is defined as 0.3048 meters, whereas the U.S. Survey Foot is defined as 0.3048006096 meters. The difference of the two equates to 2 parts per million."

I believe surveyors use the more precise measurement because it makes a difference over long distances. Or maybe it's just tradition. The problem comes in when using scientific measuring equipment built in Europe or Asia where they use the International foot. Measuring something over a long distance, say 1 million feet, gives a difference of 2 feet. Not good. Pretty good article about it at the link if anyone's interested in my esoteric little field of study: https://www.pobonline.com/articles/98788-us-survey-feet-versus-international-feet

Mncarpenter

Lol. Hope you’re having fun with that...try 6 ,6.5 and 7mm

Dalek Loc: Detroit, Miami, Goffstown

especially the 6.5 and thew 7.62X35

Wallen Loc: Middle Earth

The irony is the that .22, .38 & .45 are decimals of inches and should actually be cal.11/50, 19/50 & 9/20 LOL

Metric is in the simplest of all standards and generally correlates each measurements to each other. 1000 cubic centimeter as an example is also 1 liter and 1 kilogram of water.

It just so happen that many things we commonly use have evolved/standardized on other systems like the plywood which comes in 4x8 feet sizes. Thus changing measuring standards will not only affect converting numbers but the whole trade as well.

And there lies the problem.

Doddy Loc: Barnard Castle-England

Yes, I'm one of those 'older people' and even now I find it hard to get 'Metric' into my head!

Manglesphoto Loc: 70 miles south of St.Louis

So your saying all of the tools currently in service should be scraped?
I have been a mechanic all my life started at age 16, now pushing 80, I have no problems with the metric system and sometimes find it easier to work with, but to make thousands of dollars of tools obsolete is idotic!!! The thousands would become billions across the Country.!!!!

Manglesphoto Loc: 70 miles south of St.Louis

Metric ain't bad, just figure it like money, Well kind of.

Manglesphoto Loc: 70 miles south of St.Louis

Plywood has already become metric!!!
.22 caliber does not equate to decimal .22 cal can range from .218-.223 of an inch the same with all U.S. calibers.

Manglesphoto Loc: 70 miles south of St.Louis

Really the "hex spline" is Torx which happens to be one of the strongest drive bits made if you have good tools and the proper size, then the "square" Scru-lok driver, the Philips is the most prone to breakage and head striping. I hated the Torx when they first came out but soon found them to be much better than Phllips and Reed & Prince.
Hell I have splined metric drivers I had to buy to work on Opal and VW's and Splined sockets for Detroit Diesels, and GM products.

Manglesphoto Loc: 70 miles south of St.Louis

not anymore on Plywood I'M finding 1/2" "nominal sizes" slightly thinner and slightly under the 4X8' its

pdsdville Loc: Midlothian, Tx

If I remember my ancient history correctly, it was not industry or the government that stalled out the conversion to metric. It was the general public raising such an uproar that the plan was abandoned.

Manglesphoto Loc: 70 miles south of St.Louis

LOL don't hold your breath!!!! people will always be making mistakes!!!!