Thread: Basic woodworking project books in metric

Try the Australian wood review. Plans on there are in metric. A years subscription would cost about as much as one book.
Regards
John

Welcome to the forum

Originally Posted by jonesboy

Just starting with this woody stuff and trying to lay my hands on a beginner's guide including basic projects.

Been going blind reading reviews but most books appear to be written for the US/UK market and therefore with imperial measurements.

I though the age of British imperialism had long since passed us by, but maybe I should have been paying closer attention.

Does anyone know of any such books written with an Australian reader in mind?

Welcome to the forum.

I was lucky/unlucky to grow up with both measurement systems and whilst i do everything in metric have little trouble doing the imperial rough conversion in the head.

I'd find the book or books that give your the plans you want and worry about the measurement units second... every phone and computer has a conversion calculator.

I second the idea of subscribing to local publications.

Also the style of working will vary between UK and US and i'm sure this gets reflected in the books. I'm currently reading a UK and US forum and it can be a stark contrast at times.

US - very table saw centric
UK - for greater router/spindle moulder usage and less on a TS

So in short don't be put off by the measurement system used on plans.

Cheers
Phil

I agree with Phil on the measurement thing. Far more will be available if you can handle both. Get another tape measure if you have to. Far easier to just measure as per the plan than converting each measurement.
Other sources of books may be your local library and secondhand book shops.
Regards
John

Firstly, welcome to the forum.

With regard to beginners books in English with metric, check with your local library. Maybe even get them to do an inter library loan, I did this a couple of times and it is all free.

With regard to working in inches and feet and being able to work with both, Jonesboy and myself are in the same age bracket; I'm 100% certain he is able to work in either. That said, we are a metric country and have been since metrification started here in 1966/7.

The real issues with working in two systems is usually one will make a stuff up far quicker than if working in one system; then there are the creeping errors if you do convert. Most people will use 75mm as a substitute for 3", when in fact the measurement is 76.2mm. Don't get me started on 25mm as an inch, it isn't; the imperial measurement of 25mm is 63/64".

My table saw only has metric figures, all of my measuring tapes are 100% metric, no inches or anything else on the other side. So using anything other than metric can be an issue for some people. Then there are decimal inches touted in some publications; where does one buy a decimal inch tape measure in Australia.

I agree, Australian Wood Review has some excellent stuff, as does Australian Woodsmith.

Australian Woodsmith has step by step procedures mostly with illustrations and can be quite helpful to the beginner as well as the experienced wood worker. They also have pretty much their entire projects available on a DVD; which my Men's Shed has. I'm not saying their DVD is user friendly in finding things, but once you have found what you are looking for, everything is laid out and everything is metric. Actually many of their earlier stuff was metrified from the USA edition for the Australian edition, so there are some interesting measurements every now and then. But on the whole, members of the Shed like the projects and how the step by step instructions and illustrations are laid out.

Mick.

Originally Posted by jonesboy

Just starting with this woody stuff and trying to lay my hands on a beginner's guide including basic projects.Been going blind reading reviews but most books appear to be written for the US/UK market and therefore with imperial measurements.I though the age of British imperialism had long since passed us by, but maybe I should have been paying closer attention.Does anyone know of any such books written with an Australian reader in mind?

There's lots of books and magazines written with the "Australian reader in mind" but most just do a hardish conversion from the US "customary unit" original plans. Your simplest solution is to purchase an metric/imperial tape (which AFAIK is available in many different lengths from the Green shed) and a woodworker's steel rule -- graduated in eighths, sixteenths, thirty-seconds and sixty-fourths. Lee Valley (and probably Carbitech) are sources. You can also get inch steel rules graduated in other formats, but stay clear of mixed metric/imperial rules because they only read in metric from one end.

I know this isn't actually a book, but if you're really keen on metric only plans, Woodsmith Plans offers both imperial and metric versions of most plans they publish.

Originally Posted by jonesboy

Been going blind reading reviews but most books appear to be written for the US/UK market and therefore with imperial measurements.

I though the age of British imperialism had long since passed us by, but maybe I should have been paying closer attention.

Quite simply there are 328 million Americans give or take a few millions and they are their own world and their own market. As other posters have said Aus Wood Review and Aus Woodsmith are great and you can buy a lot of back issues.
Rgds,
Crocy.

This is all very "Back to the Future".
Spend a life time getting comfortable with metric and those upstart yanks and poms refuse to come to the party!
It's like having to write an actual letter again, or making sure you don't leave home without your mobile phone so you can find your wife in the shopping centre.
I have already joined the local library and have ensured my copier cartridges are full.
I will take a serious look at the local publications, particularly their back issues and the treasures contained therein.

Regards.

Originally Posted by jonesboy

This is all very "Back to the Future".
Spend a life time getting comfortable with metric and those upstart yanks and poms refuse to come to the party!
It's like having to write an actual letter again, or making sure you don't leave home without your mobile phone so you can find your wife in the shopping centre.

Of course, the other option is to do away with measurements all together.

DO AWAY WITH MEASUREMENTS ??? IS HE MAD ???



If buying an imperial scale or two is too hard. or confronting, for you a story stick is what you need. A story stick is just a plain piece of wood (say 3 mm thick, 15 mm wide and yeah long) on which you mark all the dimensions for what you are building. The hard part is keeping track of what dimension each 'tick' represents. But coloured lines come in useful for this.
If you really want to go overboard, you could get a version from wooodpeckers Story Stick Pro 96 - Wood Working Ruler | Woodpeckers

Originally Posted by ian

Of course, the other option is to do away with measurements all together.

DO AWAY WITH MEASUREMENTS ??? IS HE MAD ???



If buying an imperial scale or two is too hard. or confronting, for you a story stick is what you need. A story stick is just a plain piece of wood (say 3 mm thick, 15 mm wide and yeah long) on which you mark all the dimensions for what you are building. The hard part is keeping track of what dimension each 'tick' represents. But coloured lines come in useful for this.
If you really want to go overboard, you could get a version from wooodpeckers Story Stick Pro 96 - Wood Working Ruler | Woodpeckers

Uh oh, looks like my shameful secret is out.

Not sure there is word for fear of imperial scale, but I'm sure Canada may be able to come up with one.

All I wanted in life was to get some metric plans, take myself down to Bunnings and buy some metric dead tree, then see what mutilation I could visit upon the innocent timber.

Thanks to the wise and insightful contributors to this forum, my needs have been met.

For the life of me, I can't see the benefit in making things more complicated that they have to be, but good luck to those who like a challenge.