Thread: Metric Vs Imperial

Originally Posted by silentC

My Grandfather used to reuse nails, even in modern times! He would pull them out and then spend a few minutes straightening them. He would wipe them in his hair before driving them in. The idea of this was to make them easier to drive into hardwood, which was about all they used to use for house frames. Must've been the Brylcream - a little dab'll do you.

That means that for doornails, brylcream is the fountain of youth, allowing the doornail to cheat death and have eternal life?

Originally Posted by silentC

I don't think you can blame the metric system for that. I wonder how many of those 'useful' lengths would still be around if we still had the old imperial system of measurement? I think it fits more into the "why do I have to buy 10 screws when I only want 3?" problem.

No mate! I don’t have the time to do those sort of conversions so I just cheated and used http://www.onlineconversion.com/

SilentC hit the nail right on the head when he says:
I think it fits more into the "why do I have to buy 10 screws when I only want 3?" problem.
But with a pack of 10 screws, the extra 7 screws, unlike an off-cut piece of 355.6 millimeter or slightly longer timber, can be used at a later date. The useless off-cut that you have paid for, goes in the bin.

I have “nothing” against using the Metric system over the Imperial system! I’ve been using the Metric system since I was a lad (late teens) living in Germany, (and no, I’m not German born or of German decent ) but I would like to purchase timbers where one length is not so short that it “noticeably” decreases the size of a finished shed and the next length of timbers is so long that one has the choice of cutting the timber to the required size and chucking a fair length of off-cut in the rubbish, or building a shed that is “noticeably” larger… and may not fit the dedicated area!
Since the introduction of the Metric system this seems to be what we have to put-up with.

As I have stated in earlier posts, I don’t mind paying for 50mm or 150mm of timber that is destined for the fire…but when you start getting into 450mm and longer off-cuts, then yes! I do have a problem with such waste!
I do understand that the days of purchasing a “pound” or two of nails, 3 nails…or 13 nails, or a ¼ pound of putty are long gone but I for one do miss those days….as best as I can recall…I believe back then it was termed…service to the customer! Or it may have been…the customer is always right! Can’t say for sure but it was something stupid like that!

Now I had better get back to making my decision on which of the sheds (metric or imperial) I’ll build and buying the most economical sized timber I can find to do the job.

Cheers mates,

Kando from Geelong

Originally Posted by kando

The useless off-cut that you have paid for, goes in the bin.

There is no such thing as a "useless offcut". I've got a shed full of them that I've been saving for 20 years and one day I'll find a real good use for them....I know I will.....well sooner or later.....gee I wish I had more room to work.

Originally Posted by Termite

There is no such thing as a "useless offcut". I've got a shed full of them that I've been saving for 20 years and one day I'll find a real good use for them....I know I will.....well sooner or later.....gee I wish I had more room to work.

Termite, if you need more room for your offcuts you should have built a metric shed, they are obviously longer, wider, higher..........

Cheers

Originally Posted by vsquizz

Having spent many years at sea I always work in knots because that is the standard unit adopted. No unit has officially replaced it, according to the IMO anyway.

There is a bit of logic to the knot as a unit of measurement after all; in modern times it is "almost metric" in it's simplicity.

Historically a ships speed was measured by throwing a log attached to a knotted cord, and the rate at which each knot passed in a given time was used to calculate speed... "4 knots!".

The modern "knot" refers to "nautical miles per hour", and of course a nautical mile is equal to one minute (1') of longitude; 60 nautical miles to a degree, so the advantages of using this measurement when navigating are pretty obvious.

No one has been game to metricise the number of degrees in a circle, and though it may make sense to have 1000, we're probably stuck with 360 for ever.

Cheers,

P (who is completely metric except for his two feet, and an odd number of teeth)

Midge, why don't you get...

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(Academy Artworks)</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>knot<SUP>1</SUP> (nŏt)
n.

1. 1. A compact intersection of interlaced material, such as cord, ribbon, or rope.
   2. A fastening made by tying together lengths of material, such as rope, in a prescribed way.
2. A decorative bow of ribbon, fabric, or braid.
3. A unifying bond, especially a marriage bond.
4. A tight cluster of persons or things: a knot of onlookers.
5. A feeling of tightness: a knot of fear in my stomach.
6. A complex problem.
7. 1. A hard place or lump, especially on a tree, at a point from which a stem or branch grows.
   2. The round, often darker cross section of such a lump as it appears on a piece of cut lumber. Also called node.
8. A protuberant growth or swelling in a tissue: a knot in a gland.
9. 1. Nautical. A division on a log line used to measure the speed of a ship.
   2. (Abbr. kn. or kt.) A unit of speed, one nautical mile per hour, approximately 1.85 kilometers (1.15 statute miles) per hour.
   3. A distance of one nautical mile.

v., knot·ted, knot·ting, knots.



v.tr.

1. To tie in or fasten with a knot or knots.
2. To snarl or entangle.
3. To cause to form a knot or knots.

v.intr.

1. To form a knot or knots.
2. To become snarled or entangled.

[Middle English, from Old English cnotta.]

USAGE NOTE In nautical usage knot is a unit of speed, not of distance, and has a built-in meaning of “per hour.” Therefore, a ship would strictly be said to travel at ten knots (not ten knots per hour).


knot<SUP>2</SUP> (nŏt)
n.

Either of two migratory sandpipers (Calidris canutus or C. tenuirostris) that breed in Arctic regions.

[Middle English, of Scandinavian origin.]

No one has been game to metricise the number of degrees in a circle, and though it may make sense to have 1000, we're probably stuck with 360 for ever.

It would simple to do. All we need to do is change the speed of the earth revolving around the sun so we have 1000 days per year. We could make it exactly 1000 revolutions of the globe per year and get rid of that rather untidy leap year business.

We could make the hours a bit longer and have 10 per day, 100 minutes per hour and 100 seconds per minute. 10 months of the year each with 100 days.

We'd have to deal with the climate change issues but I think it would be a small price to pay for simplifying this whole calendar thing.

Once we do this then it would be logical to change the number of degrees in a circle to 1000 as the original 360 was based on the number of days per year.

Originally Posted by vsquizz

Midge, why don't you get...

knotted??
:eek: :eek: :eek:

Ah well, with the advent of the metric system I've been missing just enough so I can't complete the second loop.



P

The big question is of course, how long is a piece of string?(unknotted).

Originally Posted by bitingmidge

No one has been game to metricise the number of degrees in a circle, and though it may make sense to have 1000, we're probably stuck with 360 for ever.

That's not true, if you look on a calculator you'll see you can do angle calculations in gradians. There are 400 gradians (also known in germany as "neugrad" or "new degree") in a circle which therefore divides a right angle into 100 gradians - thus it is a metric measurement.

http://ie.encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/gradians

Kando,
I think you're just making life hard for yourself by being stubborn. When in Rome.....Even if (for some strange reason) you insist on having an imperial sized shed the wastage shouldn't be that great. Most of the framing is in studs and by the time you add on the thickness of the top and bottom plates you can easily have it in ("true")imperial increments without much waste, ie: less than 100mm (4"). With the top and bottom plates there would be a bit more waste but these could be recycled as noggins.

My father was a ship's captain in the Dutch merchant navy and they worked extensively in metric, this is back in the fifties and sixties. Much easier calculating cubic capacity in metric. But feel free to carry on working in imperial if it makes you happy, but with all the bitching and moaning that yopu're doing about it I suspect it isn't really making you happy. Somehow though, I suspect that no matter how much you moan and carry on Australia isn't going to change back to imperial measures.

So I reckon your alternatives are:
1) Move to somewhere where the measurement system is more to your liking.
2) Get over it and use the metric system.
3) carry on as you have always done, and keep getting the same result.

Mick

Hey Kando,

I've been at work all afternoon, but I couldn't sleep a wink worrying about your off-cuts.

By my quick estimation, if you laid them on their sides in brick bond, using one of those foaming polyeurethene glues, you'd have enough to make a nice feature wall in the end of the shed!

Cheers,

P

Or you could get a good whittling knife and make them all into toothpicks

Bitingmidge - quote "nautical mile is equal to one minute (1') of longitude"

Shouldn't that be one "second of longitude" - one minute would be 60 miles I think

I could be wrong?
Aussieglen