Thread: Metric Wooden Folding Ruler

I have couple around the place, one put out by STIHL the chainsaw mob at 2metres the other ( one metre ) bought at local hardware store,they are not the same as you want,they fold along the lengh but still work ok...Peter

Would'nt use anything else!
Bunnies sell the 2m fold out ones, bit pricey tho. In Germany they are usually given away as advertising. You can get a couple of hundred printed with your logo for about 1or2 euro each.
Search for Gliedermaßstab, Meterstab, Zollstock.

Jeremy,
does it have to be timber? I've got a plastic rabone 1M job somewhere. I still use mine occasionally for accurate set outs so I can't let it go, but I'll check my hardware store next time I'm in town.

Mick

If it doesn't have to be wood, Stanley do a plastic one (or they did a few years ago when I bought mine).

I would imagine that the plastic ones are more stable than the wood varieties anyway.

I must say I don't use it much nowadays. I prefer to use steel rules for set outs.

Must admit the plastic job I now own is far better than the 2 timber ones I have previously had. The metal hinge doesn't gum up and its generally more robust.

Also being bright yellow its easier to track down when it wants to play hide and seek, which is most of the time.

I may have solved my problem - I asked my bro-in-law who is an Italian living in Italy and who also is a woodie (or maybe a legnie). Italians have had them for 200 years or so (since Napoleon invaded!!!) and he has a couple of spares in his shop!
It didn't have to be wood, but there is something nice about brass and wood that plastic can't match!
Thanks for all the thoughts, anyway.

Originally Posted by jmk89

but there is something nice about brass and wood that plastic can't match!

How true!

Im a swiss carpenter and only work with a folding ruler. All Swiss carpenters use the ruler (2M) made in Sweden they are the best. Its made out of swedish pine wood. I bought a truck load of them and sell them. Each price: $21. The more you oder the cheaper it gets. Happy working with a folding ruler.

Originally Posted by chippywoodchuck

I bought a truck load of them and sell them. Each price: $21. The more you oder the cheaper it gets.

G'day Swiss Carpenter,

Do you happen to have any picture of the ruler you're selling?

Cheers

GUNN

sure.....for any orders mail to: [email protected]

Thanks mate. I looked at your picture and it looks very much like this,

I got this link from http://www.dick.biz/dick/product/708024/detail.jsf

It is Hultafors from Sweden.

Cheers

GUNN

Originally Posted by jmk89

Has anyone ever seen one?

I love using my old Rabone carpenter's ruler in inches, but I tend to use metric for most of my projects.

I have tried to look on eBay France, but there doesn't seeem to be a Collectable Tools category (don't the French collect old tools?) and "regle" doesn't turn up anything useful and my German is not up to the challenge.

Any suggestions?

Cheers

Jeremy

Jeremy,
like this one perhaps...with imperial on the outside and metric on the inside?
It stops at 915mm = 36 inch. I have seen plenty of Dutch made full 1M four fold rules, with the metric scale on the outside surface, around the flea markets and swap meets. Just don't have one at the moment.
Send me a PM with a postal address if this is of use to you.
Regards,
Peter

Peter

Since my original postI have acquired one like the one pictured and also one that is purely metric. In fact my imperial one side, metric the other is slightly different to yours - it is a full metre long and the imperial side is marked to 36" and then there is about 4" on blank wood!

I also happened to get a four fold 1 metre ruler (Chesterman) which seems to have been produced in the early 1970s.

Accordingly, my need has been satisfied.

I must say that I do prefer the handy one metre four fold to the 2 metre concertina - the four fold fits into a shop apron pocket really easily!

Huktafors makes quite a few different wooden rulers. They do metric, metric and imperial, metric and danich inch?, a shrink metric folder for working with concrete moulds (sp?) and then there is my favourite the contactmeter, which basically is a metric folding ruler were the scale is printed in the opposite direction compared to a normal folding ruler (so to speak). This makes it easier to use since you dont have to unfold a big part of the ruler in order to make it stay flat on the surface. Once you have used it you wont turn back. I have three of them around me when i work.

Btw, hultafors folding rules are not made of pine as somebody here calimed. They are made of swedish glass bearch and the metal parts is made of swedish steel. I have no problem letting my one year old son play with them. Still he has not broken any and god know he has the capacity to dismember just about anything we put in his hands.

Swedish price is appox. Euro 5,9.

The Hultafors homepage is a bit of a joke. There seems to be no translation to English. So i you wich to search their pages look for the word "produkter" and the images will lead you to the measuring departement. The hultafors word for folding rulers is "meterstockar". Pm me for any questions and I'll try to do a quick translation.

A small note on Hultafors. I think they are regarded as being a company with very high quality products. Hammers, nailpullers, crowbars measuring equipment. Most of it is heavy duty.

///j