# The Dreaded Wooden Folding Ruler



## ZZZZZ (Oct 1, 2014)

Depending on the details: how old it is, who made it, condition etc, it might fetch a few bucks on FleaBay.


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## nap (Dec 4, 2007)

Last I checked they are s required tool on my tool list. I know quite s few guys that use them. They have their place in the trades.


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## jeffnc (Apr 1, 2011)

They are actually very useful. It's very easy to measure things at a 90 degree angle to how your holding your hand. It's obviously much stiffer than a tape measure so it will never flop over.

You can measure angles and triangles with it. You can measure the slope of a roof without going on the roof.
http://inspectapedia.com/roof/Folding_Ruler_Use_0137_DJFs.jpg

You can set it to an angle to copy to your saw, or you can translate the exact angle like this.
http://inspectapedia.com/roof/Folding_Ruler_Calibration_0135_DJF_JCs.jpg

Here is how to remember that angle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqmDqBXQfvI


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## PoleCat (Sep 2, 2009)

Mine has a slide rule on the end that makes it great for getting inside measurements that are spot on.


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## jeffnc (Apr 1, 2011)

Yes, folding rules with this additional feature allow you to also take depth and thickness measurements accurately without getting your head down there level and trying to guess which line it matches.
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/411G4X0B03L._SL500_AA300_.jpg


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## DexterII (Jul 14, 2010)

I have two that I use regularly. One stays in the shop on the same shelf as my triangles, compasses, precision squares, etc., and the other one is in my truck in the box with my bevels, protractors, etc. I would guess that they are easily over 30 years old, probably more like 40 or so, but I've always treated them well, so they are fully legible.


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## BigJim (Sep 2, 2008)

I have had one as far back as I can remember and still do. Right now that is all I have, my tape with the magnet on the end disappeared. A stick rule sure comes in nice to measure something on the ceiling, just fold the first foot or so to a 90 degree and hold it up to what ever you want to measure. Great for opening coke bottles also. LOL

I hope they never quit making them. One thing always made me cringe, when one of my kids got hold of my rule, I just knew they were going to break it and many times they or someone would. They use to be about $16, I have no idea what they cost now or where to find them.

Several of my rules in the past had a hook on the end, made it really nice when measuring from the end of a board or what ever.


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## jeffnc (Apr 1, 2011)

Oh, they are alive and well.

http://www.homedepot.com/s/folding%20ruler?NCNI-5


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## ToolSeeker (Sep 19, 2012)

I have a couple and still use them regularly. Both mine have little brass slide on the end.


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## Davejss (May 14, 2012)

I've been using one for years. Noting better for measuring replacement windows.


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## funflyer (Dec 5, 2014)

Wow! I guess some people still find them useful, glad to see it. For whatever reason, I just don't find a good use for one that my other tools can't do and without pinching my skin.


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## TheEplumber (Jul 20, 2010)

My dad had several. He was an iron worker. They work good for laying across a rebar mat and not sag.


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## Thurman (Feb 9, 2009)

I still have and use the carpenter's version of these. I also own a plumbers version of these and used them when I was employed--before retirement.


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## tcleve4911 (Nov 6, 2010)

My mason has one specifically made for laying out bricks and blocks


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## maddog1 (Aug 21, 2012)

I believe Lufkin made two models. A white one & a sort of yellow. The yellow being a lot more expensive for whatever the reason. I almost always use a tape measure for everything but I still have use for my folding model. The difficulty I have is reading any measurement that falls in the area where the ruler sections join. As a kid, my grandpa would let me play with the white one in his toolbox, which usually was already broken. But if I touched the yellow one he would have a cow!


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## DexterII (Jul 14, 2010)

Don't know about Lufkin specifically, although I imagine that they too made more than two models. There are both folding rules and tape measures for various trades; carpenters, engineers, masons, etc. Just a couple examples, but some highlight 16" intervals while some don't, and some start the inches over at each foot. We must have had a couple truckloads of the latter dumped into our area a while back, because I have seen a bunch of guys scratching their heads trying to calculate something like 6'3" into 75" lately. I felt so bad for one guy on a job that I was on last week that I actually offered to switch with him for a few hours, because the math is pretty much automatic for me, but I watched him cut and carry back three wrong length pieces at one point.


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## deverson (Sep 17, 2012)

I use Rigid filing fiberglass rulers. Klien also has them available.
Klein 910-6 Fiberglass Inside Reading Folding Rule. 
Used them for years and loose them before I break them.


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## BigJim (Sep 2, 2008)

maddog1 said:


> I believe Lufkin made two models. A white one & a sort of yellow. The yellow being a lot more expensive for whatever the reason. I almost always use a tape measure for everything but I still have use for my folding model. The difficulty I have is reading any measurement that falls in the area where the ruler sections join. As a kid, my grandpa would let me play with the white one in his toolbox, which usually was already broken. But if I touched the yellow one he would have a cow!


They did make several different rules. One I remember had a folding hook on one end, one had a sliding extension (which I like best).

one didn't have a sliding extension, one you could read the inches form either end. Another had the same inches on both sides at the same end, I hated the last one, if you laid the rule down with the wrong end, you had to flip ends with the rule. These were just carpenter rules, there were plumbers, masons, engineers etc. rules also.


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## maddog1 (Aug 21, 2012)

DexterII said:


> Don't know about Lufkin specifically, although I imagine that they too made more than two models. There are both folding rules and tape measures for various trades; carpenters, engineers, masons, etc. Just a couple examples, but some highlight 16" intervals while some don't, and some start the inches over at each foot. We must have had a couple truckloads of the latter dumped into our area a while back, because I have seen a bunch of guys scratching their heads trying to calculate something like 6'3" into 75" lately. I felt so bad for one guy on a job that I was on last week that I actually offered to switch with him for a few hours, because the math is pretty much automatic for me, but I watched him cut and carry back three wrong length pieces at one point.


Don't know what's more interesting here. The ruler or the fact there are guys in the trades that can't do simple arithmetic 6'-3" = 75". Really? Well I do recall I knew a guy who could not breakdown the inch into it's fractional equivalents. He would always call out something like. 2 1/2 inches, "plus 3 lines":laughing: I finally drew him a picture of "one inch" and labeled all those "lines" into their fractional & decimal equivalents. I think he finally figured it out after six months of carrying my little drawing around with him. So much for higher education.


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## jomama45 (Nov 13, 2008)

We use "Rhino Rulers" for laying brick all the time. They are a fiberglass/plastic composite and work quite well.

I once had a retractable tape measure that had a brick bond printed on it, but I found it to be much more clumsy than the conventional folding rules.......


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## funflyer (Dec 5, 2014)

I started to build some cabinets for my shop and tried to see if the folding ruler would be useful but wasn't feeling it. I did find it useful once when I dropped my pencil and it rolled under the car and couldn't reach it.

I have a set of bar gauges that I prefer to use over all other tools when making cabinets if I can only remember which box they're in since I moved last year. Anyway, here is a pic of a bar gauge. You just buy the clamps and make your own sticks however long you need.


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## PaliBob (Jun 11, 2008)

PoleCat said:


> Mine has a slide rule on the end that makes it great for getting inside measurements that are spot on.


.
That extension can be compared to a slide rule but the analogy does not entirely hold up because in a folding wooden rule with an extension, the extension has significantly higher friction than any Slide Rule.
This friction is very desirable because it allows the Wooden Rule to be used as a Transfer Standard or as a Story Stick.
.
I do not see any advantage to using any Folding Rule that does not have that Slide Rule Extension.
.


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## landfillwizard (Feb 21, 2014)

I agree with Palibob. I have two folding rules. One like the one that he has posted and an engineering rule. I have the Lufkin like he has posted and need to get a new one because the slide is getting warn out and is loose. I use the engineering rule for lay out and survey.


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## Startingover (Apr 18, 2012)

I don't even know where mine came from, maybe my dad. I like using it and snapping it open an closed makes me pretend I know what I'm doing. Too bad the last section is broken. I didn't know until these posts that the brass inset slides out. Mines stuck. Why are the ends red? 

And, hey, i just read on one section, 'oil joints' never saw that either.


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## maddog1 (Aug 21, 2012)

I can't believe that this folding ruler thing is getting so much attention. Maybe it was the first toy in the kid's toolbox bringing back fond memories. I was allowed to play with a Lufkin white folding rule, that was already broken.
:jester:


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