Imperial or Metric? Why I Chose Metric.
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- Опубліковано 26 лис 2020
- In your shop, do you measure in fractional inches or in millimeters? This often depends on how you were trained or the type of woodworking you do. In this video, Sedge walks us through why we use metric in our workshop. Drop us a comment letting us know what you use in your shop. 🤙
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It's funny when you grew up with the meter system, and one day you realize that the Imperial system still exists.
GREAT Point !!!!!
What would interest me, how is the apprenticeship as a carpenter in the USA?
😂
Is there a qualified trade training in the USA, for example with an apprentice, journeyman and master?
Pst. Metre ;)
Something that people forget is how much easier it is, with metric system, to create an idea in your head about the size of something, regardless of it being displayed in meters, cm or mm. You automatically know that a 101cm wide object won't fit in a 1m hole while it's not as obvious that 39,7 inches won't fit 3,28 feet!
Nice video!
Thanks.... The input / Feedback on this video has been amazing......really appreciate it !!!!
And we should change 60min to 100min
@@urbankotto9685 I would argue against changing how we measure time. While it is somewhat confusing at times (heh), 60 was chosen because it divides nicely into lots of numbers. While 100 maintains the ease for dividing into halves and quarters, 60 has the advantage of being also cleanly divided into thirds and sixths. Which, let's face it, while we don't use 6ths all that often, a 20 minute break can really hit the spot.
@@2001herne agreed, same with angular degrees. the measurement fits the purpose. but it's always annoying when having to convert from hours, minutes, days or how many minutes are in this many years. it's a pain. but time doesn't really care about what's easy to calculate and that's also why we have an extra day every four years. it's annoying but the measurement fits its purpose. however i would argue that seconds in a minute don't need to be as easily divisible as minutes in an hour, because when would you need to head estimate something where the exact second matters, never. but at least everything based on seconds like milliseconds and so on are metric
@@urbankotto9685 and of course 365 days simply has to be ‘rounded off’ somehow!
As for 360 degrees of the protractor! Well who is going to tolerate that for much longer!
I cant imagine any sane person who is familiar with both would choose the imperial system.
YEP !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm moderately sane, and tend to prefer U.S. customary ( pound force, slug mass, foot length) units for three big reasons:
1. Compound units generally are not named. Pressure is pounds per square foot not Pascals, or Barr, or Torr ...
2. Base 10 is a pretty lousy choice, the world in not base 10, also throwing in the the prefixes makes computation harder.
3. Units are sized better. In SI the base mass unit is Kg because grams are too small, a standard liter is 0.1 meters cubed because a cubic meter is too much big.
Both systems have issues with temperature and obsolete units mucking about.
@@ronaldjensen2948 You made some good points, but the topic here is mostly wood working and calculations which should be done a lot. Clearly, calculating stuff with base 10 is extremely easier than any other options.
@@ronaldjensen2948 0,001m³ since 1l=1dm³ (0,1m*0,1m*0,1m)
@@ronaldjensen2948 Base 10 is a perfect choice for a unit system, because the number system we use is base 10. It doesn't matter what "the world is in", it's the number system that matters. In fact, "the world" does not have a number system to begin with, so this point makes no sense.
If we used a base 12 number system to count, then a unit system in base 12 would be the perfect choice.
Imperial uses a base 10 number system, in combination with a unit system that is all over the place. That's why it's terrible.
Fun fact: in German, these folding measuring tapes are often called "Zollstock" which means "inch-stick" although Noone measures in inches.
@@sheerluckholmes5468 That's what I said. If it's metric it's still called ZOLLstock. That's the great fun about it. Thank you dennoch for Klugscheißing
It’s the same in Dutch. Duimstok, thumb stick. A thumb is an inch, so an inch stick. Before the metric system, carpentry was in inches. We still use it in a kind, we call a wooden stud of 50x75mm, a 2 by 3, from 2 duim (inch) by 3 duim (inch).
Not entirally true. :)
There's still the odd things that are still measured in inches, like rims on a car, or size of your TV/PC screen. :P
Oh, and yeah, we call it the same thing here in Norway. Tommestokk. :)
interesting !!!
That's also true for swedish (funnily enough). We cale them "tumstock" which translates to "thumb stick/log". Thumb is the swedish word for inch. Germanic languages are quite similar.....
Well, my teacher said if you can count to 10, you can learn metric in a few minutes
simple
And you'll still know very little.
@@1pcfred If youve learnt and understood nothing, i got bad news for you....
@@cactusmann5542 you have nothing for me that I do not already know.
@@1pcfred You know nothing though, and ingorant you will remain.
I'm a mechanical engineer. The idea of working in imperial is just horrifying.
In metric I can calculate things close enough in my head that I know the rough proportions of something and have an idea whether it will work or not.
Once I come to a conclusion I may write my calculations out to check, but often not.
Metric is sooo easy to work with and calculate....
Yeah I am a mechqnical engineer too. At the last company i worked at the product we were using was designed and manufactured in the US using imperial and really showed in the quality. I think when/if the US goes to metric the quality of the products will be massively improved. I think there is only handle of things that are still acceptable in imperial such as chains etc.
@@naildeath I think US manufacturers also lose out on international market share. Throughout my career I have had US manufacturers send reps to sell us industrial equipment.
My 1st question is do you build in metric? I if the answer was no, I told them there was no point in continuing.
Some of them seemed surprised and I would have to explain that our artisans have no imperial tools and that anything we had to buy to maintain it would be special order and take weeks to arrive - even something a simple as a bolt or a bearing.
@@naildeath I am playing at being an amature machinist. Everything I do is imperial but based on .0001s. This methodology dates back to Henry Ford. What were you doing wrong that it affected quality?
@@danharold3087 nothing mate, i was using metric. 😉
My whole career was based on the metric system. Imperial still throws me into a tizzy. So even now at 71, I use metric.
Metric for the win....
@@edmundooliver7584 what is ment by this ?
@@edmundooliver7584 ok, yes, I speak one language and dabble in fractional and stick a toe in imperial if absolutely necessary.
@@edmundooliver7584 did you know that the let’s say average European speaks or has learned more languages than the average US citizen?
Also your argument doesn’t make sense in another way! You can’t really compare measurements with languages just like that!
Why not have the units working together instead of each having its own measurement and definition. You can’t really make languages work together as every language pretty much covers "everything", while every unit only covers e.g. length, volume, ...!
@@edmundooliver7584 thats cool if you throw out the imperial.
Its like Latin, dead but a very small amount of people still use it
The metric system is holistic in the sense you have one integrated scale for length, volume and weight. Try that in Imperial!😉
for suuuuuure
And time, the original meter did beat the second. By now it’s a few millimetres off
not only that, also power, time, speed, energy... they are all accurately related in metric.
1 w = 1 J/s
1 Kg 1m high = 1 KJoule
climbing a mountain at 1 m/s, if you weigh 100kg you are developing 100 kWatts
even the lenght of 1 meters is defined in terms of light speed which also defines de duration of a second
Why would I want to? When I am woodworking I really don't care how much volume something is or how much it weighs. It is what it is. And like I said, I really don't care! What would it change if I did know? How would knowing help me? if I really want to know what something weighs I'll just put it on a scale. That's what they're going to do at the post office.
@@1pcfred Go measure in feet per gallons ber teaspoons then.
I think the metric system gets even more interesting when you add the square meter and the cubic meter. 1 cubic meter is 100 cm wide, high and long. in 1 cubic meter can fit 1 ton of water, which is 1000 kg or 1000 liter or 10 hectoliter. In a cube 10x10x10 cm fits 1 kg of water or 1000 gramm, which is 1 liter or 1000 milliliter.
Very Interesting
First time in my life seeing someone use hectoliter. No we use ml, liter and cubic meter only.
@@Rudy97 I am a german beer brewer and hl is quite commonly used in breweries here
the first time, in school, you understand that measuring only ONE edge of a cube gives you not only the volume but the WEIGHT a full tank of any liquid (-ish, ok, i know oil is lighter than water...) , it's more than convincing.
I'm a child of the UK conversion era. Taught metric and imperial in school and released into the workplace to work under old school electricians with cable and conduit that had recently been converted I learned to be able to switch from one to the other.
The best part of metric is how the different measures work together.
A one metre (1000mm) cube of water is 1000 litres and weighs 1 tonne.
Tip for Americans getting used to metric, try to move up to the next level of measurement instead of sticking to millimetres. For example: 10mm is 1 centimetre, 1000 mm is 1 metre.
Scaling from drawings (Blueprints) is much easier with metric too.
Metric works for me
One example is calories , something they can't understand in USA, it just don't make any sense for them at all.
When they say 400 calories, they refer to something that have 400 KiloCalories , a 1000 time error pass without notice since they have no clue how much a calorie is.
In the matric system it can make sense, one calorie is the energy required to warm 1 gram of water 1 degree celcius, 1 Kcal can warm one litre one degree C.
Try to explain that for someone that dosn't know what gram/litre or C is.
@@birrextio6544 to be fair, people do say calories instead of kilocalories even in France... I guess you never really have to use "calories" unless you're a chemist, the unit of energy is the Joule or the Watt Hour, except for food ^^
(also, "kilo" alone means kilogram just because)
@@Ryndae-l Yes, I know that, I just simplified it a bit. There are always exceptions to everything.
But I think it should be a capital C , Cal. if they mean Kcal.
And I have been reading that the exeption is just about food, nothing else.
For me it's confusing, what is it wrong to eat some candy with only 800 calories? , it's just to drink a glass of cold water and the body use more energy to warm it up.
If people don't understand that the candy give 800 Kcal extra, they may understand that it's nothing you eat all the time.
You mean 1 metric tonne don’t you? 😂
Keep on fighting the good fight! Let's make the US metric! When I was doing machining using I hated having to use these stupid fractions of 2s rather than using decimal. The worst is that Americans cannot make volume to liquid conversions. Physics in US measurements... hell!!!
It's a GREAT fight
AND the US system uses the same unit name (ounce) for both volume and mass! Stupid! In the rest of the world, volume is in liters and mass is in grams.
I'm in the US and we do physics with metric, using imperial for physics sounds like hell
And besides, every american engeneer or physics professor can get help in other countries using Imperial as well!
Oh, I see, it is just Sierra Leone to help him and his calculations! Well, let's convince them first, shouldn't we?😉
What kind of machining were you doing where you did not use the decimal inch? There should have been a chart hanging up with all of the conversions. Remembering all of the common fractions and their decimal equivalents isn't that hard either. A half is 0.5 etc. You can always just divide the numerator by the denominator with a calculator and get the decimal equivalent too. 7/8 = 0.875 That is how it works. Just like how it looks.
I find it really cool to see a regular worker turning to metric. Most videos etc. advocating for SI are from scientists and other highly educated people.
metric = easier
I would consider a carpenter as highly educated as well.
@@peterparker219 I meant people with a higher edjucation, like people with a university degree
Everyone in the rest of the metric world watching this just thinking 'finally some of you Americans get it'.
Being in Canada so many still think of Imperial more cause we deal with the US so much, bothers me at work when I shout out a metric measurement to them and they don't get it.
Change...it is a drag for most !!!Until..they see how easy it is !!!
@@sedgetool oh ya. I got onto it more from work (electrician). Common multipliers for conduit bending, some have decimals. One of the most common for 22 degree bends, 2.6. Use inches and before you know it you have something like 10.895. Sure you can get a close idea within an 1/8 maybe but I like being exact and in mm it's pretty damn easy to be within 1mm accuracy. The amount of guys that will only use 30 degree bends for the simple X2 multiplier because they can't just get on board with metric.
Either way sedge came across your channel from festool live. Loving all the videos mate
You are so right.
Canada is number 2 when it comes to home completion. You're right behind the USA. Of course the USA builds more homes than the entire rest of the world combined does. But hey you're in second place. So that's better than all the other losers. And yeah you're in second because your building trades uses the inch too. I want to gouge my eyes out when I see what a sheet size is in metric. 1219 x 2438 WTF? Just call it 4 X 8
@@sedgetool nothing worthwhile is ever easy.
Hello from Raymond, Maine! I just started using metric in my shop and I have greatly reduced my headaches and searches for scrap paper for math. Thank you for sharing the tips on setting cutter depth... I love simple!
Sounds great! Metric makes it easier !!! I like simple as well !!!!!! ....... I grew up in Maine ....still call it home although I have "been away" for 37 years ....
@@sedgetool Euro guy here maybe you should explain what mm or cm really mean.
The base for measurment is "Meter"(m) if you borow some well known letters from the matematic like "C" you get 0,01m if you borrow a "m" you get 0,001 m. We use a letter d too for 0,1m (dm) for example 1 litter is 1dm3
On the other hand if you use a letter K (kilo in matematic) you get 1000m (1Km)
Fun fact despite full metric usage here, we still use 1 inch or 2 inch to describe a thickness of the wooden board, length&width is in metric
@@sedgetool Little Deer isle is where I started.
It's so cute to see someone gushing about the metric system... ^^
Thanks ... Metric Rules !!
Imperial is a better system, all you need to remember: 3/7 rod = 5/9 stick, everything else follows automatically.
@@buddy1155 Great, with Metric you just need to remember 10. It's always 10 whether converting up or down, it's 10 every step is multiplying or dividing by 10.
@@TheChaotix14 Now you are assuming I can count to 10. I am a woodworker, I haven't got all 10 fingers anymore.
@@buddy1155 I'm assuming you can at least count till 12, otherwise you're always stuck inching your way forward with imperial.
This was very timely for me. I"m making the switch now because I'm so sick and tired of dealing with fractions. It's only been about a month for me, but I'm very happy I've made the switch.
My only complaint is that it can be harder to find measuring tools in metric here in the US. Not impossible, but harder.
Oh, BTW, the inch is officially measured in metric. It is defined by NIST as 25.4 mm.
Thanks !!!
My biggest gripe is the metric scale is hideous. So I refuse to use it on that account alone. Looking at millimeter hash marks gives me eye bleed. Then the system has no granularity. You got millimeters and centimeters and that's it. Skip that! Sometimes I want 1/16ths, sometimes quarters, eighths, thousandths. It really depends. The work I do is varied enough that I need all of those choices. I do everything from precision machining to bushcraft. Metric simply doesn't cut it. NIST did not make the inch 2.54 cm Carl Edvard Johansson did. NIST merely adopted it. Because Henry Ford made them!
@@1pcfred ...
LMFAO.
"No granularity" ??
Depends on what job you're doing and what kind of measuring tool you're using.Milimetres can be divided to infinite decimal places. Just need the right tools.
It isn’t even a viable question, METRIC, coinciding with SI units, is easy to use....imperial is so illogical and clunky it is not even worth mentioning
METRIC rules
Also inch is literarily defined as 25,4mm ... Not as a measure of some thing, fraction of length of something. No, it is defined 25.4mm THE END of story . They could do same, fraction of light speed in vacuum as meter is defined, obviously they could not be bothered and is defined as a fraction of a meter. Also it being 25,4mm is result of some swedish guy(if i remember correctly) who could not be bothered to do 25.36 and 25.44 mm for brits and us separately. So he made 25.4 for both and it stuck ...
So imperial measurement .. defined by metric to satisfy convoluted multiplying and division with no merit other than being different and less effective ...
Imperial is based upon 12, which as the ancients discovered is easily dividable, 10 existed in the mad dreams of the French revolutionaries (who created the 10 day week which really p***ed off the French peasants.
You divide 10 by two and you get 5, then you divide 5 by two and you get 2 1/2, after that it gets worse and worse which is why real people in real situations never used it.
@@pcka12 Except all those real people in the worldwide scientific community, but yeah, if you ignore *those few* then no one uses it :^)
@@pcka12 so essentially Imperial helps you to avoid uneven numbers.
I live in Germany and worked with metric all my life. The way you explained it, I do not understand it anymore. I will have to switch to imperial now...
thanks ...
@@sedgetool Yes, no offense meant by this, but from how you described it in this video it doesn't sound like you really understand it, more that you've found way to view it from what you already know. Not that that's necessarily a problem, since it seems like you just need to know imperial measures in mm for more accurate measuring. If it works, it works.
I'd say the metric system has a lot more of value, but that's more of an everyday thing and probably not that easy to start using when there's no context for it in society and around you.
I deed. Its not that its explained wrong. Its just a very peculiar point of view, from a very specific use.
But I have to recognize, that being able and willing to change when everyone and everything arround you does not, is quite a feat.
I live in a metric contry. But gauges for tubing, or thikness of steel plates are on imperial. Funy enugh, the length of such things are in metric...
So , 1/2 inch water pipe, is 6 meters long
Or a squared shaped steel beem might be 5 cm x 5 cm x 6meters (0.05m x 0.05m x 6m) but its 1/16 inch thich
I have bad news for you. No one's used Imperial inches in over 57 years now. Today we all use the standard international industrial inch. Which you can just call the standard inch.
@@1pcfred "internationa" hahaha ./
Many of the measuring devices here in Europe display a class system (I) (II) and (III) which describes the accuracy of the tool. Typical tape measures are (II) but a folding rule is the least accurate (III) and can be off +/- 1 mm per meter.
That being said I also use folding rules all the time - the rule is: don't mix using different measuring devices in a single project.
Great Advice !!! Thanks for sharing !!!
Man, I hadn't even noticed that. But now that I checked my tape measure, it does say "II". Thanks for the info!
Here are the accuracy tolerances:
Class 1: ±1.1 mm per 10 m (or max error 0.01%)
Class 2: ±2.3 mm per 10 m (or max error 0.02%)
Class 3: ±4.6 mm per 10 m (or max error 0.05%)
High quality Class 1 tape measure is temperature calibrated because the temperature of the tape starts to change the results more than the max error allowed otherwise.
Something to help out with metric that I don't see anyone talking about.
If you look at the metric SI prefix list it becomes clear. Here is an example.
Take a base unit, Meter is the base unit of distance, litre is the base unit for liquids, bite is the base unit of data.
Milli will always be 1000th of the base unit.
Centi well always be in increments of 100 of the base unit.
Those are in the negative scale, so going lower than the base unit.
there is also SI prefixes for going greater than the base unit.
Kilo is 1000 of the base unit.
Knowing this makes it easier to calculate in a multitude of fields.
Hope this helps. Please google Metrix prefix for the SI unit table if you want to have a look yourself.
You probably just had typo on mill= 1/1000th like 1000 mm=1 m and centi =1/100th like 100cm= 1 m. Easy to remember from procent%(1/100) and promille‰(1/1000)
@@anssisalonen7990 I did. My apologies. Was typing on mobile in a rush. Thanks for correcting
@@flokithemad3273 Np.
wow ..great explanation.... Thanks !!!!
I use a Zeus cheat book for all my conversions when machining and converting imperial to metric as its has all sorts of really handy numbers for tolerances. I suppose it could also work if you work with wood as a trade instead of metal. Some of the lathes at work have metric and imperial on them but they are pretty old but we use a digital read out which does it all for you.
Years ago i went to museum in Paris where you can actually see the official 1 meter ruler, and around it were the official 1 grams, 1 kilograms all made with a special steel that makes it universal where ever you go in the world. It was incredible to see it.
I would like to visit that museum some day
Pretty sure the official 1kg weight was kept in a vault. Maybe a secondary weight was on display.
This is just for history. Nowadays the definitions are related to universal physical values (such as lightspeed)
There is no official meter. Its abandoned.
who would think using the distance from our old king's nose to his thumb wouldnt be the best form of measurement? :P
LOL...
I don't think one 40000-th of Earth circumference is any better than that, both are arbitrary. It's not about base unit. It's about that multiples of ten part what makes metric more convenient.
@@kasuha Milimeter is better than inch even if they are arbitrary. Because 1 milimeter has very practical length. That is not true about 1 inch. So you need using fractions for inches in daily life, but not for milimeters.
@@kasuha The metre isn't defined that way these days, it's based on the speed of light. All of the SI units have been redefined to be based on physical constants as of 2019. Of course for those of us who just use the units that doesn't matter, but it does mean the units will never change or be unclear, unlike for example the old kilogram which was based on an actual physical object. Or indeed the old metre.
@@Skabbe1 Yes, but their definition doesn't make these base units any less arbitrary. Even yard could be redefined in terms of speed of light, that's no different. Metric could be based on kiloYards and milliYards, liter might be volume of a cubic deciYard and kilogram could be based on weight of water in one such liter. It would not make metric units any less convenient, they'd just have different arbitrarily selected base units.
I would suggest that you forget Imperial totally, and forget converting inches to mm or vice versa. Just think and use metric, it's so much better. (I'm in UK)
Conversion is still necessary if your suppliers etc are still using archaic units
True .....
Maybe but imperial is still hanging on in the UK-pints, feet etc. Yards seem to have gone but otherwise we still use both to an extent
@@swfcocs1 Yes you are quite correct, and it really bugs me that UK did not fully convert whenever it was- late 60's early 70's, there was a 'Metrication board' set up, but they didn't do much. Most packaging is still dual marked. And many people still try to convert between the two systems, luckily we at least have decimal coinage, but Imperial should have been totally written off after a short transition period and by 30/40 years ago we would all be familiar with the metric system.
I'm in the UK, I'm a designer in the construction industry and work exclusively in metric, creating and reading Autocad drawings. However, when discussing work with co-workers a 6" beam is identified as such rather than a 152mm beam, 3/4" ply is described as such rather than in metric etc. etc.. Ask more or less any Brit how tall they are and VERY few would know in metric. Like the UK, the US is supposed to be officially metric, but old habits die hard I guess. Also road measurements are still officially imperial miles & yards with bridge heights and widths in feet (though many now have m in brackets).
I always loved woodworking. I went to Community College to learn how to do what I had always wanted to do. I tried working in a woodshop, and fell flat on my face. I could not do the math that I needed to do, to get correct measurments. I now live in Europe, and at first thought to myelf, I will never learn Metric. Then I had to install a kitchen in my apartment here in Leipzig ( German apartments come without ANYTHING ) To my surprise, it was so damned easy! There were no fractions to worry about! I don't think I could ever go back to using standard measure!
Metric = Easier !!! Thanks for sharing your experience
6:09 - That's not "weird", that's pretty much the standard in most of the world. It's pointless to have something marked "10-20-30-40-etc.", if the last digit is *always 0,* then it's wasted, it adds no useful information. The whole point of the SI ("metric") system is that you *change the unit prefix* to the relevant magnitude. So if you're only going to mark it every 10 mm, you switch to cm and drop the useless zero.
Thanks....
@@sedgetool deci (d) 1/10, centi (c) 1/100, milli (m) 1/1000, kilo (K) 1000.
So 1mm is 1/1000 of a meter and 1Km is 1000 meters.
It also works for gram. Milligrams (mg), kilograms (Kg) and so on.
Also for liter (l). 1000ml are 1l.
And now the real shit:
A cube with the site lengths of 1m has a volume of 1 cubic meter (m³) and can hold 1000 liter.
And 1 liter of water at 4°C has the wight of 1Kg (1000 grams)
It was not Stabila who invented the folding ruler, it was a swedish man named Karl Hilmer Johansson Kollén in 1883, and founded the company Hultafors in Sweden.
oh thanks !!!
You'll have to argue that out, as the invention of the first folding ruler is credited by most authorities to Anton Ullrich in 1851, whilst the Karl Hilmer version dates from 1883. Most probably, these were different designs. It is not unusual for there to be competing claims, such as who invented the light bulb?
However, the Stabilo folding ruler, based on an Ullrich patent for a spring hinge did not appear until 1888
thanks, I was wondering that also (I thought that it was Swedish invention, Hultafors being most commond brand). By the way, it seems to be preferred way of measuring over roll tape (judging from Swedish home improvement series).
@@sedgetool And you own one. I saw the Hultafors brand on the third folding ruler in the video.
the romans already used a folding rule in 30 BC. the spring joint alone in connection with it was developed by Karl-Hilmer Johansson Kollén, and a similar model was also developed by Anton Ullrich (Stabila) at about the same time.
IMO the best thing about Metric is how easy it is to put lengths, volume and mass into relation.
Like, if somene came along and told you there is a box that has a base of 30 by 30 centimeters and a height of 20 centimeters all you do is 30x30x20 = 18000 cubic centimeters (easy to calculate by head), then you divide it by 1000 (1000 cause we are calculating in cubic units) to get cubic decimeters and boom, cubic centimeters equals liters. So you know the amount of liters it fits without needing a calculator. And it gets better, as one liter of water equals 1 kilogram you know also that that if you fill that box with water it will weight 18 kilograms.
I honestly have no idea how the imperial system works but I'm pretty sure if I ask you how much water you can pour into an 30x30x20 inches box and how much that water weights you'd most likely need a calculator?
true
I install tile, I use metric for all of my cuts and measurements. It's the simplest thing, I can mark with greater precision without bothering with 16ths.
Great tip!
You want to know why the metric system?
That's the reason why:
ua-cam.com/video/EUpwa0je6_Y/v-deo.html
In metric system, the whole discussion is reduced to: "what's the difference between 175 mm and 184 mm?" "9mm".
Thanks ... That is tooooooo Funny !!!!
😂 very good
hhh Best funny video on YT.
It amazes me that anything gets build in murica with the amount of time they spend trying to work shit out.
It’s strange in the pistol cartridge size argument of late, is it 10mm or .40 caliber ??? Which size bullet do you prefer ?
Using base 10 is natural considering the number of digits we have on our hands.
so true..LOL...
But you would be surprised to find out how many times a dozen comes in handy. Dividing by 3? With base 10 you have a never ending and unresolvable stream of 3's. While base 12 gives you an nice even 4.
Which comes in handy when squaring things up since a unit square angle - that is a tringle with a right angle - can be precisely defined with a tringle with sides that are 3, 4 units long. And what is 3x4? Oh yea, it is 12 not 10.
All of which works out perfectly if you divide 1 into 12 equal parts rather than 10 equal parts for a Unit square of 1 x 1 4/12 With a Hypotenuse of 1 8/12ths
On the other hand if you use 10 to calculate your unit square you get a pathetic and unworkable 2.5 x 3.33333333... On and on forever x 4.16666666666..... On and on forever.
Considering that squares are rather important for structural integrity... well, I guess you can get an idea of where to stuff your pithy base 10. Just face it already. As long as we are using base10, fractions will always be a necessity to cover the spots base 10 cannot.
Also, the metric system does not add any value other than renaming numbers. Why say 1 Meter when you can just say 100 centimeters. The standard foot and inch system have specific relationships to each other for specific functions. It is just pathetic that so many people cant get their head around it.
We use the system of multiples of 3, 4 and 5 to square. 👍
@@makersmark5607 An unresolvable stream of 3's has no influence at all on the building process unless you are doing some work which requires some very high level of precision. You round up or down to the closest millimeter and you have a very accurate measurement. More accurate than most machines are capable of producing. For calculating things it doesn't complicate either since dividing by ten and rounding up or down is easily done without the use of a calculator. Also, a lot of building materials here are made in dimensions which are dividable by 3. Most common sizes used are 900mm, 1200mm and 2400mm so this solves the problem as well.
Also, if imperial was so much better to create structural sound things, wouldn't you think NASA and the likes would use it as well but for some reason they use metric to do the most advance things human beings are capable of achieving.
I get that imperial is easier if you live in the US because of the abundance of imperial building materials you can find but objectively speaking it's not better in any way.
@@makersmark5607 as someone who uses both systems depending what I’m doing you started your argument well and included some good points. But your argument became a biased opinion when with your final statement, saying 1 meter instead of 100 cm is no different then saying the same for feet and inches and they both serve the same purpose to reflect the accuracy required given the scale your working with. Also the base 10 terms date back to Latin and also hold different meanings and links they are also a language reflection of Roman numerals a century is 100. In terms of relationships they also exist in the same ways i.e 1ml has the volume of 1mm3. Where it often gets twisted is that common place metric actually accounts for some of the simplification conventions you spoke of like using degrees instead of radians.
In my opinion at the end of the day metric is the way forward even when as an engineer I know that somethings work better in imperial and some work better in metric but we as engineers are a small part of the population and metric makes the math so much easier for all those in the world who are not.
Carpenters/woodworkers traditionally uses centimeter where I live. While other industries use milimeter. So when ordering glass for windows you had to remember to convert measurements from your notes into milimeter on the order form or you would receive small glas sheets for your windows :-) Now I work with CNC machines I had to convert my thinking to milimeters.
Ofcourse not as big as a adjustment as changing from imperial to metric :-)
cool
Or just write the unit like i need 100 cm glass window, they can just do the math in head And nobody Will Tell you that you used Wrong units, Its 1000mm btw
The metric system has many advantages.
Let's say I need to know how much liter of water my fishtank can hold.
We know 1 dm³ = 1l water, the fishtank is 30cm x 30cm x 60cm.
Convert cm to dm and you get 3 x 3 x 6.
Fishtank holds 54l of water. The weight of the water is also 54kg in case you need to calculate the support construction for your tank for example.
Great example !!!!
As a Brit, I see both sides of the fence as we only ever half went over to metric and then lost interest. However, it seems to be a no-brainer to me. Why would you choose a system that described a distance as 3 feet 3 and 11/32 inches instead of 1000mm? And thats before you start adding or subtracting measurements.
yep...convert ... metric rules !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Exactly. Try dividing an imperial measurement in your head - what’s 3 feet 3 and 11/32 inches divided by 10?
Not easy, even with a calculator.
Dividing a metric number by 10? No brainer.
That cleared up so much for me. Thank you for starting this channel. You have a great way of explaining things and making it so clear for me
You are so welcome! Thanks for subscribing ...Just getting started !!!!!
I use imperial units for 4 things:
1. Bore diameter
2. Barrel lengths
3. Display size
4. Converting to metric units
cool....
4. Haha
Same display sizes in inches can be different in mm, and for example, different 12" speakers are different in diameter. So it really sucks. And the tube measurements are awful, as well as camera sensor sizes (e.g. 1", 1/3" etc), because they somehow correspond to tubes.... And AWG gouges are cringe...
I read a mechanical and energi calculation example years back in a college text book. Took them at least 10 pages to calculate the aswer using the imperial system, due to all conversion factors etc. Took half a page using the metric system. I only needed a calculator.
Imperil = EXHAUSTING..........Metric = SIMPLE !!!!
@@sedgetool yes. I'm happy that we use in Europe the metric system. Every sub unit is a faktor of 10, 100 or 1000. For a metric think person the Imperial system is chaotic. I don't want to learn it
The practicality. I walked to a supermarket and bought some water bottles of soda water. After walking with them in my backpack, I wondered how heavy they are. Oh, wait, since metric is based around water I know. 6 bottles of 2 litres water is 12 litres. It means it is also roughly 12 kilos.
great example
Same for imperial: imperial gallon based on ten pounds of distilled water at 62 °F
@@2adamastBro Its half a year And yet still nobody understands your comment😅
Very helpful. I’m convinced.
Glad it was helpful!
I love the way how you present your conclusions. I love to Listen to you. I think you could be the Favorite teacher for a lot of children out there
wow...thank you very much...I just love to teach folks through my experiences...
I never thought about how complicated it is to half stuff in the imperial system. Thanks for pointing an other argument for metric out.
No Worries ...
@@sedgetool I’m not worried, just amused how complicated it can get for people who use imperial.
The folding rulers in Germany (probably all over the world) have also metric and imperial on it and are called „Zollstock“ which translates literally into „inch stick“ 😉
And don‘t forget the calculation of surface size. As a metric user I would probably give up to calculate 1 yard 2 foot and 5 3/8 inches times 2 yards 1 foot and 4 3/16 inches.
good point...great info
Generally speaking when measuring with the imperial system you wouldn't mix inches, feet, and yards. Yards is almost always alone. Miles are usually alone. Feet and inches are the only ones that sometimes mix.
In the UK everyone uses metric for measuring but still say "knock it to me about six inches" and "He was about six foot two"
interesting ....
Same in Canada
10/10 video. Love this version of sedge. I was looking at switching to mm (I am Canadian after all, we use mostly metric) and this video helps a ton!!!! Love metric for accuracy
Right on!
I love how you respond to every comment. Great video.
I try.........Thanks !!!!!
I just started woodworking and chose metric for the reasons you said. I grew up with Metric, adopted to Imperial when moved to the USA so I can go back and forth.
Metric is my choice....but every once in a while I mention Imperial in the videos..... I like to show how much easier metric is once you start using it !!!!!
When I moved to America and saw Construction Master calculators, I thought how strange it was that builders need a special calculator to measure things. In other countries I only saw people using regular calculators and these days they just break out their phone. For a country that was ahead of the curve with decimal currency, they seem to be behind the times.
fractions mess everyone up .
Sedge, I love your training videos but the Ramones t-shirt has given me a whole new level of respect!
Awesome! Thank you! I saw the Ramones 5 times back in the day !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You sir are a really good teacher ! I live in sweden and we use metric here. After seeing your video I’m more convinced than ever that metric is the better measure system :)
Rock on!
Old European here(so all metric) about folding rulers and such. My father was a carpenter, he would speak centimeters. I trained as a machinist, and speak millimeters. It is reflected in the measuring tools we use and the language we speak. A 2 by 4 (a real one, not a slimmed down for framing) would be a 10 by 5 for my father, but a 100 by 50 for me. Usually the context keeps things clear when old carpenters talk with young machinists, that old guy with a pencil behind his ear and a few fingers missing is talking a piece of lumber, not his pencil and that young lad is not talking of something the size of a giant sequoia but a 2 by 4.
Thanks !!! great insight.......
We should have never adopted the pseudoinch (centimeter). Countries like The Netherlands and other western european countries were first to convert to metric and we needed something similar to the inch, so the centimeter was brought in (aka pseudoinch). Countries like Australia use mm almost exclusively, even carpenters, but they converted later and they adopted to the correct metric version. (version 2.0 if you will)
Metric works best when stepping by the thousands. It takes the guesswork out of the conversion. If you are missing a decimal point it's easy to spot when using the jump from mm to meter, from milliliter to Liter, kilogram to gram, etc. We never use decigrams, but we do sometimes use deciliters or hectoliters (if you are a brewery). Especially the older generations use those in-between measurements more frequently.
As for myself I was trained by a machinist and therefore mm and microns. But if I visit the hardware store and I asked for the MDF board to be cut up into 16 strips pieces of 66 the operator set it to 66 cm. How on earth he was going to cut 16 pieces from a 1200 wide board is beyond my reasoning, but thinking wasn't on his mind that day. So to this day I have to remind me that carpenters are usually trained to use centimeters (urgh)
@@patrickd9551 Centimeters is fine as it is desimeter, however, is the middle ground that has very few uses.
The Meter is the unit of measure you go down or up from there not the millimetre.
CM is useful for quite a lot of situations but let me take your example here all you needed to do to make sure no confusion is to say MM or CM that is it.
CM is also used far more commonly by normal (normal meaning not trained in specific things like a machinist) people.
In your case you also called it a 1200 wide board while the "correct" way would be calling it 1.2 wide board as the unit of measure is Meter not the prefixes.
Unlike the Gram where the Kilogram is the standard because of France, and a Gram is 1000s of a kilogram as a definition it is not that kilogram is 1000 grams (even though that is what it ends up being) as the prefix kilo indicates.
So you are mad about a person not understanding that you are in a specialised work field that uses MM far more than the common man when you described it.
However by context clues like you calling the board 1200 and not 120 or 1.2 the person should have known you spoke in mm.
So while the person is in the wrong so are YOU
Now there is also that people who work in a hardware store as clerks might have 0 training in the field you work in, but might be sellers a completely different degree.
and if that is the case then CM is a far more commonly used term than mm for cutting things.
This is something you have no idea about unless you speak to them and ask.
@@havtor007 You missed the entire point i tried to make and you also skipped the first part of my response entirely.
The metric system was developed around factors of 1000, mathmatically easier to spot mistakes to begin with. The centi, deci, deca hecta were added for convenience and allowing people to convert to the metric system, but it was not part of the original design. Why are there no subdivisions beyond mm?
As for early adopters compared to late adopters the difference is quite noticeable. The late adopters are much more inclined to stick to the thousands. For example carpenters in australia use mm or meters, nothing in between. And it prevents mistakes, cut me a 1240 only means one thing. Cut me a 124, could me 1m24 or 124mm, quite the difference.
As for the example i used more or less showed the problem with todays math/school system. It's simply not there. If you ask a board to be cut into 10 pieces, they logic should conclude that centimeters might not be the correct unit of measure. I am the customer, I should not be the one correcting the clerk. He should be the one assuming that the client could mean either.
@@patrickd9551 Have to agree with you. Dealing with metres and millimetres makes sense for tradesmen.
This is the most fun i've had in a week :) make america metric! greetings from sweden :D
We will one mm at a time !!!
@@sedgetool - Howdie, simply "Make America Great Britain Again", so once that happens you‘re going metric anyway - sort of ;o)
America is actually metric, they just don't know about it. The absolute definition of every inch, foot, yard and mile is metric based
Sorry meatball we ain't racing to the bottom quite yet.
@@1pcfred would be nice if you landed on firm ground once in a while ;)
Good choice, well explained 👍
Thanks! 🙂
Also what a lot of people forget you can just go from: weight => volume => length all in you head that’s the whole point of the system any why one meter is one meter!
1kg = 1l of water = 1dm3 cube!
super simple system
make a box with 10cm X 10cm X 10cm internal. If you fill with water you have 1 Litter. One litter of water is equal to 1 Kilogram . Metric system is amazing.
For Sure !!!! Metric Rules !!!
In metric, one milliliter of water occupies one cubic centimeter, weighs one gram, and requires one calorie of energy to heat up by one degree (1% from freeze to boil) centigrade. In imperial, one cubic inch is 3/16 of a quarter, weighs 3/64 of pound and three quarters of a nail, 1% from freeze to boil is 1 and 16/20 degrees and takes 7 and quarter halfs in joulepounds...........................
Yes it's 1 liter, but remember it only happens at 4°C.
@@jaketzi8816
You might want to check your figures again. A quick measurement conversion has a teaspoon is equivalent to 5ml. I don't see 5cc fitting into a teaspoon.
@@ahorsewithnoname643 Teaspoon (5ml) is 1,70998cm x 1,70998cm x 1.70998cm or if it is round as usually, with diameter something like 2cm it needs to be 1,59155cm deep?
(5cm x 5cm x 5cm = 125ml)
I wonder if you don't have something to say about those imperial units??????????
I grew up with the metric system. I live in the US now and work in engineering. Needless to say I had to give imperial a chance. I can work it but for some reason it just doesn't feel natural. It's about that base 10. Everything is more intuitive if based on 10ths
I totally agree !!
In Denmark we have a tool known as a "Tommelstok" which is essentially an inch stick. It does, however, not measure in inches, but it meters. Our inch sticks are therefore 2 meters long
Interesting translation....
@@sedgetool Well, actually it's NOT a called a "tommelstok" (which translates to "thumb stick"), but rather "tommestok" (which translates to "inch stick").
50 years ago, I started as an apprentice aircraft engineer with an airline that operated american built aircraft built in iches, feet and pounds. Around 25 years ago, Australia went metric in everything. We did not scrap our american built aircraft, we had to continue to work in inches, feet and pounds on those while everything around us was going metric. Some peoople really struggled with the change because they were always trying to convert fron one system to the other. The easy thing to do is to to get rules and measures in both systems, so when you need to work in inches you use a 12 inch rule, and if you need to work in mm , you use a 300mm rule. Then you don't need to do any converting in your head and inevitably get it wrong! As an example, I have 4 sets of drills.... one set of inch drills, one set of number drills, one set of letter drills and a set of metric drills, so when I need to drill a whole I use the set that suits what I need rather than trying to convert from one system to another and get it wrong.
cool
As a person who uses metric i always find it difficult to imagine measurements in imperial, i always have to convert it to imagine it. I think same feeling must be shared by imperial users
true
Someone who uses imperial can say the same for metric.
@@kingkong2427 that is exactly what i said
All I can imagine in imperial is the relative sense of scale for TVs/monitors, smartphones, tires, and subwoofers. Plus I know how big 2x4 lumber is. But if someone told me to bring 11 feet of 2x4, I'd need to calculate the length.
@@herrakaarme good for you juts use what you’re accustomed to I don’t see the sense of bashing imperial if a large Lipitor the world is using it still like it’s all good to learn new things my school thought me both metric and imperial, metric fan boys low key sounds like a colt , based on these comments I’m reading .
The US became a signatory to The Treaty of the Metre on 20 May 1875.
Since then all US measures have been derived from SI standard measures.
Interesting !!
@@sedgetool en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mendenhall_Order
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metrication_in_the_United_States
but they wont convert anytime soon now... and the reason why increase every years... just imagine the cost to replace only the road signs... THAT's the reason why...
@@kolerick And it turns out that the advantages are mostly oversold.
@@kolerick You can do that for free. Just require that all replacement signs be metric. It might take ten years, but you'll get the signs switched at no extra cost.
I just bought a pack of three of that exact tape to help me make the conversion in preparation for my cabinet efforts implementing the 32mm system
wicked cool !!!
I'm mostly amazed by that wall of Festool gear. Great choice, man. They will outlive you, if you treat them right.
t. someone who left that radio you've got there on the roof of his car, watched it fly away in the rear mirror and recovered it to keep listening to it for years on end.
Right on... Festool is AWESOME !!!
I'm an English joiner/furniture maker in my sixties. I was brought up with the imperial system and still can't stop thinking in imperial ( I never think that looks about 2.45M, I think it looks about 8 ft) but I use metric for small distances (less than about 2 ft). This sounds weird but it avoids the use of complex time consuming fractions (19/32 etc). The example you use for the router depth is a good case in point. Metric is so much easier for precise work.
Thanks !!!!!!
who the hell ever saw 19/32 on a drawing?
Is 19/32" the actual thickness of 5/8" sheet? For precision work I just use digital calipers. Then 19/32" = 0.5937" You can get cheap imported calipers that are pretty accurate. They just suck batteries back fast. Or you spring for Mitutoyos. You get years out of batteries then. And Digimatics are accurate too. Beware of counterfeits though. They knock Absolutes off. I think the only way you can tell is if it sucks batteries back fast. The Chinese still can't copy that.
I was brought up in the Imperial system and then I moved to Sweden and learnt the metric system and understood the superiority of the metric system. As mentioned by others here, the metric system has only a few key reference points being, millimeter, centimeter, decimeter and meter. In Imperial you have Inches, and feet but within that you have quarters, halves, eighths, sixteenths, thirty second, sixty fourths etc. being much more to consider involving decimal point placement.
Simple is easier .... Metric just works for me .... Thanks
I'm french and I can add that decimeter is never used (except in math problems or to define the liter = one cubic decimeter) . Woodworkers often mesure in millimeters (for precision). Masons mesure in meters and cm.
Architects most of the time use cm on the blueprints ( 205.5 is 2m 5cm and a half).
So reference points for me are mm, cm, m, km .... Then there's another big problem : parsec or lightyears ? :P
OMG standard has more! There's too much choice using freedom units. What to do! I guess you're going to have to figure it out.
Almost no one use decimeters. maybe only in some specific areas wich i dont know.
@@tadatada5 very few have even heard of decimeters. Let alone use them. That's like saying a third of a foot. Someone would sooner just say four inches. So third feet really aren't a thing either. Although a half a yard is.
Great stuff Sedge. Well explained and clarified. Although you are preaching to the converted here. In the U.K we adopted the metric system some time ago. However, I am old enough to remember imperial 🙄. But metric is so much easier to work with. It helps that I have ten fingers of course!! Keep up the good work.
Thank Allan ..... Appreciate the kind words !!! Metric RULES !!!
@@Tensquaremetreworkshop I learned imperial at school before learning metric, so know both. The younger generation only learned metric, so although they use imperial in every day life, they don’t understand it. Ask a youngster how many yards in a mile…
Be careful with that table saw, so you keep ten fingers!
Because you said, that some wonder, why there is the difference in the folding rulers: in metric it is common to orientate on the general scale of your project to choose the prefix you refer to. Since folding rulers mostly are used in construction, a milimeter is often way too small as a unit, making the numbers to calculate with unnecessary long. That is why they often use centimeters and to make things more convenient the rulers are adapted to it. Also it is based on the accuracy you are probably going or want to achieve. That is why in roadworks you might find measurements in decimeters (10cm or 100mm) because a deviation of a few centimeters in the width of a two lane road are mostly not significant.
But as you showed it is quite easy if you need to change to the next smaller or larger unit if it is necessary.
Thanks for sharing
I grew up with the metric then moved to Canada, I took a productions technology course in high school and they used imperial and I was so lost. I also lost a point on my final exam because of 1 incorrect conversion. 😐
Great video and I totally agree!
Very cool
I thought Canada uses metric, no?
@@Leemuzhko officially and mostly yes but there are some aspects that are still done In imperial but yes Canada is metric
Only good think about the old imperial system is it's good for teaching kids about fractions,I was in the year when Britain changed to metric so I was taught both.
GREAT point !!!!
Snap. I think in both and do calculations from one to other in my head to 2 sig figs while guessing imperial measuring in metric - weird but works for me. I weigh myself in stones, pounds, ounces. Food in pounds and ounces. Fluids in pints (20 fluid ounces in UK vs 16 in US)
US Customary is good for one other thing. It keeps our fuel price less than half what you pay. If we used the same units the rest of the world did some of you might figure it out. Then we'd have some explaining to do. It's complicated. heh
This channel needs more subscribers :) Subbed!
Much appreciated!
Hi Sedge. I learnt imperial at infant school then it changed to learning metric at senior school, two learning curves, our brains
were fried back then lol. I tend to use metric like you've shown in the workshop most of the time because its easier all round.
I still use inches if the number of divisions required drops on an easy number to divide on the tape measure cross referencing. Tony
That is awesome! ... I agree with the ease of use in the shop
I have no idea why i'm here watching this. :D I'm european and have never used imperial measurements. This guy is cool though and good at explaining things in a way that shows his excitement. Kinda reminds me of my dad.
Thanks for watching!
Well I'm American and I've never used Imperial. Here we use US Customary. You know we fought a war against the Empire long ago. We won too. Perhaps you're unaware?
@@1pcfred There is no point in arguing about the name. Everybody knows what peopel mean whent they say "Americans are using the Imperial system". So where is the problem?
@@DeutschlandMapping the problem is that it is wrong.
@@1pcfred It's just a name. Sometimes the correct name matters sometimes it does not. And in this context it does not.
Most of the rulers and tape measures I've ever seen are in centimetres, so your millimetre ruler threw me for a bit. But it's pretty much like you said - it makes no difference. you grab the major units, then divide between them. 100 mm is 10 cm, every 10mm in there is 1 cm. Doesn't matter how you label the units, it's always the same units.
Thanks ... how true !!!!
Wow! Sedge is the man! Opening the can of metric in an interwebs full of Imperial... It's crazy like throwing water on a grease fire.
Subscribed!
You got that right!
I am British. When I first went to school everything was measured in Imperial. By the time I got to secondary school (age 11) science was all in metric, but woodwork and metalwork were in Imperial. Now in my old age I use Imperial for road distances and speeds, and virtually nothing else. Thank goodness most of my life is metric (including my increasing abdominal girth).
In Imperial we used lots of different units for distances: feet, inches, poles, rods, perches, chains. furlongs, miles ..., and there were strange conversion factors, such as 3, 8, 12, 22 and even 10. There were similar lots of different units for volumes (gills, quarts, pints - proper ones, not scaled-down US ones - gallons, firkins, bushels . . .).
Then along came metric, with only a single unit for distance - the metre (note the Internationally defined spelling - it's not the meteric system). To make things convenient it was agreed that the decimal system would be used to quote units, with factors of 1000 as common steps rather than 10 as "decimal" implies.
When restoring my old British Norton motorbike 20 years ago I had to work in Imperial again, so bought an Imperial lathe. I had to hop backwards and forwards between fractions when using tape measures and rules, and decimal when using the lathe.
I would never choose to return to Imperial.
Now - please excuse me - I have a 660 ml bottle of beer waiting in the fridge for me.
Are you going to pour that 660 ml bottle of beer into a pint glass......LOL.....
@@sedgetool A British pint glass is only 568 ml, and a Merkin pint is 473 ml. Perhaps - after I've had a mouthful.
I find it cool that there is a side effect from the US adopting metric, is that people using it for some reason never use centimeters. My country might be the odd one out, calling it 37.6 cm instead of 376 mm, or 2.344 m instead of 2344 mm.
Enlighten me, comments, how do people in your country say it?
lol yeah decimals can freak people out
I think that bigger units like centimeters and meters are easier to understand once your use of metric system has become instinctive. Milimeters are somewhat too precise and, frankly speaking, not always needed for use in everyday life. To use an example in Imperial, I wouldn't say that "I'm 72 inches tall" if I can simply say "I'm 6ft tall" and everyone understands what I'm talking about. Metric system i far easier to use since operating in increments of 10 and changing units by adding or substracting zeros is far less complicated than conversions in Imperial. I believe some Americans during their transition to metric are getting stuck on the smallest unit of measurement in common use and they have a hard time adjusting to bigger ones.
I work everything in mm
@@d2kno If your trade requires precise measurements, that makes perfect sense. On the other hand, I don't think anyone sane would try to measure a football field in inches instead of feets or yards. Some units are simply impractical in certain situations.
decimals baby !!!!
A double scale tape is a mistake: it is like trying to learn a new language by continuously translating to your natural language: you have to learn to "think" in the new language. I recently bought and start to use a swedish Hultafors all metric measuring tape with great success.
Great tip....Thanks !!!
Ironically, in Sweden we call folding rules "tumstock", which directly translate to "Inch log".
@@MariaEngstrom In german it is called "Zollstock" wich literally means "inch stick/log"
Dont mistake Zoll for Zoll in german. The first means inche and the second means toll/tariff. ;)
@@Meetmountain Interesting, most probably the Swedish word is based on the German word. Many of our words are based on German, like The German words "tag" and "stund", we have them both in Swedish, but they have lost their original mening and just mean "in a while".
In Dutch it means duimstok thumb stick. I usually thought it was because you got to hold your thumb against whatever surfaces end to keep it flush.
Great topic. Not an easy discussion. Very well explain though.
Glad you mentioned cm and meters. Talking in mm only is like buying with Pennie’s only.
Europe use to measure in foot and thumbs many year ago as well.
Thanks for watching
Oh yeah that is definitely true. I feel that any person working in an industry of making should use metric. For regular American people? Just use imperial, it's easier to visualize because we have worked with those for so long. Jimmy Carter, bless his heart tried to switch us to metric, but it didn't take. One day we will move to metric.
I agree !!!
11:22 "it is a very fine depth setting" and he hasn't found out about micrometres xd
Thanks !!!
Now I'm sad that I grew up with the metric system. I really want to learn it but I already know it 😭
lol
I spent a career using metric measures in the field, though we usually worked in meters. MIllimeters get cumbersome when you're shooting 500 meter long survey lines. I've memorized the conversions for millimeters and meters to inches and feet because reports typically wanted both either imperial or metric with the other in parentheses. In my shopI find that common fractions are actually easier for me to handle in my head, but I also don't use much plywood. So, I use both depending on circumstances. One thing that is an aggravation regardless of system are nominal measures for wood.
I agree ... Nominal measures aggravate me as well
Fantastic video... addresses common problems people say they have using metric or switching because their tools are imperial
For sure ... Thanks for watching....Hope all is well with you my friend !!!!
Fun fact. Of some reason, even us here in Europe, uses foot when we talk about boats and boat lengths. I guess it comes from the old boat builder traditions and that was imperial times here as well. When going into the paperwork that follows a boat, you will find the measures in metric, but discussing the boat, the general description of the boat, it's foot and imperial that counts.
Interesting ...
@@sedgetool This is actually the thing with nautic measurements they are a thing of it's own neither classic imperial nor SI. Foot for the measurments of a ship, knots for speed, nautic miles ( divided in cable length and fathoms). The imperial system fits partially in it bt there as some dicrepancies.
@@Aenur086 I had to look this up again and you are correct. An imperial foot is 30.48 cm and in Norway we have the nautical version defined by law as 31.374 cm. It seems like the reference to boat lengths or depth is more approximate lengths than used to define accurate measures. On the other hand, an Ibiza 20 Touring: 610cm = 20.0 foot imperial = 19.4 foot Nautical.
Inches and feet are used in plumbing and hydraulic stuff, tv sizes, tires and wheels, sawmaterial, pooltable sizes, flight height etc. etc. Old imperial ghosts are goofing around everywhere. No can do. 🤷♂️
@@teppogardemeister1908 You're so right Sir.
Former Carpenter myself, always used Metric - specifically millimetres in the workshop, if I ever had to
make the switch to Imperial I'd be buggered, it'd slow down my workflow so much (exaggerating a bit) over
the course of a day and time is money, really easy to calculate in Metric on the fly with next to no effort and
be accurate and switching between millimetres, centimetres, metres, etc. is just so fluid, it's all the same base
principle. Most I ever need a calculator for is working out the cost of the job.
Thanks for sharing
Our carpenters struggle with US Customary and still manage to complete more single family homes than the rest of the world combined does year on year. So workflow that!
@@1pcfred you build wooden shacks in comparison to houses in my surroundings.
@@denismilic1878 perhaps but we have more houses than you do. Quantity has a quality all its own.
@@1pcfred No, you don't we own more houses per capita than the USA. For example, I live in a house that is older than your country and that is not uncommon. If your pride is hurt don't worry you have more iron/glass skyscrapers per capita, and your houses are much bigger than ours but the quality is poorer.
In Australia we use metric, but particularly in building. In building anything it's all millimetres. Very precise..
Metric = accurate
When the Australian Construction Industry transitioned to SI (between 1974 and 1976) the SAA (now Standards Australia) produced Standard AS 1155-1974 "Metric Units for Use in the Construction Industry", which specified the use of millimetres as the small unit for the metrication upgrade.
This was formally stated as follows:
"The metric units for linear measurement in building and construction will be the metre (m) and the millimetre (mm), with the kilometre (km) being used where required. This will apply to all sectors of the industry, and the centimetre (cm) shall not be used. … the centimetre should not be used in any calculation and it should never be written down".
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metrication_in_Australia
See also ua-cam.com/video/_lshRAPvPZY/v-deo.html
and
ua-cam.com/video/1d3gAZ-Te3Y/v-deo.html
@@sedgetool Yeah imagine dividing fractions of an inch thats crazy. I use to work on bicycles and had metric spanners (wrenches) I have seen the imperial ones, they are so confusing, fractions of inches, completely weird..
Glad you talk sensibly here. You point out everyday occurences where metric is already in the foundation. As a German I now just hope you guys upgrade your electrical plugs and sockets some time.
Thanks,....... Metric is a foundation.... I could not express it any better. Thanks for watching
Dude, it's not a choice, today's imperial is based on metric anyway. The actual definition of one feet is 0.3048meter, one inch is 25.4mm, and so on. Using imperial is basically using metric's irregular denomination.
Thanks for clarifying
Now you have to use A4 paper.
wow...I had to look it up .A4.. I did not know there was Metric paper sizes.. Thank you...always learning!!!!
@@sedgetool well, it's not metric size, but because it's sides ratio is golden, it's like the metric equivalent of the paper world. In practical terms; if you fold an A4 in half, you get an A5, which means that you have to unravel it two times in in order to get an A3.
Edit: And obviously, beats the need for different paper sizes for each specific purpose
@@kornaros96 Also it makes printing so much easier.
Want to turn a flyer into a poster? Just scale it up - the ratio of height to width stays the same.
@@kornaros96 It is metric, A0 is exactly 1m2 in area and its proportions of the sides are 1/SCR(2) so it can always be folded in twice to make the next size smaller. So 16 A4 size papers are exactly one A0 size paper. And then we have the weight of that paper is for a full m2 so a 80-gram weight paper is 16 A6 so an A4 paper in 80-gram weight is 5 grams.
@@sedgetool yup. and our paper makes sense too. a5 is half of a4. a4 is half of a3 etc etc.
I remember when you went from inch to metric when I went to school in the late 60's in Sweden but in school we had used only the metric system. But when you went and bought timber at the lumberyard, inch used for a long time until the mid 80's since then it has almost disappeared. Take a 2x4 in. It is 50.8 x 101.6 mm but today they are all rounded to 50 x 100 mm which makes it much easier to calculate the material consumption. But certain sizes of e.g. boards are still in imperial but translated to metric.
wow.. thanks .. I struggle with the timber / lumber dimensions here in the U.S.A. ... it's all still imperial ..,. tough sometimes to estimate
You use what you use. How does calculating change anything? You calculate boards longer or something? GTFO
Stabila is from a little German palatinate town called Annweiler. It's really beautiful there, just 20km from where I live.
I would love to visit ..
Gotta admit... if I need a laugh these days, all I have to do is find one of these videos with American tradesmen blowing their IQ to pieces trying to come to grips with the metric system. Goddamn hilarious every time. Meanwhile the entire rest of the world has got the job done and is kicking back with a beer.
Thanks for sharing .....
@@sedgetool you’re welcome.
That's why we're building more houses in the USA than the entire rest of the world combined manages to year on year. Job well done mate! Hell burn a blunt with that beer too. And slap yourself on the back while you're at it.
@@1pcfred .. yes. Americans are exceptional at thinking they are exceptional. PS.. US military uses metric for some reason...
@@1pcfred I don’t know where you get your statistics from, but considering the USA is less than 5% of the world population, I doubt it.
Regardless of this, the number of houses built has nothing to do with the system of measurement used.
Haha. Just buisness as usual. Greedings from Germany
Hello there!
Mion meista
Hello there! Was des Meisters Hand nicht ziert, wird mit Silikon zugeschmiert!
I use imperial only because I live in Canada and we mainly use imperial for measuring length. MEtric is so much better, unfortunately we don't use it so I am not as familiar with it. It's amazing and convenient how things like 1000cm^3 = 1L, you can't do that in imperial, metric just makes so much sense.
for sure !!!
As an ex auto electrician here in Australia we have been working with the metric system for decades. Nearly all the bearings we used were manufactured in metric sizes. All are cable comes in metric lengths eg 10m 30m and 100m rolls.The core is in mm squared not gauge. The one thing is one litre of water weighs one kilogram, when you come to grips with all measurements weights and fluids are all based on units of ten, it all makes sense. We use KPH as our speed measurement , but unusually we still refer to MPH as older people. A hundred miles an hour still sounds good!
Very interesting....
I think most countries base it in cm rather than mm(Less zeros always helps). there are people that think of it based in mm but they usually work with very small and very fine detail tasks
It's the same thing in the end and totally up to a persons own preference though
Magnus.... Perfectly stated !!! Thank you !!!!!
This actually helped me understand imperial a bit better
and am now extra thankful that we don't have that here
Bro it’s literally the easiest thing ever
1234 milimeter
123,4 centimeter
12,34 decimeter
1,234 meter
@@2002THEBOY i think you misread my comment.
I have only used metric in my life, so imperial has always been weird to me, but this video helped me get a better idea of just how weird imperial is ;)
Metric is so much easier
Good video presentation. I work with metal lathe & milling machines. They are set up to read in thousandths of an inch. I can’t relate to metric since I’m not familiar with it. I know for most things metric would be easier but dials on my machines are not set up that way. DRO’s are expensive but could be set up either way
Thanks.... glad you liked it...
Nearly all good wood butchers etc in the UK will be able to swap between the two systems , generally imperial will be for rougher work and seeing as sheet stock ply /OSB and mdf mostly come in imperial size but drywall sheets come metric so it’s a ball ache sometimes when setting a timber frame out that is having sheathing boards in imperial on the outer layer and metric size boards on the inside
Great point
I'm impressed that your combination tape measure actually has millimetres on it. Here in South Africa our tape measures are only in centimetres and I love working in millimetres.
I use it for Cabinetry mostly
What kind of a low rent country do you live in?
The decimal numbering system we all use is base 10, so it makes sense that measuring in increments of 10 units is easier.
True
Hi, thank you for all the great videos! I am gearing up to make 32mm cabinets and I currently only have one metric measuing tape (the little Festool one). Can you make some recommendations on what to get started with? I assume the PPRule from woodpeckers is high on the list? I would like to get a square of some kind too. Fastcap tapes look nice but options are endless. Can't decide between the dual scale or true32 one.
My go to tape measure is the Fastcap imperial/metric dual scale !!! I also recommend and it is my go to set up square is the Woodpeckers 1281 square !!! I use it for everything ....very reliable
@@sedgetool Thank you! Any opinions on the flatback tape style for the fastback?
4:45 this made me laugh out loud. Good on you! So happy I don't have to use imperial : )
Thanks