We were talking at work today about the small black diamonds on our tape measures. We all use Stanley tape measures but cannot figure out the purpse. The first one starts out on the 19 3/16 th mark and then again around the 36 5/8 mark and so-on. The span is not all the same. Can anyone help us out?
Thanks
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Replies
You don't realize it yet, but you have just nominated yourself to the BT Diamond sweepstake. Your email in box will soon be swamped with noitices of replies. Have fun selecting the winning entry.
I'll be back later with the real answer.
Oh boy, is this gonna be fun! we haven't done this one for awhile.
LOL
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Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime.
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My line of work is restoration, I do not do any kind of framing for new construction. Not one building I work on is square plumb or level. I do see where someone could be led on an amusing run around but hey, whatever. I don't use these dots today and ya know what? probably won't tomorrow. Anyway, Thanks to all for their input whether it was helpful or just another smart #### taking advantage of the situation. To all who got a kick out this this.........you're welcome. I did not get a chance to read all the threads that followed the question but I had a feeling this was either a common question or one that deems worthy of sarcasm by all the replies.
" Looks good from my house!!"
I had a feeling this was either a common question
You could say that. this comes up about 10 or 12 times a year.... for a funny read you ought to get one of the old timers to send you a copy of the thread about 'beckman's rooftop bordello and how to clean the gutters out'
or just try to use the search function for 'Black Diamonds'
I think the sarcasam is kinda built in....
Adam
Hey, you got the answer and I hope had a little fun too. Stick around awhile and you'll have plenty of chances to stick to one of us.
Never serious, but always right.
Hey no offence was meant. Now if you were asking about uses for dry wall screws!!!
An ex-boat builder treading water!
I broke my favorite tape measure today~~~
It is a 16' TAPE-SQUARE made by EVANS-RULE.
It has a lip on the bottom to use as a T Square on a 2x4 and a 45* miter on the top. It is the handiest tool I own.
If I can't find another one like it I will buy a new one and use the guts in it to fix my old one.
BT
No sarcasm, just good fun.
It's amazing some of the explanations we've heard that people actually believe from jobsites. So we just have to add to the list in creative ways. one good myth deserves another, you know.
;)
Take the time to go back and read the whole thread with your other eye open for some good belly laughs now.
Believe it or nopt, I have come across older homes several times that were laid out at 19-3/16" OC. And then there are those that are not laid out at all but the guy who built them should be laid out...
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
It's for 19.2" layout
Used mostly for laying out engineered joists, etc.
24" oc means 8' sheet covers 4 bays.
16" oc you cover 6 bays.
19.2" oc you cover 5 joist bays with an 8' sheet of ply.
It's either that, or it means everyone on your crew has won a major award!
Man O man! two serious replies to this right out of the starting gate!
your second mark should be at 38-3/8". Maybe Stanley made a mistake.
Welcome to the
Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime.
where ...
Excellence is its own reward!
Sucks doesn't it???
Saw the thread title and thought ALLRIGHT!!!!
Bummer.....Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming.... WOW!!! What a Ride!
Well that was absolutely no fun.
I honestly thought it had something to do with raising chickens on low slope metal roofs.... or was that goats. Litebulbs?
Hmmmm.
These are the cubit marks. They are actually 19.2" apart. This is one fifth of eight feet or the length of Moses's forearm. You remember the biblical story of Moses and the ark don't you?
Mr. Stanley, the inventor of the tape measure, was a devout Christian and wanted his tapes to be as euchamistic as possible. They are not available in Muslim nor Shinto countries.
~Peter
You have just saved the day. Those two guys really took the fun out of the thread. I am going to put them in the black (diamond) list.
PM22, I think you got that biblical story mixed up. Joan of Ark was Noah's wife, wasn't it.
Tell us more about Moses and the ark.
What was Noah doing while Stanly invented the steel tape?
Did he know the differennce between a Black diamond and a dumb blonde?
For that matter, were the animals on the ark blonde, or the ones who stayed behind?
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
Moses wrote the tin commandments and put them inthe Ark of the Covenant because it was convenient. He made them out of tin so they wouldn't rust and we still have them.
Fossilized remants prove conclusively that his arm -- from tip of elbow to tip of extended middle finger [why"] was exactly 19.200" inches long.
All the blond animals flocked down to the sea shore when they heard there was a big wave coming.
~Peter
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own punishment!
from tip of elbow to tip of extended middle finger
Having had to sit through The History of Ancient Architecture, I am forced to add that the common cubit is only the forearm length, or six hands (fingers flat, thumb along side of the hand). This is in contrast to the royal cubit which is seven hands (and, therefore, include the hand on the end of th eforearm).
Why the distinction? Simple, it's a secret. The scret can be relealed now, though. Using a unit of length divisible by 7 allows you to use 22/7 for pi to calculate distances of a length that takes in the curvature of the planet.Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
>> ... the common cubit is only the forearm length, or six hands (fingers flat, thumb along
>> side of the hand).
You either got real long forearms or real narrow hands. My forearm is only 2-2/3 hands by your definition. Three hands if I omit the thumbs.
Hey Unc do we call ya 'lil bit now???
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming.... WOW!!! What a Ride!
Edited 4/23/2004 1:24 am ET by IMERC
My forearm is only 2-2/3 hands by your definition. Three hands if I omit the thumbs
Ah, yes, one of the reasons that cubits are not a common unit of measure. The unit of measurement varied by the user. It does (did) not help that a "hand" is different than a "span," even though it uses the same extremity (a "hand" in this instance is around 5", but a span is anywhere from 6 to 8"; the "hands" used for measuring livestock are completely different, too.)
We are lucky that there is not, in fact, a whole card deck on our tapes as is. Ask some one who sews, a yard is (about) the distance from shoulder to index finger. In days of old, a fathom was the distance from thumb to thumb with the arms outstretched. That would be two yards and the width of a torso, in sewing terms.Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
Hey, watch what you're saying. Joan of Ark was no dumb blonde.
Is that measured from the inside of the elbow, or outside ?
If inside, then Noah must have been one big dood !!
For the rest of the time that you're given Why walk when you can fly
quittintime
He could reach out and touch most anything he wished...Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming.... WOW!!! What a Ride!
Are you NEW to this board??? You 'use' a tape measure at work, and don't know what the marks are for??? I don't come anywhere near a hammer or drill at work, but I've been reading this long enough that I've seen some pretty funny replies.
you'll notice that four differant tape measure makers each use a differant suit for those markings from a deck of cards.
stanley uses diamonds
lufkin uses hearts
sears uses clubs
klien uses spades
collect 'em all and have yourself a poker game during coffee.
Saw something like that just the other day....what the heck was I thinking?
Ok ok ok ok .....
I do see humor......I will always point that out even if it is toward me......
I have to ask Heck to downsize this picture and post it again so I can print it on one page
thanks" Looks good from my house!!"
Smiling is good for you, Shoe!I'm afraid I never figured out how to change the size on the pictures... I try to scan them as small as possible....What has always worked for me is to right click on the attachment icon and open in a new page.We were just ribbin' ya a little to make you part of the gang!
Salud!Heckwhat the heck was I thinking?
I hold no grudges
I'm not sure about Mac comps but if you have the "paint" program on your computer, open the picture in that. Click on the Image tab on top, click stertch/skew and in the horizontal and vertical boxes type 25. Don't forget to save it.
Hope it works for ya. If not I did enjoy the comic.
" Looks good from my house!!"
---"...the "hands" used for measuring livestock are completely different, too.)"
Right. A hand when measuring livestock (at the withers, where the upper part of the neck attaches to the back) is 4".
A horse can be 15 hands, or 15.2 hands but not 15.5 hands. That is 16.1 hands.
Anything under 14.2 hands is a pony, above, a horse.
I am 4.11" feet, so barely above pony size. For show purposes, we used to measure growing small horses by me, to see if they had gone oversize for pony classes. <G>
Can I come over and double check how many *hands* you are ?
; )
For the rest of the time that you're given Why walk when you can fly
quittintime
I bet shes a handful!!
:)Mr T
Happiness is a cold wet nose
Life is is never to busy to stop and pet the Doggies!!
---"Can I come over and double check how many *hands* you are ?"---
Well, I will confess that I was tiptoeing when I last checked with the horse's measuring stick but at my size, every little bit counts. <G>
every little bit counts.
With Luka that means a lot....Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming.... WOW!!! What a Ride!
It would have been fun to lead you on but actually they are what they say they are. Its also one of the three common questions a GC will ask before hiring a carpenter.
1. Q. Whats the black diamond on your tape for or what's 19.2
A. You already got that in the posts above
2. Q. Whats the angle of the legs on a saw horse
A. 13 deg.
3. Q. Can you drink a six pack after work and pee over the top of the bosses 4x4 without getting the hood wet.
A. Yup. My brother bubba can clear two of them thar foriegn 4x's, except the Tacoma. Bubba's a framer and I'm a finish guy.
Hire him and bubba too!
You mean I have to take all my saw horses out back and shoot em?
Darn....I never used 13 degrees.Do anything...even if it's wrong...It's not wrong...It's rustic!
Methods & Materials Building Co.
Authentic Timber Framing & Classic Carpentry
http://www.methods-materials.com
.what the heck was I thinking?
Jimbo!!
How ya Doing!
Where the Heck ya been?
Missed your inimitable art form!Mr T
Happiness is a cold wet nose
Life is is never to busy to stop and pet the Doggies!!
Thanks, T
I got lost in the wilderness, then I took a wrong turn at Albuquerque.....:)Haven't had a lot of spare time lately, like everyone else.....
Salud!Jameswhat the heck was I thinking?
You took the words right the heck out of my mouth.
Hiya Heck!
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
Hey piff, I hope everything is good with you....:-)
Heckwhat the heck was I thinking?
Welcome back to the neighborhood
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
The diamonds? You guys got tapes with diamonds????????
And you don't know?????? OMG
You won a trip to Bhagdad.
Be a winner
andy
My life is my passion!
http://CLIFFORDRENOVATIONS.COM
If you are under the 1st diamond in height or over the 2nd, you cannot play on the playground equipment at Micky D's. Actually in previous times the diamonds were used as a measurement of weight.
Are you sure?
I thought they were for figuring the pitch / slope for a rooftop bordello.
Adam
I had always heard that Horatio Stanley, the founder, was a member of a secret fraternal order who's symbol was the Black Diamond. The spacing is the cube root of the height of the pyramid at Giza, where their order held it's first convocation... they subsequently merged with the Masons after the Crusades, who incorporated this spacing into the dividers shown in their crest...
Well, in the spirit of not wanting to be mistaken or resistant to other theories, I volunteer to join a fact finding junket, chaired by you to personally investigate your hypothesis. When do we leave? How much cash should I bring? Will I need a change of underwear?
Never serious, but always right.
Sounds like a Muddy Waters tune... in E of course
"Black diamonds on my tape measure....
and I hasn't got a clue"
(oh sing it again)
"Black diamonds on my tape measure...
oh Lawd, not a clue"
"You know I laid out the framin' Monday,
an' by Wednesday it all fell through"
"WALLLLLLL!,
oh wall cain't ya stay up fer me"
(oh hep me now...)
"I said wall...! (yes?)
Oh wall stay up fer me"
"Black Diamonds lay me low.
Da man say sixteen O. Ceeeeee...."
(guitar bridge)
(now the sax)
(look out)
"Ohhhhhhhhh, Black diamonds on my tape measure
an' ain't no one got a clue" (oh sweet Jesus)
"Ooooooh diamonds...
these fools is foolin' you"
"You know I'm wastin' time on Breaktime...
diamonds is so black, and I'm soooo bluuuue..."
(crash boom bang.... here's my strut, where's my robe?)
Sposed to be 15 degrees
Too late. Sawhorse already gone. :-(what the heck was I thinking?
A kiss on the hand can be quite continental
But diamonds are a girl's best friend!
Seriously, if something was laid out by the black diamonds it would be hard to find any "good wood" to nail. No wonder I can't find a decent stud!
*BG*
it would be hard to find any "good wood" to nail. No wonder I can't find a decent stud!
Yur search has come to an end look no further....Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming.... WOW!!! What a Ride!