Many thanks Marty. All my life I've been frustrated by this problem and have struggled on with half-baked solutions. Your solution is simple and elegant. Thank you.

Your mini-pinch sticks look like they would be useful, economical, and quick to make for smallish boxes. I'm a trim carpenter. Before I started to use a laser distance measuring device, I used the same Veritas hardware to make longer modified pinch sticks (aka bar gauges) that I used as accurate inside calipers to take measurements for crown, base, and other trim work, in particular when working up on a ladder and/or when measuring distances where a tape measure would either bow or be unable to stand out far enough. To do this, you can modify the basic Veritas bar gauge by adding an appropriate portion of a self-adhesive measuring tape to one of the pair of sticks, on its inner face. The measurement range of the portion of tape to be used starts where one end shows the exact length of the bar gauge when fully contracted. Then, when the gauge is extended, its extended length is indicated by the point where the end of the stick without the tape overlaps the one with it. Using the Veritas hardware, the sticks need to be about 1/4" x 3/4". For this caliper function, I leave the ends of the sticks square. One advantage of this calibrated bar gauge is that you can stand, or position your ladder, in the middle of a run and read the dimension from there, rather than from one end, as you would need to with a tape measure. Another often useful advantage is that once set to a given length, the pinch sticks serve as a physical distance gauge. This gauge can be useful, for example, if you want to find the maximum or minimum distance between two surfaces, such as a floor and ceiling, or the width of an irregular finished opening. This is a task more conveniently performed with the bar gauge than with a LDM, as you needn't note an individual measurement at each survey point. I generally carry a set of three such bar gauges, their lengths coordinated so that together they are capable of providing a continuous range of precise inside measurement readings of any length between about 2' and 10'. Their respective fully contracted lengths are 22", 36", and 58". I transport them in a simple case made from a 60" length of PVC pipe with threaded endcaps. Sorry for the lengthy verbal dissertation. I'm planning on devoting more time to posting pics and videos myself this year on my IG feed and website. Clearly, a few pics would be worth much more than all these words. I'm inspired by the content younger tradesmen post, and frankly amazed how they find the time to do it. Maybe check out #michaelschuler.carpentry.tools this Spring to see these bar gauges and some other tool hacks and innovations too.

@MartyBacke

3 жыл бұрын

Nice. Thanks for the commentary :-)

A great direct answer. Thank You

Great video Marty. Very useful tools.

I've watched a lot of your videos and your craftsmanship is unparalleled. You are a ball of fire.

Enjoyable and informative video!

Great idea,thank you

I was in the middle of a project and getting very frustrated about my failure to square one element of the construction - actually it was for a frMe for a compost heap on my allotment, so accuracy wasn’t of paramount importance but I needed to prove to myself I could do it. Your tip about using masking tape to ‘bind’ the two pieces of wood together was absolutely spot on. It worked a treat - just the right amount of resistance in sheer between the two pieces so I don’t even need any form of clamp to hold the measured distance to the other diagonal. Much as I love Veritas gear I really didn’t want to lash out on a ‘proper’ set. The last two elements of the project took a fraction of the time for the first. A thousand thanks. PS: I hope you don’t mind but I didn’t implement the metallic spray element of your video .... the blue masking tape looks fine,

@MartyBacke

4 жыл бұрын

Thanks for letting me know your success. And certainly you don't have to paint them. I just did that for kicks :-)

Very clever, I'll definitely try that

Thank

How do you attach the wooden clamp to your bench.enjoy your videos.

You must be a toolmaker at Boeing ,very precise ,nice job.

@MartyBacke

3 жыл бұрын

:-)

Instead of painter’s tape I’ll try using very thin sheet brass with an adhesive backing. Hopefully, I’ll get the same result but without having to paint.

I enjoyed the video and the build but I don't know what they are for or how to use them.

@MartyBacke

9 жыл бұрын

Frank Ingram Use the power of Google

@ShawnBean

6 жыл бұрын

Frank Ingram At the end of the video is a photograph showing one of the ways they are used: to check a box or a frame for squareness, set the pinch-sticks to fit from one corner to the opposite corner. Lock them down with the binder clip (or screw the clamp down on the Veritas hardware), then lift the pinch-sticks out and try to fit them between the remaining two corners; if they fit without any gap, the box or frame is square on all four corners. (If they don't fit, rack the frame to the side until the overage has been reduced by half, then check again. If there is a gap, rack the frame back towards the other side until the gap is reduced roughly by half, then check again.) Another way they can be used is to take an inside dimension by setting the pinch-sticks to span the desired measurement, lock them in, and then measure the pinch-sticks end-to-end with a steel rule or tape measure. One can also take that locked-in inside dimension measurement and compare it to a mating part by setting the pinch-sticks against the part to fit that measurement. The parallelism of sides can also be verified by setting the pinch-sticks to the measurement between the sides at one point, locking them down, and then seeing that they fit between the same two sides at other points. Because they measure by actually fitting into the distance being measured, they are more accurate than setting a steel rule or tape measure above the desired measurement and eyeballing the measurement for a numerical reading. They also eliminate errors when reading the measurement, such as misreading a sixteenth-mark as an eighth-mark, or reading from the wrong side of the nearest number and thus subtracting three-eighths instead of adding it ("Dang it! I've cut the blasted thing three times and it _still_ doesn't reach!"), or even just misremembering the measurement taken. Pinch-sticks actually record the distance, instead of comparing that distance to a marked scale.

Can you point me to the location where I can buy the Lee Valley pinch stick clamps? I looked on their site but couldn't find them.

@MartyBacke

4 жыл бұрын

www.leevalley.com/en-us/shop/tools/hand-tools/marking-and-measuring/32585-veritas-bar-gauge-heads

My dear friend,are these for measuring,say ,for measuring the length of a new shelf you are going to cut, is that what they are for,thanks,

@MartyBacke

3 жыл бұрын

I use them when gluing up boxes to determine if they are square.

I've always considered it sad that I have never done a simple project like this because I need them all the time. Using the painters tape was cool.

Nice tip about the blue tape but man this video put me to sleep, trying to get to that part

@MartyBacke

Жыл бұрын

Thank you for the thoughtful comment

I’m with frank , why build a tool and not explain what its for??? Now that someone else explained it, it would be useful to have.

@JDeWittDIY

4 жыл бұрын

Use 'em to check if a box is square-- the two opposite diagonal measurements should be equal.

Louder.

If he was doing a job for me I wouldn’t want him on hourly rate

@MartyBacke

3 жыл бұрын

I wouldn't either. I do this for enjoyment :-)

@timb.6269

3 жыл бұрын

Well put Marty. I do it for pleasure too. It relaxes me so I can appreciate the generosity of folks like you who post useful information, and keeps me from getting irritable and posting snarky comments on You Tube.

You paint the blue tape and wait 24 hours to dray ?!!

@MartyBacke

4 жыл бұрын

Wait as long as it takes for the paint to dry. Often I'll paint in the evening and then it'll be dry enough by the next day.

Very interesting video, but couldnt hear what you were saying if you talking to yourself about what to do, or if you were telling us how to do it. Again very interested in the video. Just couldn't make out what was being said

You are so soft spoken, that it is hard to hear/understand what you are saying.

@joshc4339

4 жыл бұрын

turn up the volume. :-)

Thanks for the video; but, seriously, painting painter's tape seems a bit anal retentive to me

@MartyBacke

5 жыл бұрын

I'm not sure what that means in this context. This is my implementation of what Chris Schwarz described awhile back if that name means anything to you. Maybe he's anal retentive too.

Corner to corner is cool and all but if one side is off to the same degree you will always get an inaccurate measurement. Ask me how I know. Always check your corners for square.

@MartyBacke

6 жыл бұрын

What you wrote is not correct. When a square or rectangle does not consist of four 90-degree corners, you have a parallelogram. Pinch sticks are used to detect a parallelogram. Always works. Always. Crack open one of your old geometry books. Maybe you're referring to situations where one or more sides are warped (not straight). You've got bigger problems if you're trying to construct a square box with warped wood.

My gord, it'll take you a week to make at that rate ....by the way , the real name are ( Pinch Rods )

@MartyBacke

4 жыл бұрын

You're being pedantic. They go by many different names. And it only took me a couple of hours to make half a dozen.

@michaelpalmer937

4 жыл бұрын

Marty Backe No ...its the only name we in England have called them since almost 1066 since birth of the English language, like l hear only from America the term saw horse , or Rabbet. it's call a saw stool, and a rebate ,...but hay never let the real true , and terminology get in the way of being pedantic ? English Mik

@MartyBacke

4 жыл бұрын

@@michaelpalmer937 Your reply is hilarious, proving my point :-)

@tonyrhino

4 жыл бұрын

@@michaelpalmer937 And 710 years later we decided not to call them rods anymore

very exciting video but i fell asleep half way through. sorry!

Please get a mic or turn up the audio post when you edit. We didn’t need to see you paint the tape and after all that you never showed them in use. I won’t subscribe to you channel because I feel the videos are longer than needed. Now all that said the information was good and helpful.

Oh I could do it slower than that.... Jesus....

Sound quality is very bad why do you talk so low and slow

@MartyBacke

3 жыл бұрын

Because I'm not very good at making videos.

How do you attach the wooden clamp to your bench.enjoy your videos.

@MartyBacke

8 жыл бұрын

+Gordon Berkey All of my wooden clamps have two holes drilled through them which allows me to attach them to the workbench via a couple of flathead machine screws. The one you see is permanently mounted.