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Places that offer wood cutting
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What's wrong with using centimetres?
As EssexExile says, we were taught to use mm. SI units go up in powers of 3.
You won't generally find engineers, woodworkers, scientists, or anyone who relies on accurate measurement using cm.
mm are more useful in the real world.
For some, I think historic, reason cm are (still) taught in schools.
It adds confusion as well. I look at 40 X 15 and automatically think it's a small piece. . .
Most tools and instruments are calibrated in mm. I've just bought a metric micrometer. It reads in mm. Not cm.
Some rules seem to have cm marked, but I wonder if that saves putting a "0" on each number. . .0 -
As EssexExile says, we were taught to use mm. SI units go up in powers of 3.
You won't generally find engineers, woodworkers, scientists, or anyone who relies on accurate measurement using cm.
mm are more useful in the real world.
For some, I think historic, reason cm are (still) taught in schools.
It adds confusion as well. I look at 40 X 15 and automatically think it's a small piece. . .
Most tools and instruments are calibrated in mm. I've just bought a metric micrometer. It reads in mm. Not cm.
Some rules seem to have cm marked, but I wonder if that saves putting a "0" on each number. . .
Your lucky i still prefer feet and inches but i am of a certain age :rotfl:0 -
For some, I think historic, reason cm are (still) taught in schools.
I remember the 1 cm wooden cubes used to teach volume, so 10 x 10 x 10 blocks made a litre. Difficult to show that with mm or m sizes I suppose.
Those crazy europeans use dl (deci litre) as well, eg 75 dl bottle of wine.0 -
I was taught in feet and inches. When I learned engineering machining in the early 70s as part of my apprenticeship we were using imperial measurement. As I remember it, it was always "You'll have to learn to use metric. . ."Your lucky i still prefer feet and inches but i am of a certain age :rotfl:
I mostly used feet and inches up until 1990. Then I bought some new woodworking machines, and they were all marked in metric.
It seemed easier to just change TBH.
Never gone back. It's a lot easier.coffeehound wrote: »I remember the 1 cm wooden cubes used to teach volume, so 10 x 10 x 10 blocks made a litre. Difficult to show that with mm or m sizes I suppose.
Those crazy europeans use dl (deci litre) as well, eg 75 dl bottle of wine.
The whole thing's a bit crazy though isn't it.
I can understand people liking a convenient size for a unit, and I suppose for a lot of general stuff a cm is "near enough"
Then you have the North Americans who won't use metric generally.
I was looking at a chart the other day for metric bolt sizes. I was looking specifically for "diameter" of the hex head, ie "across points" not "across flats"
Brain switched firmly off, it took me a second (or several) to realise that they had been converted to decimal inches.
It all adds confusion!
We were told a story as apprentices, that mm were used in engineering in preference to cm because it lessened the chance of confusion.
And that there was a real case of someone making something in cm, that had been drawn in mm.
Probably apocryphal, but it does make a point.0 -
EssexExile wrote: »I was taught that the used powers of 10 go up in threes. So you use μm, mm, m, Km, etc. Not the ones in between like dm, cm, Dm, etc. I suspect Jackmydad is a similar age to me.
All tradesmen who have been trained, architects, engineers, surveyors etc will never use cm. They will only use mm and m. It is to do with the SI system which came in in the 1970's. I do not know why TV presenters sometimes use cm's.
PS. All these building professionals above will sometimes use inches and feet, but never the cm.0 -
How much is the piece of wood worth?
How about selling your piece and buying precut wood somewhere else
My local timber merchant offer cut wood delivered.
If you went in during a quiet period they might cut it for you, for a few quid.Changing the world, one sarcastic comment at a time.0 -
We were told a story as apprentices, that mm were used in engineering in preference to cm because it lessened the chance of confusion.
And that there was a real case of someone making something in cm, that had been drawn in mm.
Probably apocryphal, but it does make a point.
Spinal Taps Stonehenge Megalith... inches instead of feet :rotfl:0
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