Measuring, Part 2

Carpentry is a noble pursuit with a spectrum of grades of production and finish. Bless the scaffold carpenters who hammer up temporary staging with rough lumber and double-headed nails. At the other end of the skill specrtrum are Japanese woodworkers, who join perfectly grained wood with joints of inscrutable complexity and painful precision.

In the previous issue, we discussed the heritage of measurement and the easy ways we take off, or record, dimensions. The boatwright’s level of skill is formidable, and it depends on a high level of precise measurement. Length and width are not challenging for barn builders working in a rectilinear format, but boats are a symphony of curves and shapes. A boat’s constantly varying dimensions can be faithfully recorded with tools more versatile than a 25' tape measure.

The carpenter’s pencil at first glance seems like a crude tool for rough measures. But it is as underestimated as the framing square, which has multiple inch divisions and incised tables for abstruse joint angles and proportions. The easily sharpened No. 2 Ticonderoga pencil would seem to be a more modern and precise tool, but the venerable boxy wood butcher’s pencil has hidden virtues. Two obvious advantages: it fits behind your ear perfectly and it won’t roll off your bench. It’s also tough; it won’t break as easily as the thin Ticonderoga.

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