I had to make a run to the Nashville Flea Market this weekend to pick up some knives for my cheese boards. I have met a vendor from Texas that has been supplying me with spreading knives. He sales at the Flea Market each month in Nashville so I make the trip each month.

 

After picking up the knives I was looking around and the crowd was huge and the number of vendors was way up. As I was walking down a row I noticed this rule on a table and went over to give it a closer inspection.

 

 

After a bit of negotiations I was able to walk away with this Lufkin Lumber ruler. As we continued to walk around I had three people approach me wanting to know if I knew what it was and if I wanted to sell it. Sure glad I saw it first.

 

 

i have done no cleanup up to it so this is how I found it. Excellent condition.

 

It was easy for me to see right off it wasn't a Stanley, but a Lufkin.

 

So I did a little research and this style was patented in 1883. Wow and in this condition.

 

 

Well this one will join the indoor collection that just seems to continue to grow. It is now sitting on top of the display cabinet.

 

Well you just never know what you are going to find when out Patriot Picking...

 

 

Cool!

The lumber yard I get my wood from has a similar one hanging inside the front door. I've never seen them use it. The guys there do the cost calculations with a tape measure and brain calculator.

That's like me Lew. I have a printed chart and use a tape measure to estimate lumber before I take the logs to the mill.

Never seen one before and after looking closely at this one, I figure it is for lumber on a scale I know nothing about. Can you give me a brief description of how it was used?

40 minutes ago, Ron Altier said:

Never seen one before and after looking closely at this one, I figure it is for lumber on a scale I know nothing about. Can you give me a brief description of how it was used?

I don't profess to know how to use it. But I understand it is used to calculate the board feet of lumber based on the thickness and width. I imagine the length is measured with a tape measure

I buy my lumber from Frank Miller Lumber in Union City, Indiana and they have three of these hanging by the work table and they are used.  The next time I'm there I'll check them out a bit closer.

Here is the best explanation I was able to find. The is a three line lumber ruler.

 

A lumber scaling ruler, commonly referred to as a lumber rule or board rule, is used to determine the quantity of wood in terms of board feet in individual boards. A board foot is the measure of wood in a board one inch thick by twelve inches wide by twelve inches long.

The first step in determining the board footage in a board is to find the length of the board in feet. This can be accomplished easily with the standard lumber rule, as it is three feet long. Round off to the next lower footage figure—for example, if a board measures 14-3/4 feet, use the fourteen foot value. The standard “four-line” rule has scales (lengthwise groups of footage values) for 12’-10’-14’-16’ on one side and 9’-11’-13’-‘15’ on the other, while the “three-line” rule has scales for 12’- 14’-16’ and 8’-10’-18’. The board footage values for the various lengths are linear, so that, for example, a seven-foot board can be measured with the fourteen-foot scale using half the reading or a twenty-foot board with double the footage on the ten-foot scale.

Next, the rule is placed with the proper length scale face up across the width of the board and pulled so that the rule head is against the board’s edge. The rule is bent slightly by pushing down so that the rule is flat against the board. The number corresponding to the board footage is then read from the rule at the point where the edge crosses the rule. This board footage reading is taken from the scale corresponding to the length of the board. There are delineation marks half-way between the numbers defining the plus or minus cut-off points for each value. Thus, a particular board footage value is used whenever the width of the board falls within its range which is half-way to the next value either up or down.

The figure read is the board footage for that board assuming the board is one inch thick (4/4 lumber). Adjustment of the figure is required for other thicknesses. As examples, the footage read must be doubled when measuring two-inch thick (8/4) boards or multiplied by 1-1/2 when measuring 1-1/2 inch boards (6/4). When many boards of the same thickness are measured, usually this adjustment is made using the total. 

I have seen them used at the small private mill that I used to frequent.  Neat find!