Taking a little survey today.  What is your preferred unit of measurement, English or Metric? I typically use English but  I have found that if I need to really be super precise I find myself shifting to metric.

I guess I prefer English. I learned "New math" in the 60's which was mixed in with some "Old math" my dad taught me.

27 minutes ago, Ron Dudelston said:

I typically use English but  I have found that if I need to really be super precise I find myself shifting to metric.

ditto

 

Metric, preferred hands down. That said, I use English more...probably out of habit.But when precision counts I'll switch to metric.

 Depends on which fits that  rusted bolt/nut. 

Mostly English but my laser uses metrics so when creating burning images I switch to metrics.

the King's proper system of measurement:  inches, feet, yards, furlongs, miles, and fractions thereof.

 

i'm 61, i grew up with these, i think in these.  was exposed to metric in the 70s, but never used it in any useful manner.  even engineering school was in pounds/feet/F.

 

i have a sense of what a BTU is, but not a Joule/Newton.....

 

a pint is a pound the world around.  1 gallon is exactly 231 cubic inches, and my thumb is exactly 1 inch wide.  carry it with me at all times.  how handy.

English Ron. It's just natural to me. About the only time I would use metric in woodworking is because something is mentioned in metric or some kind of instruction. I like to peruse the green woodworking community websites out of Europe, a lot, so much of what they discuss is metric, such as tool sizes, etc.

But when it comes to my own work, Englis.

And of course, whenever I can get away from measuring completely, I will!

my wife was constantly amazed when she'd have something of unknown dimension, and i'd look at it from across the room and say it's 5-1/4" wide (or whatever the size was), and then we'd measure it, and it would be very close to what i said it was.

 

work with human dimensions long enough in the shop, and it becomes second nature to see how big things are before you measure them.

 

what's the metric measurement?  no idea....let's see, 25.4mm=1 inch, 25.4x5.25....hold on, i need my calculator.......ah, got it....133mm+

For woodworking I use "english" exclusively.  It's typically called US Customary Units these days.  I guess the English threw a fit

 

I rarely find the need to measure below 1/32" in woodworking, any finer than that and it's easier to dispense with measurement and sneak up on fit - like when scraping down string inlay to fit in a 1/16" groove.

 

For some of the engineering work at the day job I need to use either one and convert between them.  Fairly easy to do, 0.001" is 25 microns, which of course is 0.025 mm.  At that level I prefer using microns, though it's also useful to convert them back to thousandths of an inch in order to get a good idea of how truly small some of the slop is.  I had a case of that last week.

Spent my first seven years in the old country, where everything was metric. Went to school here, so promptly forgot all the metric. Sometime in the 70's (IIRC) Canada decided to go metric, which didn't work out too well. What size is a metric 2x4? How about a 4x8 sheet of plywood? So now I drive in kilometers per hour, work wood in inches and feet (and fractions thereof), check the temperature in Celsius (AKA Centigrade in some circles), and try to convert that to Fahrenheit so that most of you on here will know exactly how cold it is here! Oh, yes, let's not forget that I worked on forms in my youth, so I can still measure in rods, chains, stone and furlongs per fortnight if necessary.

Edited February 6, 20251 yr by HARO50

F has much finer gradations at human temps than C, so if you are told the temp range in F, you know how to dress, but if you are told it'll be in the 0-10 range C, well that's between freezing and 50F (comfy).  40s in F, light jacket, done.  70s?  a nice day, t-shirt it is.

 

that's the one draw back of C for daily use.

Nah, after 50 or so years, I've learned how to dress for Celsius. After all, I'm not a complete idiot! (Some parts are missing.)

-40F=-40C; 32F=0C; 50F=10C

Mostly English.  I can estimate 12 vs 18 inches but don't have enough experience to estimate 30 vs 50 cm.  I will switch to metric when it helps the math, e.g., divide 24 cm into three equal parts

Celcius just makes more sense.....I mean, water boils at 100° and freezes at zero.  Sure, I'm used to Fahrenheit but that doesn't mean it's better.

Metric makes better sense.  Had we used it the last 30 years we'd be pros at it by now.

 Now where did I put that left-handed metric slotted screwdriver? 

Standard. Cabinet and furniture shop generally use standard. The only time you see metric is with foreign machinery purchases, but even Altendorf offers is either way…

2 hours ago, Larry Buskirk said:

 Now where did I put that left-handed metric slotted screwdriver? 

I can send you one of my spares if you can't find it!