Shoutout to the old guy at the lumber yard who still uses a wooden folding rule

I was picking up some cedar for a deck job yesterday and saw this older guy, must have been in his 70s, checking stock with a wooden folding rule. He was just so fast with it, snapping it open and closed. I said something like 'you don't see many of those anymore,' and he just shrugged and said 'This thing has been right for fifty years. The batteries never die.' It made me think about all the digital stuff we carry now. I use a laser for layout, sure, but I still have my grandpa's old steel tape in my bag. That guy's comment got me wondering if we rely too much on gadgets that can fail. There's something to be said for a tool that just works, with no screen or beep. Has anyone else held onto an old school tool that you still reach for first, even with newer options around?

3 comments

3 Comments

adam_adams14d ago

Yeah, my old hand plane is like that.

bennett.finley6d ago

Come on, is a laser really that much faster? You still have to set it up and make sure it's level. For a 30 foot line, a chalk line snaps in like five seconds. And that digital angle finder needs batteries, which always die right when you need them. Sometimes the fuzzy lines on an old square are good enough, you know? Not every cut needs to be perfect to a thousandth of an inch.

josephbutler14d ago

That "batteries never die" line sounds nice until you're trying to do a long layout alone. A laser lets me mark a 30 foot line in two seconds. That wooden rule is fine for checking a board, but it's useless for big work. My digital angle finder gives me a perfect reading every time, no squinting at fuzzy lines. The old tools are cool to look at, but the new ones let me work faster and more accurately.