Skip to main content

The commonality ruler


Anyone who has been practising woodworking or DIY , will most likely have came across or own a multi tool. Some of them are good, and some of them , are well ........... shite. And I think sometimes it's because there just not practical to the task(s) at hand. On the occasions they are practical to the task, they can be excellent.

Making myself a small wooden ruler, had been floating around in my head for a little while , which could fit in my pocket, and  would be really handy (helpful). Then I thought to myself, if i remove a section of wood , it will also be a small square, pretty handy as well . So that got me thinking, how many practical applications could I make this simple ruler perform, for the work I carry out ?

The answer was ten in total, and built my uses on commonality in my own work,  although two uses were a bit less common in my day to day work, they were still useful so I included them.



The first use is obvious, a ruler. A small ruler is very handy, practical and common for me to use in my work.


There is a small square , again common for me to use repetitively , for marking up edges and smaller pieces.


The square portion of tool , measures 80mm from the shoulder to the the end. 80mm is a common size I will regular rip material to, I normally set a small combination square and drag a pencil line down the length. So it made sense to use this measurement.


Keeping on the subject of dragging pencil lines. This is a ruler and a fence can be made , with the thumb and first finger for dragging lines pretty accurately.


On the same side of the square, there is a dovetail template. And I commonly cut dovetail joints. See where I'm going with the commonality?!


There is a 22mm circle cut in the ruler, this is to mark out a rounded edge. It's common for me to use around 22mm thick stock, and commonly round over dovetails and other edges.


There are a number of small holes down the ruler, these are at 10mm intervals. Add a pin, nail or another point and you have simple compass.


I have some pre-set angles on the ruler that I commonly use in my work. These allow me to quickly set my bevel.


Tilt the ruler to the right while in the square position, and I have an angle finder. This is the same idea as a speed square.


There are two larger holes in the ruler, which are a friction fit for pencils. Insert the pencils and tilt the ruler, use another pencil in the middle hole and the ruler is now a centre finder.

Making the ruler is pretty simple, a few cuts and you have the basic shape. However scoring the wood for the millimetre marks, is time consuming and fiddly . Take your time with this, as one mistake might mean, you have to start again. I bought a cheap number punch from Amazon for the the numbers, which didn't work out to great to be honest . The choice of my wood was poor, but it was scrap. It was kiln dried oak and was dry as sticks. The grain was loose as well. This made the wood a little difficult to work.  Some air dried oak would have been better , and some air dried beach would be excellent.

When I drilled the holes they ended up out of line, due to me being to eager and not spending the time with an awl. Making the ruler on the fly and being to eager, I also drilled the centre hole on the centre finder to big. It should have been a lot smaller , just enough to accommodate the pencil point. The compass holes also should have been smaller too (2mm). The centre finder holes should have been closer together to allow for better positioning of the layout angles . The ruler should have been 50 - 60mm instead of 40mm. The length (150mm) , I think is a good length, and the total thickness is 8mm and the square and dovetail portion is 4mm. This was rushed but, it is also a prototype and a usable one, mistakes and all, even the number 3!

Below is a YouTube video, showing the ruler in use and myself making it. Anyone wishing to support my blog/YouTube channel so l can continue to post videos and articles , can donate here https://www.paypal.me/unpluggedwoodworking


Labels:

Comments

  1. Unknown13 August 2018 at 01:33

    The commonality ruler is really cool - makes sense to have a tool that you can pick up and use in a multitude of situations. Thanks for the video!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Unplugged woodworking14 August 2018 at 18:19

      It does , doesn't it. Mk 2 coming soon. Thanks for reading/watching.

      Delete
  2. milkshake10 July 2021 at 17:18

    man, this is terrific. I have a scrap of pretty fancy, thin plywood, and I think i'll laminate the dovetail/square layer. I might not be able to get that bevel, though.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Unplugged woodworking10 July 2021 at 21:43

      Thanks man. I think I'll be making a mark 3 soon. There handy little gizmos to have around.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Roman workbench perfection?

So as you know (if you follow me on social media), I have just recently built, yet another Roman workbench! Which is starting to become normal practice, just as much as it is me saying "I think this will be the last one I build". Every time I build a bench, I do get closer to the optimal bench, and preferences are becoming crystal clear! I think the most predominant preference has to be the width. I seem to lean towards 15", it just seems like a nice width, for me to sit on and work on. My oak bench is the narrowest bench I have built, which I really don't like because of the width. That's a real shame, considering I like the length, and it has a shavehorse attachment. I would definitely say, I prefer a longer bench to a shorter bench. To date I have explored 4', 5' and 6', with 6' being my favourite. Don't get me wrong, I have built all manner of furniture on the 4' but, the 6' bench rules simply because, I am able to have...
12 comments
Read more

Using the roman workbench

Earlier this year, I read a few articles from the lost press art, about the roman workbench, then again with mortise and tenon magazine, which peaked my interest. I must admit I was impressed, but also sceptical. I mean most of us use a tall bench, with a vise, and only see a chair maker use a similar bench. For this reason, and because we don't know any different, we think we won't be able to carry out, some tasks. I wanted to build one, so that I could use it outside, especially with summer almost here. It appealed to me, with the fact, that I could just pick it up, and carry it outside. Also, the fact that I needed an extra saw horse, pretty much sold it to me. Any one who uses saw horses for sawing with hand saws, on a regular basis will know that, a bench of this size, will make life very easy for this task, because of large amount of surface area. So I built this with the idea that, in the worse case scenario, I had a very good saw bench. So it wasn't a bi...
6 comments
Read more

Exploring joints.

If you were to mention a woodworking joint, to a non woodworker, they would probably know of a joint/have a picture in there head, and think nothing more than the joint, joins two sections of wood together. Of course this is true however, there is a lot more to a joint, then just joining two sections of wood together. This often gets over looked by people, and they do not understand the mechanics of the joint. Which seems a shame, considering that understanding joints, will help you better choose a good joint, on a structure you may be designing, which will ultimately strengthen that structure. I think a lot of people choose a joint, because they know it to be strong, because someone said so, and without question, not fully understanding why they are using it. Take the good old dovetail in drawer construction. The pin portion will always be on the front of the drawer, because of the nature of a dovetail joint. The pins are like a group of wedges, fitting into wedge like gro...
19 comments
Read more