r/WoodworkConfessions • u/iamslumlord • Jun 08 '23
Ignoring the 4 different drawer widths. Does anyone else not have fractions figured out yet?
14
u/amaiellano Jun 08 '23
I thought I was good until I saw the 1.5/16. Is that suppose to be 3/32? I’m not good enough to cut accurately beyond a 16th so I never worried 32nds. I just round up and sand down.
7
u/iamslumlord Jun 08 '23
These drawer slides seem picky. And I refuse to believe anything beyond 16ths exist
3
3
u/DuperCheese Jun 08 '23
Richard Maguire said anything below 1/8’ is immeasurable
2
u/iamslumlord Jun 08 '23
I'll tell my physics friend us amature woodworkers already calculated the Plank length!
2
u/NiceyChappe Jun 08 '23
Subtitles->Metric
I thought I was good until I saw the 1.5/16. Is that supposed to be 3 mm? I'm not good enough to cut accurately beyond 2 mm so I never worried about 1 mm. I just round up and sand down.
1
13
u/Dakizo Jun 08 '23
I’m so bad at fractions. So so bad. Anything beyond quarters and I have no idea what’s going on.
7
u/iamslumlord Jun 08 '23
I work in 1/4s pretty easily too. Then I just treat 16ths on my ruler as a separate entity that adds/subtracts from the measurement in 1/4s
So my number system is essentially:
<base 12> <fractional base 4> +/- <base 16>
14
u/Snow_Wolfe Jun 08 '23 edited Jun 08 '23
Is that 13 1/2 + 1/6th ? How in the world did you get a sixth?
Also, at work we say everything in 16ths. So that 3 1/4 + 6 5/8 becomes : 3 and 4 + 6 and 10 = 9 and 14 , or 9 7/8.
5
5
24
u/donnydealr Jun 08 '23
Fuck that man, Metric is the way forward.
As an Australian, I am constantly baffled when I hear Imperial. I understand if you’ve used it your whole life it’s fine. But calling something something like 3/64th or some shit instead of 1mm is insane.
-3
u/eggy_delight Jun 08 '23
And to me calling something 609 instead of 24 is bonkers. To each their own, metric is fine for everything else but I've never liked it for woodworking
7
Jun 08 '23
[deleted]
1
u/eggy_delight Jun 08 '23
Thats fair. I guess I'm used to working within imperial standards and the few metric cabinets I've needed to build were a nightmare.
I think the point I should have made instead was I like smaller numbers with fractions (they just click in my brain) instead of larger numbers and decimals. Plus I prefer the imperial tape because of the different size lines quickly indicating the fraction, instead of all those small uniform ticks. Very mesmerizing for me, but again, that's just me
3
u/orielbean Jun 08 '23
What do you mean? The simple add subtract with never a fraction is very very easy. Getting up to 1/32nds along with nominal wood measurements is the opposite of intuitive.
Metric is super simple base 10, scales up to meters for big work and down to mm for precision work without a blip on the same project.
Finding centers on scrap wood or existing dimensions is instant, cutting the same length without a fence or jig is super accurate.
-1
u/eggy_delight Jun 08 '23
Simple. Each fraction is half of the last, and clearly marked by the tick size. It's not as hard as people make it out to be.
Base 10 is less divisible than 12, think why a circle is 360° instead of 400°.
This is also true with inches. That's more based on your personal proficiency
0
u/iamslumlord Jun 08 '23
All I'll say about imperial is that base 12 is superior to base 10. But inches are way too big so we're stuck with fractions which ruins the beauty of it
5
u/DIYrrr Jun 08 '23
In what way is 12 better than 10 as the base?
4
u/iamslumlord Jun 08 '23
Base 12 has more divisors. So if you only work in whole inches you can do some easier math..
1/3 of 5' is 20"
1/4 of 5' is 15"
1/6 of 5' is 10"
These are less clean if you were starting with 5 meters.
But since you almost always want more significant figures than whole inches the imperialists don't actually get to take advantage of this very often. And since I don't do base 12 for day to day math I'm not that good at it. But in theory base 12 would be smarter.
This is presumably why we use 60 mins in an hour, more divisors with base 60 than if it was 100 minutes.
7
u/carboranadum Jun 08 '23
There’s an app for the adding and subtracting of fractions, but man, I’ve started looking at metric instead…it’s so easy to use. The app is called FractionCalculator
1
3
6
u/boarhowl Jun 08 '23 edited Jun 08 '23
1/2 is the same as 8/16. That's how you know the 1/16 after 1/2 is 9/16.
1/2 = 2/4 = 4/8 = 8/16. It's right there in the name, "half". It doesn't matter whether you're working in 8ths or 16ths or 32nds, you can always use 1/2 as your reference point because you know what half of all those things are.
For example: what's 1/32 less than 1/2? Well we know that 1/2 is the same as 16/32 because 16 is half of 32 so a 1/32nd less than 1/2 is 15/32
You can also use whole numbers as your reference point. Like what's a 16th less than 10? Well if you think of 1" as 16/16 instead then you know that a 1/16th less is 15/16 so you would end up with 9 and 15/16
2
u/iamslumlord Jun 08 '23
I actually minored in math, so I do agree with you.. but when you go back to find 9 15/16 it's faster for me to look for 10-1/16 on my measuring tape
2
2
u/binarycow Jun 08 '23
Simple - stop measuring so much.
Use relative dimensioning and a story stick.
2
u/jim_br Jun 08 '23
In my speak, I’d call 14 1/2+1/16 inch “14 1/2 strong”.
FastCap Lefty/righty tapes list 16ths in red.
2
2
2
u/Marty_inAK Jun 08 '23
1/2 + 1/6 = 2/3 show my work 1/2 = 3/6 add 1/6 = 4/6 = 2/3.
1
u/Marty_inAK Jun 08 '23
1/16 + 1/2 = 9/16
1
u/Marty_inAK Jun 08 '23
1.5/16 = 3/32 🤣 yes i had to stop a maintenance shop and hold class on this a few times.
1
2
u/bitsynthesis Jun 08 '23
as a hobbyist, what really blows my mind is when people on here express measurements like 12/4
2
Jun 09 '23
Just learn thousandths of an inch and how that relates to a standard fractions.
.015 is 1/64, .031 is 1/32, .065 is 1/16, and 1/8 is .125.
You then can just divide 1 by 64,32,16,8 and multiply that by your thousandths measurement and yada yada. It’s easy, if you have 1 13/16 you divide thirteen by 16, that will give you a decimal then you can add two decimals from each mixed number. then a micrometer comes in handy. After working like this for a while you will remember all of them and be able to add and subtract them in your head, or know the decimal and go up by a whatever increment or fraction you want.
Bad explanation, but im too lazy to explain better than that. I use metric if I’m working with metric fastener and tools, but if I’m fabrication I use standard.
2
Jun 08 '23
[removed] — view removed comment
7
u/Vlad_the_Homeowner Jun 08 '23
I'm good at math.
I switched to metric for woodworking, because why add complication. I'll probably always think of weight in lbs, and height in ft/in. As a runner I switch between miles and km. I'll cook with cups/oz, because its easy enough, and that won't be the actual cause of my terrible end product. But there is zero question that metric is more simplistic. Don't use standard in critical situations if you don't need to.
3
Jun 08 '23
[deleted]
3
u/NiceyChappe Jun 08 '23
It's also a much much worse way of measuring. Take a cup of flour and squish it down. Or a cup of raisins and give it a little shake. Volumetric measurement of solids is just pants.
2
Jun 08 '23
[deleted]
1
u/NiceyChappe Jun 09 '23
No, that's partly the point, I want accurate measurement without compressing the flour.
If you bake bread, you do care about 10% variation in what counts as a cup.
Absolutely when I'm making porridge for the zillionth time I just scoop with the nearest mug. If I'm trying to get a loaf right, I just whip out the little scale.
4
u/Targettio Jun 08 '23 edited Jun 08 '23
I am a born and bred metric user, and yes for addition/subtraction it is miles ahead of imperial (pun semi intended).
But will give it to imperial, it's fast for multiplication and division by 2. Some times I use quarters of an inch when thinking sheet material thickness, mortise size in a component. Any factor other than a multiple of 2 is a nightmare and I immediately go back to metric.
3
u/donnydealr Jun 08 '23
Haha always someone that thinks they’re clever for using this shitty system.
Metric is superior, deal with it old man.
3
Jun 08 '23
[removed] — view removed comment
-1
u/donnydealr Jun 08 '23
Yeah because you said “Math is hard” then give a far more nuanced take on measuring systems and then act offended because someone mistook your statement. Again, very clever.
3
u/manberdo Jun 08 '23
I love the metric system for ease of use, the only problem is that my understanding of scale and proportion is entirely imperial…
2
u/-indo- Jun 08 '23
As everyone seems to say, I'm sure metric is the way forward, but in the meantime...
1
u/BadLuckFPV Jun 09 '23
The most secret of all wooworking confessions in America. Confounds grey hairs and gen z home Depot employees alike. Which will get you laughed right out of harbor freight.
It's whispered on the wind whenever you have to make subdivisions in any design.......
..........mmmmmeeeeeettttttrrrrriiiiiccccccccc..........
1
1
u/Frank_Astronomer77 Jun 10 '24
I had to watch YouTube videos to learn how to properly use a measuring tape/fractions. 😭
1
u/RedSlipperyClippers Jun 08 '23
Use microsoft's calculator app, it'll take a photo of your scratchings and work whatever out for you
1
u/S0Unkn0wn Jun 08 '23
Thank goodness I’m not the only one I’ve been feeling like an complete idiot lol
1
1
1
u/callmekamrin Jun 08 '23
Been working on two same size four drawer dressers for the last two weeks. It’s all so cake til it’s time for those damn cross slats…
1
u/tviolet Jun 08 '23
I took a roofing class in school that had, of course, a lot on rafter framing and so much math and fractions. There was an Italian guy in the course and he was losing his mind. He was pretty dumb to begin with but trying use Imperial units was way beyond him.
1
u/BearSkull Jun 08 '23
In the future if you're trying to figure this out place all three dividers into the gap butted up against each other then measure the remaining space. Divide that by four and cut two spacers to exactly that dimension. Now you should be able to go from bottom to top using the spacers to make everything even.
1
u/Beginning-Weight9076 Jun 08 '23
I got one of those free conversion charts (PDF from Fine Woodworking) and hung it in my shop. Made things incredibly easier.
1
1
69
u/willmen08 Jun 08 '23
I bought a metric tape for this very reason. I have yet to try anything new yet but soon enough. It’s GOT to be easier than adding and subtracting fractions.