Shinwa "Pick Up" Satin Chrome Stainless Ruler - Metric

An absolute must-have for the metric shop

I moved to metric for my woodworking a while ago. With wood you can design in whole-number millimeters and not have to work with the fractions. Typical nominal sizes have clear counterparts (3/4 = 19mm, 5/8 = 16 mm) and sheet goods already often come in metric sizes. Anyway, if you use metric, this rule is the hot setup. The satin chrome finish makes for excellent visibility at all angles, and is as good as that on the best Starrett rules. This particular "pick-up" variety has only full mm markings, which makes it much easier to read. I find a scale with 1/2mm markings unusable without magnification and if I need magnification I'm using a different tool (like a digital caliper). So this way you get usable scales on both edges and don't have to measure awkwardly to get the scale you need. The material and markings are excellent and the pick-up feature is a real nice bonus. In particular, the end and edges are ground, making them very smooth and precise. The raw stamped end you get on a Chinese cheapy will introduce error in length measurements and at this price there is little reason to compromise. I got two, one for my office and one for my bench. I also got the "rule stop" accessory which allows for very repeatable measurements without having to read the scale each time, also for marking lines parallel to an edge if you're careful about it. :)