STL374: The Space Between the Dots

STL374: The Space Between the Dots Vic shares this episode with box maker and Fine Woodworking cover author Vasko Sotirov. They discuss design prototyping and (of course) the metric system.Mentioned in this episode: Vasko’s Instagram Vasko’s YouTube Channel Vasko’s Fine Woodworking Cover Issue Sign up for Woodworking in America! Questions From Don: I recently bought an all-metric tape measure (no dual scales for me!) and would love to start building all of my furniture projects in millimeters versus inches. (It’s so much easier to find the center of a given length without having to convert fractions, etc.). Given that the standard nomenclature in the USA is imperial for lumber (4/4 rough, 3/4 surface planed, etc.) as well as cabinets etc. Vic, how do you think and work through projects? Do you use imperial or metric when designing? I have some Festool equipment that’s all in millimeters, but the rest of my scales are all imperial. Any suggestions? From Ron: Looking to get better at small boxes. What’s your favorite type of box to make? Or any special features you like to incorporate? Preferred way to cut and clean up miters? Every two weeks, a team of Fine Woodworking staffers answers questions from readers on Shop Talk Live, Fine Woodworking‘s biweekly podcast. Send your woodworking questions to [email protected] for consideration in the regular broadcast! Our continued existence relies upon listener support. So if you enjoy the show, be sure to leave us a five-star rating and maybe even a nice comment on our iTunes page. Join us on our Discord server here. Comments As a Norwegian, my motherthounge in units is metric, although we come across imperical units occasionally. Officially, our lumber is sold in metric, but for me (and probably most people my age and older) the old imperical sizes are stuck somewhere deep in my brain, and also "2by4" so much easier to say and think than "48by98". When having to convert (e.g. when studying a project here) I do it the simple way, one inch is 25mm - or 24mm when handling fractions. One foot is 30cm, or 300mm, that gets me close enough to plan something, when I start the actual building and I need to be accurate, I throw away the measuring devices and check the relative sizes directly or by using a story stick. Last weekend, I was making a small building in my garden, and at one point I thought I needed to measure and actually do math (which I do not mind doing) To make it stable, I was going to make a triangle where the long part should fit exactly both ways, so I was going to fetch my measuring tape and a calculator to use pythagoras, then I realised I had a straight angle on the wooden garden table in front of me, so I just took the measurements on the story stick, marked carefully on two sides of the table and could get the distance I needed onto my story stick. Perfect fit. Log in or create an account to post a comment. Sign up Log in