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Antiques! => Antique Questions Forum => Topic started by: WoodNick on January 10, 2012, 06:08:51 PM
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Hi I'm new here looking for information on this stick It's 24" long and 3/4" sq. has 3 sets of numbers on each side 9 thru 20 and the divisions are of a foot 9/12th of a foot to 20/12th of a foot Thanks for any help Nick
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I can't really see it so well , from your image , WoodNick .
Perhaps a story-pole , from a cabinet shop ?
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Now I was familiar with a barn-stick but not a story-pole.
HA, I assume the only difference was whether you were building a barn or building a house.
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I would guess its for building a model to scale !! Maybe a doll house ect since its total is 24 in. ??
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Can you please post a close up pic of the stick? Also, what country are you in?
They made all kinds of measuring sticks. Some that would be butted up against a piece and some (like a tree measuring stick) that are used from a distance.
My grandfather had all kinds of measuring sticks (uncle inherited or I would go look and see if he had one like this). He was an extremely talented carpenter/mason and did this for a living as his father did and so on. He also worked on building the Hoover Dam and some other govt projects and had all kinds of phenomenal tools.
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The story-pole (sometimes AKA story-stick) were often used by cabinetmakers , esp when carrying a design (or elements of one) in a reductionist manner as in a "large-to-small' motif .
Same goes for using one for laying out carvings on cabinet & such .
Very rare to find story-sticks are signed/noted with each progressive 'owner' of the item (often passed from father-son , and master-apprentice) & have a unique feature of having a fixed scribe-blade (usually @ the 'beginning end' of the stick) that's sometimes affixed to a rotating block .
So , yup , cogar ...same kinda deal on a small scale !
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fancypants, I was able to blow up the pic but it is so blurry (poor resolution) and it does look handmade.
I first thought it wasn't.
Agree it is a story stick...and depending on where they are there are all different kinds.
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I'll stick to the story !
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regularjoe2...you crack me up!
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In the old days, most everyone wanting to build themselves a house, barn, etc., would make themselves a story-stick, house-stick, barn-stick, measuring stick, whatever, ….. because all the building materials were “hand-made” right on the job site except for any sawed lumber they might have purchased. And it didn’t matter what the length of the “stick” was, be it 2 feet to 6+ feet by today’s measurements. The person would make themselves a “stick” and then “mark” their stick for ½ stick, ¼ stick, 1/8 stick, etc. They would then stake their building site to be “x” sticks long, “x” sticks wide, etc, and then cut and hue the timbers/logs to those dimensions. He would keep adding “marks” on his stick as needed for door sizes, window sizes, room sizes, etc. Carpenters employed to do the building probably had their own “stick”.
The 6’ folding wood ruler wasn’t invented until 1851 and even then most people didn’t have a “length” measuring device like a 36” yard stick. Actual inches and feet measurements were of no importance until the Industrial Revolution and Mail Order Catalogs arrived on the scene.
Just my rambling thoughts on the subject, ….. so take them with a grain of salt. ;D ;D
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It's a manufactured piece. It has New York stamped in it. A story stick would not have 12 different logarithmic scales on it.
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Woodnick, in order for us to help you figure this out better, we really need a better pic of it! Thanks!
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This is the 18, 19, 20 side. The top line is 2/18th of a foot to 6/18 of a foot on the 18 line then 2(thru6)/19th of a foot on the 19 line and 2(thru 7)20th of a foot on the 20 line
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Something is telling me that those linear numbers ( 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, etc.) are not the “foot” fractional equivalents (2/18th of a foot to 6/18 of a foot) of the scale numbers (9 thru 20).
If the stick is 24" long (2 feet) then those 12 sets of linear numbers should repeat themselves if they are scaled in 12th of a foot, ….. do they?
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All the numbers (9 thru 20) are the same (9 thru 20) at the 12" mark then continue on to the end. e.g. 11/12th at the 1 ft. mark then the next mark would be 12 11/12th of a foot then 13 11/12th and so on.
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Thanks for the updated (& clear) photos , WoodNick !!
Although there was a great bit of info about story-sticks & such posted in your original thread , I'm jumping ship on the story-pole I.D. of your item .
I'd narrow it down to one of two things - either an engineers estimator scale (for calculating board-feet & such) , or my best guess : a patternmaker's rule .
A patternmakers rule was commonly used in foundry operations , in an earlier age , when is was 'normal' to make wooden molds for casting metals ... the rule was a means of measuring/calculating predictable (sort of , anyway) wood expansion/shrinkage , when making wooden molds .
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If it is a manufactured piece,, does it say anything other than New York ?? Label or a stamp ?? Only thing I have found so far is a typographical unit that is measured in 1/12 units !! So,, could be something used in the printing trade !! Where did you get this stick ??
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New York is the only thing on this piece, Im thinking it is part of a set and the important name would be on the mating piece. I found it in a box in the attic that I have not been in over 30 years. My guest is that I got it in box lot at some auction. Also I have this listed on a number of other Forums, and printing is one of them, but no good replys.
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By any chance is that a slide rule? Does the middle set of numbers slide on a separate panel between the upper and lower sets of numbers or is this one solid immobile object?
Like this:
(http://www.vickiesvintage.com/Antique%20Keuffel%20Esser%20Wood%20Slide%20Rule.jpg)
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solid immobile object
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Well I am sure curious !! Hope someone comes up with an answer !!
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After considerable pondering of its purpose I don’t think the scale numbers of #9 thru #20 (3 scales per side) have anything to do with “foot” fractional “inch” equivalents. Meaning, for example on the #9 scale: 2/9th of a foot, 3/9 of a foot, 4/9 of a foot, etc., to 9/9 of a foot @ the physical 12” position is not the way those #’s are intended to be read.
In my opinion, what you have is a per say “grid layout rule(er)” for marking/calculating the position and/or number of “points” per linear foot on a drawing or piece of material.
Like iffen you wanted 14 rivet holes per linear foot you would use the #14 scale. Or iffen you wanted 20 lacing stitches per linear foot you would use the #20 scale. And that is why all the scale “lines” are in alignment with each other at the physical 12” mark.
Just my opinion though.
And ps: a bricklayer's ruler has a "special" grid layout on it also. As does a cow, beef or livestock "weight measuring tape". You don't "weigh" them, you "tape" them to determine their weight.
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O.K. , one last guess (for today) on this little measure ...
Perhaps was used in the ship modeling trade (many scale-sized ship models were made popular with shipping companies , shipbuilders , etc. in the New York area , during it's heyday of shipbuilding) .
I'm of the opinion that this would be an impractical tool for drafting &/or for measuring anything of a flat & horizontal surface (paper,sheet goods & so on) [since the 'scale' would be around 3/4" from the surface being measured] .... but would suffice for measuring small wooden stock , as in planks/masts/etc. for models . The brass butt-plate @ the beginning of the measure is another one of the reasons I'm thinking this way .
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So much for that theory, eh?