By Mark Clement
The best carpenters I know—and from whom I have ruthlessly purloined as many tricks as I can—do their level best to use their tape measures as few times as possible when they work. Instead, they use jigs, marking gauges and wood blocks to do the measuring for them.
By measuring and marking their work this way, they eliminate the step of reading and interpreting a floppy tape measure any more than absolutely necessary, and they get more accurate measurements. This is particularly relevant on trim jobs, where the difference between right-on-the-money and close-enough shows a carpenter's skill and dedication—and determines the amount of caulk the painter needs to use to make the carpenter look good.
I carry Stanley's 46-323 with me all the time in my bags, but never do I reach for it more than when I'm trimming a house. It blows away its tape measure cousin in loads of applications where getting an accurate read is difficult. The circumstances are rarely the same twice, which attests to the tool's versatility. And because the blade on the 46-323 slides, you can use it to map out and mark all kinds of complex and oddball cuts.
Pipe. The 46-323 was a lifesaver laying out plumbing cutouts in bead board for a bathroom remodel where very close cutouts were required around the penetrations behind a pedestal sink.
1. To map out the 2-1/4-inch diameter hole for the drain pipe, slide the square to the middle of the blade. Then, slide the square down the edge of the board until the blade hits the top of the pipe. Make a mark. Repeat for the bottom measurement.
2. Extend the blade and square all the way across your marks. Now you know the exact top and bottom of the pipe location. Now, from the previous piece (already installed) place the square along the rear edge of the tongue centered on the pipe. Extend the blade until it touches the pipe's outside edge. Now you know exactly where one "side" of the pipe is.
3. Measure over 2-1/4-inches, and you have both sides. Use the square to connect your marks (you'll have a square shape in the middle of the board) and you're good to go. Use a hole saw to drill through the center of the hole.
The same process works for the supply lines.
Trim. The 7-inch Stanley square was also aces at mapping notches in the bead board where it needed to be cut out around chamfered window casing. Using the blade as a sliding gauge, I could exactly position the cut-out and get accurate lines at 90 degrees—and 45 degrees to match the chamfer. You can even use the tool as a saw guide to make sure your jigsaw runs true on small cuts.
Rule. For shelving projects and built-ins where I install custom-cut shelf blanks on top of support ledgers, the 46-323 is a great help. I like to be able to see the exact shelf location on the wall so I install it in on the correct side of the line. Instead of laying my tape on the wall and trying to mark 3/4 inch on the edge, I just hold the blade of the 46-323 up there. I put the 3/4-inch mark on the bottom line, then mark the top of the square. The rigid blade lies flat and is easy to mark. No fuss, no muss.
It's also great for getting an accurate read on boards that have been run through the thickness planer. Put the board down a flat surface. Place the end blade on the same surface and slide the square down to it and tighten.
You can also use the 46-323 as a great way to set your table saw fence for matching plank thicknesses. You can use the tool to measure the width of a sample piece, then transfer it to the table saw. Again, using the 46-323 as a marking gauge means you don't have to read and interpret a tape measure. I've lost count of the number of times I've read the tape upside down and transposed 3/8 and 5/8 only to have to cut another board.
I've even used this tool to measure window depths and mark aluminum coil stock for wrapping window jambs in replacement work.
In short, the 46-323 is great. Its all-metal body and blade are tough, and the brass knob for fixing the square to the blade tightens and loosens nicely. For measuring, marking, and layout, the tool is versatile enough to ride shotgun in my toolbelt all the time. I never know where it'll save the day next.
www.StanleyTools.com, $10.
Mark Clement is a remodeler and author of The Carpenter's Notebook and Kid's Carpenter's Workbook, Fun Family Projects. Find out more at www.TheCarpentersNotebook.com
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