I bought my first Lufkin tape measure more than 20 years ago, and it’s still going strong. During those last 20 years, I have tried out many of the other expensive, gimmicky or innovative tapes that have come along.
And I keep going back to my Lufkin.
This year I noticed that all the plastic “chrome” was wearing off my Lufkin, and I worried what would happen if I lost it or it self-destructed. So I bought two backups. I couldn’t find them in the original plastic chrome, but I did find two identical ones in red/orange (Lufkin HV1312).
When they showed up, the seller had substituted a newer Lufkin, the PHV1312D. I was grumpy, but I’ve been using the new ones and they are fine.
Drama about product numbers aside, here’s why I like (both of) the Lufkins.
- They aren’t too big. So many tape measures these days are like massive truck nuts. They pull your pants down, and they barely fit in your palm. I’d be OK with that if I needed to measure 50’. But for woodworking….
- Standout. Who the fricking heck cares? Most metallic tapes are too concave, which allows you to play “who has the longest wiener game?” on the jobsite, but is terrible for real work. The sharply curved tapes are difficult to use. You have to roll the whole tape forward or back to make a half-decent mark on your work. No thanks. The Lufkins are designed for woodworking. The tape is 12’ long and is only a little concave.
- Easy-to-read markings. The Lufkins were designed by someone who uses a tape. You don’t have a lot of silly marks (10ths of a foot?). And the graduations are different lengths (like the Starrett rule featured earlier in this series).
- The lock is simple. Press the lock forward and it locks. Press it back and it unlocks.
- Minimal stupidity. There are no bubble levels, magnets or places to write your grocery list on these tapes. They do one thing, and they do it well.
Price-wise, the Lufkins are hard to beat, about $16 to $18 at your local hardware store. If you hurry, you might find the old Lufkin HV1312 still in stock.
— Christopher Schwarz
You didn’t say anything about the new lime green color 🙂
I am an occasional visitor to the US and love to visit Harbor Freight to buy those odd tools which are only needed very rarely so it is essential that they are cheap. I got a free tape once which I was really pleased with. Until I found that it was all in inches. Not a metric mark anywhere. Not that I am fully metric. I learned feet and inches as a child and then came to metric even after my aircraft apprenticeship in the ‘60s. But now when woodworking I use metric for small things and inches for larger. Never get mixed up luckily as my brain can keep track of what is going on.
You might want to compare that HF tape with one from a more…standards adherent manufacturer. As long as you build with only that tape, you’ll be fine. Not sure what the measurement increments are called, but they ain’t NIST inches. I suppose a made up name like huckaloos is as good as any. 🙂
What’s the hole at 1 1/4” designed to be used for?
It’s the hang hole.
You use that to scribe a 2-9/16″ circle, which is the ICC standard for self-sealing stem bolts.
I bought a miller’s falls reverse-ratcheting routing planer that’s missing its stem bolts. They are always missing their stem bolts….
I don’t know. No laser or bluetooth. Can’t be much.
Very funny but true, I get sucked down the laser rabbit joe on a regular basis.
There’s a whole other world of metal working and engineering that use 10ths of an inch, so I’ve heard. Go figure. sometimes that does come in handy in woodworking also. Maybe I’m strange.
Surveyors use tenths and hundredths
Surveyors use tenths and hundreds of feet.
The guys who build targets (civil engineers) use those tenths of a foot tapes. The factory where I used to work mistakenly ordered a bunch of them for the shop. Confusion reigned. I gathered them up and trashed them far, far away.
Your grocery list comment was funny. But the erasable pad on my fast track rule is a life saver.
I have one of those and like it pretty well. But I have a mind that can’t seem to remember a measurement for more than 15 seconds.
Funny this is on the list – I couldn’t wait for Christmas… April Wilkerson recently highlighted the newest Lufkin tapes – Shockforce. While there are a lot of seemingly gimmicky things highlighted in the advertisement, I really like the “Night eye” since it is so much easier to read. While I don’t plan to drop it from 100 feet, my tapes take a lot of abuse, so knowing it is durable is good. I found a 16′ and a 25′ version at the big blue box that seemed REALLY inexpensive to me.
Why are most (old folding cabinet makes rules are not) tapes/rules printed left to right? I’m right handed, hold the tape with my left, mark with my right, and always look at upside down numbering. Not always, but mostly.
Lee Valley Tools sells tapes that fix that. They amusingly call them “right-handed tapes”. I got one, thinking it would remove that constant irritation, only to discover that compensating for that crazy design is so deeply ingrained that I can’t use it.
I have around 5 of these: https://www.highlandwoodworking.com/procarpenter16leftandrightreadingtape.aspx
There are two gimmicks, the pencil sharpener and the grocery list. However, they line up with my Starrett tape perfectly. I do use the sharpener.
Good idea, but why mess up a good thing by printing all those unnecessary fractions? They think we can’t read a ruler? Think I’ll pass.
I’ve used a lufkin folding ruler for more years than I can count. If it’s not in my hip pocket I’m lost.
In the gadgety new-fangled bucket, I recently bought a Milwaukee 25’ tape with a trigger-finger cutout. It’s expensive for a tape featuring a hole, but it’s really nice to use. And while it features extreme concavity, it means the tape can extend 6’, which means I can reach over 8’ with it, which is enough for a lot of framing layout tasks and home & garden projects. It’s otherwise not too heavy, and no voice recorders or lasers built in.
If I don’t use that one, the other I reach for is from Komelon, sold at the green big-box store. They’ve got “cheap” versions like the Lufkin that are on par, but $3 or less apiece. Their “gripper” tapes are the rubber-wrapped contractor-wide tape, breaking the bank at almost $6 apiece. Solidly built, cheap enough to have a few around, won’t break your heart if it breaks or gets misplaced. Worth a gander at least if you come by them.
It seems like tapes are like sharpening tools. Everyone’s got an opinion.
I’ve got to agree, Lufkin tapes are easy to read, and 12′ is the perfect size for the shop.
The Lufkin tapes I have (at least half a dozen, in metric/imperial) in 16ft and 25ft lengths, stink to high heaven. I’ve cleaned the full length of the blades with alcohol and also with turpentine. Left them exposed in the summer sun on the asphalt. And they still stink. I like the tape measures though, just not how they smell. Easy to read, easy to find, the mechanism is smooth and the price is fair.
What, you faithless lover? Have you now completely betrayed the Stanley 175th Anniversary Limited Edition Tape Measure – 10ft. you touted in your PopWood blog in 2018? At that time you said “It’s not an advertisement for a corporation. Instead, it is just a trusted companion. I bought one of the first anniversary tapes that were available (and I’ve bought 10 more and given them away to woodworkers). Even after months of use, it’s still the first tape I reach for in my tool chest…I love this tape. If you can’t find one in your local hardware store, order one (or a dozen) from Highland Woodworking. It’s an awesome tool, and if Stanley asked me (or paid me) to say that then I’d tell them to sod off. One last thing: Act fast. This tape will disappear at some point (probably right when you decide to get one).”
Highland Woodworking still has them for $9 each, and describes them: “In celebration of their 175th anniversary, Stanley Hand Tools has released this classic, limited edition pocket tape based on a 1933 design. It has a 10 foot long rule housed within a sturdy steel case with a polished chrome finish. The case side is embossed with the historic Stanley “Sweetheart” logo, the initials S.W. (for Stanley Works) within a heart-shaped outline. The tape ruler has a hook end, is 1/2 inch wide and has a non-glare finish. 1/16th graduations are on both edges of the tape…We’re in agreement with Chris Schwarz about this little tape to get one when you can, since it’s not clear how long it will be available. Stanley # STHT36175″
I bought six of them from Menard’s two years ago, and always keep one in my front pants pocket. It never pokes or annoys me, thanks to its small round shape and rounded edges–much smaller than a hockey puck. I have many other tape measures too, but this legacy-design Stanley has become my go-to favorite for every-day carry in the shop. Till death do us part.
I think you’re old tape has too much set, unless its filed for rip?
For metric measurements, I really enjoy the Hultafors Talmeter tape measures:
https://www.hultafors.com/products/talmeter/H0051-marking-measure-talmeter-2m-3m/79369
https://www.amazon.com/Hultafors-Talmeter-Marking-Measure-Tape/dp/B0041YQFY6
https://www.dictum.com/en/folding-rulers-tape-measures-baib/hultafors-talmeter-tape-measure-2-m-708036
The Talmeter tapes have a nice scale, positive lock, and — uniquely — “blades” to transfer measurements. I use mine as a “marking tape” more than as a “measuring tape”. The blades are pointy enough to mark common woods with a clean prick. That prick then serves as the starting dimple for a full-length pencil mark, usually guided by a square. There is a convenient flip-out tab that extends the marking concept to precise inside dimensions.
This marking feature, combined with the effective lock, elevates the tape into a completely different category. Marking repeat measurements with a consistent setting is vastly more effective than “search for measurement on tape, line up pencil, make tick mark near hash mark” more than once.
For those who are worried: No, the blades are not sharp enough to cut the user. They are not meant to make crisp extended lines, just a narrow dimple. For those who say they can sharpen the tab on their current tape measure: The marking tab on the case is more useful than the blade at the zero end.
The Talmeters are fairly expensive. However, I have had mine for years and they are still going strong. Once I started using the marking feature consistently, I stopped worrying about the extra expense.
Finally, my Talmeter tapes have older, slightly smaller cases. I gather the current cases are even more durable but a little bulkier. I can only presume that the lock on the current cases remains as effective as on the older cases.
I, too, use and am much enamored of the Talmeter.
Invented in the late 1940s/early 1950s by Ture Anders Ljungberg (hence the moniker, from his initials, TAL, and meter), he made them, at first in his garage and later on a more industrial scale, and marketed them himself, until he sold the brand to Hultafors in 2005.
They also have a scale on the back of the blade for measuring diameters.
They’re really nice. But metric only, as far as I’m aware.
Mattias
I like the 16′ Fat Max. Or I will, until Max comes looking for me.
Tell him you gave it Phillip when he came round for the driver. Look out for that Robertson bloke, though. All hard corners, that guy.
I like the Stanley 12′ tapes a little better than the Lufkin. But those two are the only ones I’ve ever found that have decimal inches, which I use all of the time (I work in metal, in manufacturing plants that do decimal inches). One plant I worked in tried to switch to metric, and actually had Stanley do some custom tapes with decimal inches on one edge, and millimeters on the other.
I was recently at my local lumberyard looking for a new tape. They had 10 or 12 different Fast-cap tapes, each one with a different “gimmick”. Upon looking at each one, i thought to myself “i need this flat tape”, “i need this right to left one” , “i need this self centering tape”, “i need the story pole tape”, “i need the built in pencil sharpener”, “i need the burn one blank inch”, “i need the hypotenuse scale”, etc. I ended up getting none of them since i couldn’t nt decide which gimmick was best.
There’s even a matching patch for your chore coat:
https://etsy.me/35V7OfA
Useful gimmick: There is a Lufkin tape that has an extra scale in the middle of the tape. This scale does not start at 0 but at the width of the tape body, e.g. 1 & 3/4 inches. Makes it very easy to measure the inside width of cupboards, width of window openings, inner width of drawers, etc.
I have nothing against Lufkin, but have never owned one, either. So upon reading the article, I picked up my old Stanley P310ME 10 foot Powerlock. I have several 25′ tape measures, but my old Stanley goes everywhere. The first 3 inches have taken a beating, but the edges are still readable. Inches on one edge, centimeters on the other.
It’s good to have a trusty old friend nearby to help take the measure of things, regardless of name.
I found one on MercadoLibre(Mexico). The old style even. A mere US$75!! I should rush out and get three.
Be careful! The Lufkin PHV1312D on Amazon says that the rule has decimal inches on the bottom and fractional on the top.