English rule read like that I understand.

 

Some Lufkins where made in England and this one says made in USA.

 

I remember playing with, and possibly damaging/breaking it when I was just a youngster. I used it because it had a cool folding mechanism, didn't really need to measure anything then.

 

Right handed carpenter, hold rule in left hand, pencil in right hand, measure from the right of course. These were common before the 6’, of which I have several all read left to right.

 

I would say also probably to do with left handed vs right handed people ... ?

 

I found the rule history and apparently this rule was first made in the late 1800s, back when they also used this rule of measuring in Links. 6.6 inches = 1 link. I think. You all know I have been wrong a few times. lol. Made by Lufkin.

 

I have one of those also. Its a cool old rule. Not really as handy as a new style folding, but I do enjoy using it becouse of how it folds

 

I have one just like it. Now I'm wondering where the heck it is!

 

They started production in the late 1800s. So it may be the oldest tool you may have. I think back to the men or women who may have used these old tools.

 

My last job was working on a small local farm - the oldest farm still operating in Concord, NH. When the owner died my daughter and I kept it going. The family once owned an auto parts store that closed up in the late 60's or early 70's. The place was built around 1859 as the first house burned down and was loaded with old tools including some machinist tools like valve grinders, an old manual tire machine, a wheel straightener that looks more like a press, and lots of old hand tools. I still have some of the old stuff. The place is loaded with all kinds of old farm equipment - some horse drawn. There's an old Farmall cub and super C etc.

The house was full of junk and barely any room to walk. They never threw anything away. When I cleaned the garage the place was so full of junk that it was piled up 8 feet at one end and there was an old Rambler under it! I also found over a hundred spark plugs still in the box, and every one of them used.

It took me about 6 months to clean out the three stall garage. There was also an old Dodge with a 440 in it! Some rooms I couldn't even walk into they were so full of stuff. This was the dining room table.

This was the kitchen...

 

I have in like new condition in my downstairs tool boxes.

 

English rule read like that I understand

You're probably right. My dad (I'm 65) came from the UK during the war as a shipfitter and I still remember him using one exactly like that all the time. Wish I knew where it ended up :-(. I actually can't remember him using a tape measure although I'm sure he did. ......Mike

 

I hate to ask this, but did you flip it over and read the numbers on the reverse side? Perhaps like a yard (and probably a meter) stick, it reads left to right on one side and right to left on the other. Just a thought. I have a couple of those old folders around, I'll take a look and see what mine are like.

Edit:

Pulled this similarly old Stanley 32 out of a drawer this morning and see it too reads right to left on both sides. It has a slider on the one end, with a catch for precision measurement.:

So, this blows my yardstick theory out of the water. This one also is Warranted and Made in USA

 

My thinking is that folks who endured the depression and the 'wars' saved everything because 'everything' was in short supply.

 

I agree. My Dad born in the early 30s live as though that era to not throw much away. I can remember sorting nuts and bolts growing up. And to this day I still have his buckets of those old Square nuts and bolts.

 

Steel prices has sky rocketed. I noticed the prices of tow behind attachments has not only soared up but hard to get.

 

I'm 65 and my brother and I used our great grandfather's wooden molding planes as toys when we were kids. My brother still has them since he grew up to be a carpenter. Our great grandfather had carved his name on the ends of them. So lets do some rough math here. My grandfather was born in 1896 and he had brothers 25 years older than him, so great-grandpa Potts was born around 1850+/-. The planes probably date back to the 1870's-80's. I've got a couple of hammers from that era too.

 

I finally have seen a Lufkin that maybe worth using.

 

Its funny, I found five of these in a drawer on the basement work bench. One is a 8 foot rule, the other four are 6 foot.

 

I may have more laying around, I only was in the basement. There maybe more in the garage and shed. I must have 10 or more tape measures laying around or in the cars.