It's also useful to remember that to cut a fraction in half keep the top the same and double the bottom. Half of 5/8 is 5/16 half of 11/16 is 11/32.

I grew up with imperial, but later would alternately use both imperial and metric in most of my simple projects. But when it comes to more elaborate or complicated crafts where you need to also divide length by 3 or 5 or sometimes by more irrational numbers, metric is the way to go. By now, I'm always metric whenever I start a work from scratch.

As an engineer (in Australia) I communicate in either millimetres or metres, depending on the application. My wife always talks in centimetres - the conversion is trivial, but it always creates a little double take for us. Interestingly, Australians still talk about things being "miles away" and such like, even though nobody under 50 really has a good feel for how far a mile is. "Kilometers away" just doesn't roll off the tongue in the same way. I am so happy we rationalised our measurements, I would hate to have to deal with all the odd units and their scaling factors. And guys, what is with "ounce" being both a volume and mass unit?

"the most important thing to know is that a 2x4 is actually an inch and a half by- aw, shi-" This. This is exactly my struggle. I get both metric and imperial and they each have a place, but that's the kind of thing that is so difficult and confusing to me... But I'm learning, thanks to your videos!

"kind of dumb but you get used to it" applies to so so many aspects of life. Additionally as someone who's former day job was software for a countertop manufacturer I can empathetically state that fractions are the devil. Having to constantly flip back and forth between 3/8 and 0.375 was just a nightmare. And then there's the math...

Get a tape measure with both imperial and metric, and if the plan is in imperial, use the imperial side, if it's metric use the metric side. You don't ever need to convert one to the other.

I've been in USA my whole life, and I'm the first to admit woodworking in metric is so much easier. I'll find myself often using metric when doing fine measurements, as it just makes sense. For tools like wrenches, it's so much easier having wrench sizes like 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, than 5/16, 11/32, 3/8, 13/32, 7/16. If you gave me all the Imperial fractions between 0 and 1 to a 16th of an inch, it'd probably take me a minute to even put them in order. Metric, it's as easy as counting to 10... Imperial is just one of those things I live with,

It is an interesting situation. The USA was one of the first signatories to the metric convention about 130 years ago.

As an American living in Germany, I am very familiar with both systems. I usually use metric for most measurements as the math is easier for my simple brain. Converting plans can be difficult, but doable.

I did the opposite. Many years ago I made a math error adding fractions in my head (always a bad idea due to limited brain capacity) and cut to 15 & 9/32 instead of 16 & 13/32 on a critical piece. That was it! My next trip to China I purchased a whole set of metric educated sticks, tapes and never looked back. Joy has has ensued. Just a few weeks ago I needed to measure a distance that exceeded the metric educated measuring devices. I was shocked. ALL my American educated devices had disappeared from assigned spaces, including the many from my father. Panic! Over many years I had moved the American stuff further and further into the dark recesses of the shop and forgotten. 20 minutes later I found the newer 100 foot tape measure, forlorn and dusty in a box with the other unused rulers, measures and stuff. Not sure where my father's 150 footer is. That is disturbing. I keep watching over my shoulder for it dangling from the rafters, ready to throttle me.

I love the simplicity of the metric system: 1centimeter=10milimeters 1decimeter=10 centimeters=100 milimeters 1meter = 10 decimeters=100centimeters=1000milimeters 1kilometer= 1000 meters

Steve, great video! Thanks! I started my work career as a machinist. Unknown to me, this would pay dividends later in life. Memorizing key fraction to decimal equivalents was SO helpful in converting to metric: * 1/16” = .062” = 1.6mm * 1/2” =.500” = 12.7mm * .039” = 1mm * 1” = 25.4mm

"which expensive miter gauge is best" I see what you did there

I apologize for being wordy. I am a KZfaq fan of yours. I am writing this to several presenters. About 60 years ago, I took high school woodshop. Thereafter, I learned a few basic things from my grandfather and father. Over the following 20+ years, I had neither the money nor the space to do any woodworking. About 25 years ago, some tools were passed on to my by parents, so I took over my garage, but my skill was rudimentary; the things I created were crude and imprecise, but I enjoyed the process. About 5 years ago, I got very sick. During my recovery, I discovered you and your colleagues on KZfaq. Since then, I have been a junky watching mostly woodworking videos. I must THANK YOU and your colleagues for teaching me so very much. I moved to a new home and created a shop on casters (I have to move cars) and have tried many of the things YOU have taught me-and bought way too many new tools!. I now spend as much time as possible in my shop and have actually created some pretty good project products and shop furniture. Without you to help me through my convalescence and your clearly understandable videos, I don’t think I would be enjoying this hobby as I do. Thank you and the whole KZfaq woodworking community.

A good advantage of base 12 is it can be divided into 3rds without fraction / decimal. And like base 10, also 1/2 and 1/4. I suppose you could argue base 10 can be divided into 5ths, but that seems a less frequent need than 1/3rds! For the record, I generally use and prefer metric. Great ending.

I’m Canadian and I recently bought a good metric tape line and have used it on the last couple projects. I believe if a person works by themselves, and is willing to learn, metric is easier than the fractions involved in imperial. But it’s just not something most Americans are interested in trying or changing, and that’s fine.

One of my very favorite tools is a little ruler that is marked in decimal inch (1.1, 1.2 etc.) marks at .050 increments. I also have a fraction/decimal chart at my desk that I refer to about eight times a day.

On September 3rd 1967, at exactly 5am, Sweden changed from driving on the left side of the road to driving on the right. The planning had taken 40 years since it was first announced and the actual preparations 4. So it is never too late to change. Sooner or later everything on the planet will be unified. But until then I think it is charming with these quirky little oddities that each country maintains. When it comes to a full Imperial system this means the US, Liberia and I’m reading also Myanmar, which I didn’t know about. That would be 9 58th million of a thousandth barn length away from you guys. Only teasing. Interesting video!

That's a great explanation. I'm always converting 'an eighth' in my head to about 3mm when watching US YT content.

The funniest part is that when you DO need super precise measurements of fractional inches, you eventually just give up and go to "mils" which is 1/1000th of an inch and let's you use decimals

I live in Mexico, and while we almost exclusively use the metric system for everything, many of our tools and products are imported from the U.S. so we have to understand the imperial system as well. Converting from Imperial to Metric is very easy, converting from Metric to Imperial is a huge hassle.

Great video as always! Interestingly most of the lumber we buy in the UK is sold in millimetres but is still actually dimensioned in Imperial. So we still buy 3/4, 1/2, 1/4 material but it's 18, 12 or 6 millimetres. We still buy 8x4 foot sheet goods but they're 2440mm x 1220mm. A two-by-four is sold as 38 x 89mm etc. I use millimetres but tbh if you only work in inches (rather than going back and forth between inches and feet) then your experience is probably broadly similar using either system. Where the metric system has the advantage is that it's extremely easy to move between larger and smaller units. Moving between millimetres, meters and kilometres is simply a matter of shifting the decimal point, which is dramatically easier than converting from inches to feet to yards to miles.... But in practice, if you want to cut something three feet wide you're probably actually going to measure it out as 36 inches. And if you're sticking to one unit of measurement then it doesn't really matter if that's millimetres, inches, human hairs, football fields, pieces of string...;)

You have a good ability to explain "difficult" things, easily. Thanks for the good explanation. Greetings from a hobby woodworker from Europe.

As a Canadian a recommend you buy a digital caliper , It will measure in inches or metric cheap one will do. Machinist have some nice tools for some woodworking (eg. 1,2,3 blocks )

In the metric world we also guesstimate in football fields, though it's the kind of football you play with your feet. Funnily enough, those aren't a fixed size though.

As an aerospace design engineer I have to deal with both. Even on metric airbuses, there are still imperial fasteners to spoil the pot

I just found you today. I love love our videos! Also, your sense of humor…. Love it the most! Thank you! You have answered so many questions I have. I’m new to woodworking! Can’t wait to start doing more!

This is another great and entertaining video. It's very thoughtful of you to release this along with the start of your course. While I'm an American, and familiar with imperial and metric, this will definitely be helpful to people around the world, and also really shows that you care. Thanks!!

Thank you, Steve, for pointing out the awesome powers of the metric system.

The thing that really sucks for us metric users, Steve, is that plans written in imperial measurements are usually designed around goods sold in imperial measurements. For example, a recent plan I worked with called for an 8'x4' piece of plywood... but if I go down to my local big green shed hardware store in Australia, I've got a 2400x1200mm sheet of ply which roughly equates to 7.8' by 3.9'... meaning that usually I'm up for extra cutting than my imperial following brethren who can just buy dimensional lumber/timber off the rack. Even framing timber, a metric 90x45 you would pick up in a metric country is a different size to its equivalent 2x4 you would get in the US.

I grew up in Australia in the 60's which was when we went metric across the board. Yes, it was hard for the older people to get used to. The fascinating thing is that it was in the early 70's that our timber industry went metric (forced to, mind you). I was working for a sawmill at the time and being the youngest guy in the office, I got the job of handling and explaining. What I find really fascinating is that we went metric - by cutting timber lengths in multiples of 300mm (yes, feet!), timber thicknesses in multiples of 25mm (yes, inches!)

American here... I used to struggle with metric measurements until I seriously got into 3D printing. Now it's to the point where I swap between the two measurement systems depending on what I'm doing. If I'm measuring something small or something I have to be very precise with, I use metric. If I'm working on something bigger such as a cabinet/furniture piece, then I usually use Imperial, unless I have to get whatever I'm making in a very tight spot. My lessons learned is that measurement systems are just another tool, which each have their own advantages/disadvantages depending on what you're trying to use them with.

I love that you explain this, including what is taught in the US! Coming to the US 4 years ago I needed to find out a lot by myself and woodworking was really confusing (didn't see fractions for a long time, inches and what are feet?!) because in my personal life everything stayed in centimeters 😅 I needed to see this a couple of years ago hahaha!

Thanks for sharing. Over here in the UK, we have always had metric and imperial tape measures, rulers and the like. It was only when I was working in Spain, in the 90s, that I came across metric only tape measures. Well, what a difference that made. It was often very difficult to transfer the measurement from one side of the tape to the other, which often led to inaccuracies. However, as we still use inches and feet for timber and sheet goods, it is a lot easier to talk about 8' sheets than 2440mm, which is why we still use both. Personally, I have several tapes, mostly metric only, but have recently become nostalgic and purchased a couple of imperial Stanley tapes. I absolutely loved the look of your tape measure with the fractions written rather than just the different length lines. Don't suppose you could pop a link to that particular tape. I'd be awfully grateful!

Thanks for this - I live in the US but hate using inches and feet, it's far more difficult to scale than metric. I'm also just getting into woodworking and would like to have measuring tools with both systems on it, that's more difficult than it seems!

Thank you Steve for the great and educational video. I'm European so I've exclusively been using metric for my whole life. There are so many interesting US channels that I've had to more or less work on the conversions (thanks google). Your video adds a little bit of sense to that. Thank you, and also it's great that you still do some longer format videos, from time to time.

We Canadians have a solid mixture of imperial and metric. It really depends on what's being measured or counted that determines which we use. Double-unit tape measures are a must have.

Thank you steve U motivated me to buy my first table saw and start woodworking this year

Steve, thanks for continuing to make great content!

Steve, I think you're awesome and I learn a lot just from watching your videos. But I'm 78 years old and metrics confuse me to no ends. Have a great day. Carl

Thank you, Steve. I've been in the corrugated industry for more than 30 years and there are quite a few new workers that cannot even read a tape measure. It is one of the major hurdles to hiring.

I'm English and many of us still use imperial measurements, but it is handy to be able to juggle with both. Being old school though, feet, inches, yards and in particular pints come to mind first :-)

Great video! As a woodworker AND a quilter, I have to say I usually use the Metric system for my woodworking, it just makes so much sense when building from scratch. Then when I am quilting, I switch back to Imperial. One more thing, yes, we quilters do use fractions of a yard....all the time! 😀 This old lady has been watching you for a long time & SEW glad I subscribed! Keep up the great work!

This was a fantastic video! Thank you for closing the gap for woodworkers all over the world!

IPS is definitely dumber and more arbitrary than SI units, but you’re absolutely right. It’s not that bad once you get used to it. The main thing that grinds MY gears? Mixing unit systems within a project. Inches? Good, I can visualize that. Meters? Great, base 10 is easy. Both? Get out of here, 1980s-era General Motors!

I personally have switched over to metric as well (mostly) especially in sewing. It's just makes things so, much, easier.

Even here in Canada, where metrication went further than in the United States, imperial (US customary) is still used in the construction trades.

It all sounds ok until you end up in Canada where both imperial and metric of various standards are used side by side. I recently was trying to find a replacement screw for a fixture and realized I needed to figure out the whether it was metric or not. It didn't seem metric as the major diameter was not a whole number in mm after using my metric calipers. So I converted the metric caliper measurement to inches only to realize that screw measurements for imperial screws come in No. 1, 2, 3, etc. except when sizes were larger than some random diameter. So then I needed to look at a bunch of charts only to realize that I had to take my decimal measurement and convert to a fraction first. Then I realized that there was no matching fraction and that there are British imperial screw size standards and American imperial screw size standards. I then subsequently realized that the fixture probably used British standard. I proceeded to try and find, except the Gauge thickness of British screws is also denoted with the No 1, 2, 3 notation but is different from the American screw size No 1, 2, 3 notation. ... Which standard is the seller using? No idea. ... all to replace 10 screws for a fixture.

Honestly I would switch over to Metric in a heart beat if the tools were available here. Its hard to fine anything in the states that has Metric, and what you do find is imported and marked up crazy high. Imperial is so dumb.

The power of fractions is (paradoxically) that an uneducated laborer could do calculations in their head more accurately. The "splitting in halves" makes it easier to visualize. I switched to completely metric at home a few years ago and it drastically cut down on mistakes and increased precision. I also noticed that many machine shops are using metric now, and datasheets are metric with optional imperial instead of the other way around. The time is coming...

I'm both a carpenter and a surveyor in the US. I'm fantastic at math so I've never had much of a problem with imperial even when converting to things like decimal parts of a foot but I also love to have a construction master pro with me incase I need to do some heavy-duty math. They're the coolest calculators and you can usually get on for about 40$ online. I always suggest getting one (the work in both imperial and metric) if you think you might need to do a lot of adding or subtracting and you aren't very comfortable with measurements

It's only when you start measuring things like "5 ft, 23 cm" that you truly ascend to measuring like a Canadian.

Ease of use is relative from person to another. What I might consider easier might be considered difficult for another. Myself I can't imagine lengths of things in inches. Its just how we grew up.

Tiny nitpick: feet and inches are not indicated by apostrophes and quote marks, but rather by single prime and double prime marks, respectively. When typing at a computer, prime and double prime are actually what we use as apostrophes (aka single quotes) or double quotes, however some operating systems have a "smart quotes" feature (you can see the one I'm using does not) which will magically convert them for you to typographically correct single or double quotes (including whether they should be opening or closing). Okay, enough from me. Typography nerd signing out.

I'm french and i watch you'r channel fron 9 years without understanding the mesurement, thank you very much for this vidéo !! I did not understand everything but it's on the good way to learn 👏👏

I'm sure I'm never gonna need those freedom units, but thank you for explaining them!

I'm an Aussie and we formally switched from imperial to metric in the early 70s, while I was still at school/university and as a result I find it easy to work in both but mainly metric but some things are a bit weird like television sizes are measured in inches and some timber is still referred to as 4 by 2 and feeler gauges often mention thousandths of an inch but most things now are metric. All my woodwork measuring equipment has both and I will always buy with that in mind but won't be upset if it only has metric. One KZfaq video included adding up 4 pieces of stock, all with fractional, imperial measurements and boy was I glad that we changed to metric and I have a background in mathematics/statistics so adding fractions is not difficult for me but very tedious.

Great video, Steve - I love your sense of humour (yes, that's how we spell it). As a Canadian I know all about the superiority of the metric system, so I drive in kilometres per hour, get my gas by the litre (yes, that's how we spell it) and buy my food by the gram or kilogram. Of course, I still measure my height in feet and inches inches and my weight in pounds, and I do almost all of my wood working in inches. We are nothing if not adaptable!

Not mentioned: measuring X number of inches “and 3/4”. Then waking over, measuring the workpiece from the opposite direction, finding X inches, and moving 3/4” away from your inch measurement in the same physical direction you measured in. So now you’re 3/4 *under* X inches. I have done it, watched others do it. It’s the #1 pitfall of learning the visual divisions of an inch. You aren’t counting to, say, 178mm. You find the inches, and then start measuring away from the inch mark a specific amount. But you go the wrong way. Brutal

Its pretty cool to woodwork in the states. I used both SAE and metric. I learned most of the metric system in the military. Both systems have their purpose. We encourage everyone to learn more than one language. Its a great idea to know both measuring systems.

I've just been reading up on some of the old units of measurement. Did you know that there was a unit of mass called a batman? Or that in Wales you would buy a 'hobbit' of grain?

Idk, metric to me seems so much simpler, i cannot imagine working with imperial. Best solution i've found to this day, is i bought a measure tape that shows both systems. And that's the closest i'll get to using imperial.

Another big reason for inches and feet not going away is all the existing houses and tools in the US. Studs in walls are spaced 16" or 24" on center, which means drywall and plywood is sized in multiples of that to fit that spacing... which means that the multi-million dollar machines that manufacture those sheet good would cost untold millions (or billions) to change or replace.

Here in Holland lumber is also sold in imperial. 2100mm = 7' 44x94mm = 2by4 (center-center between blades at the sawmill) Plywood 1220x2440mm = 4x8'

Plans (say for a house) here are typically in millimeters - only, as that's generally precise enough for a building. No decimals, no risk of smudging adding or removing what is/gets interpreted as a decimal point/comma, or should have been.... Of course a 2x4 or 2x6 is still in casual talk, while they're actually 45x95 and 45x145 mm respectively... (25 mm per inch, minus 5 mm for planing)

I am a European living in the US. And while I got used to the imperial measurements, both professionally and in my woodworking hobby, I still hate them with a vengeance. The imperial system has no good properties besides being what is currenlty in use. I've been debating buying my tools in metric...

Another American here. Woodworking is just a hobby for me, and I mainly tackle projects by myself. I use metric in the shop (and work). Customary units on the street. I always find it strange when folks say it is part of American culture. Now cars that is American! I imagine after running a 5k, jumping in my 5.0 liter Mustang and sipping on a 2 liter of soda. Now that I think of it, it seems our culture is more trying to go metric (starting way back in 1793).

Imperial has one other benefit: being able to divide in halves more easily. Let's say you have something that's 12" long. You can divide that into 1", 2", 3", 4" or 6" pieces. With a base 10, you can only do 1", 2" and 5" without breaking down into decimals/fractions. If you don't actually have a tape measure, base 12 is more "natural".

Hi Steve, it's always fun to learn from your videos! How do you do pack so much information in a such a short video and not make it boring?! You're def. my favorite woodworker here on youtube

1/16 in is over 1.5mm. I'd say that's pretty inaccurate for woodworking, and you might end up with visible gaps if you are off by a 16th. I'd always say: go as precise as you can handle. I tend to use half millimeters, which is still very doable. I sometimes even nudge the line a bit to either side to get roughly 1 or 3 quarters of a mm, but that's more of a perfectionist thing than actually being helpful.

Though I appreciate the very few videos that sometimes use metric when explaining, most everything I've learned about woodworking I've learned from Channels like yours so it's not a problem. Great video btw 👌

Hi Sir...I am from Cairo, Egypt and you just made life a lot easier. Thank you sooo much 👍👍👍

I used mixed energy and power units through my engineering career. Watts, inches, deg C, etc. Then a different set of units at a different job. You get used to it. Overall, I think the metric system makes more sense.

If you need to deal with fractions and have a cell phone there’s an app for that. I have a fraction calculator on my phone that I use a lot when wood working.

I like the metric system because it also tells me how precise the measurement is. 42cm is between 41.5 and 42.4, but 420mm is between 419.5 and 420.4 I also like inches for woodworking where fractions are more practical for making joints and mortices.

In the UK we use a mish mash of both systems. Like most people, if you pointed out somebody 6'2" tall, I'd have no problem estimating their height to be 6'2".... I'd have no clue what that is in metric. When measuring timber we use inches.. but we always put the longest measurement first... so what you'd call a 2x4, we call a 4x2.... even though most timber yards advertise it in mm, and would be closer to 90mm x 40mm... Similarly, sheet material is stocked as 2400 x 1200mm, which is roughly 8' x 4'. We refer to the length and width in feet... but we measure the thickness in mm! So it's not uncommon to say something like, "I'm just running down to b&q to grab some 18mil 8x4 ply" ..! For finer measurements we use mm, mainly because they're easily divisible; such as the example around 5:30, rather than 4 5/8", we'd say 115mil... which if I need to double, I know right off the top of my head is 230mm... or half is 57.5. Whereas I'd get completely stuck if I needed to double 4 5/8"...! I'd get to 8 10/8"..! Then I'd have to think, well 8 8ths takes me to 9", and I have 2 8ths left over... so it's 9 2/8"... but then I'd have to break it down to 1/4.... then I'd second guess myself, just like I'm doing now, and have to work it out again... then I'd probably get a different answer, so I'd have to get the calculator.... and if I wanted to halve that 4 5/8" measurement, I'd come to 2" and 2 and a half 8ths! Then I'd throw the tape measure across the work shop in a rage and kick a few things. Then go back to using easily divisible millimetres. Also, ALL tape measures in the UK have metric on the top edge, and imperial at the bottom.

I love the metric system and as a science teacher, I am very comfortable with doing conversions for woodworking, but I find that I simply cannot visualize metric measurements in my head. Like, when I am done in Sketchup and I read the dimensions, I can’t picture how long 48 cm is on the space in front of me. It’s like speaking two languages; I construct the thoughts in my native langue first, then translate it. I can’t conceptualize in the second language.

I work with both imperial and metric, depending on the project. The thing I find most useful about imperial is the ease of dividing a foot in to quarters or thirds without dropping in to decimals.

imperial works because it is divisible, 12 inches splits to 1-12 2-6 3-4. metric is base10, 1-10 2-5. same reason time is 12/24 housrs and 60 minutes, easily divisible. 1-60 2-30- 3-20 4-15 5-12 6-10.

Brought up metric in uk but both my parent communicated in feet and inches. Also worked as an engineer, at college everything was metric but as we were working for the american market making turbine blades our measurements were imperial and our tolerance was 2 thousands of an inch

The thing about "Imperial measures" is, most metric people can adjust to them, but not the other way around. I always found it weird how Americans struggle with it. A good example is the show "The Orville". They are in metric but since they have no idea of scale they simply say the weirdest things :P. Otherwise most Metric people know how much 2.54 (rough an inch in cm)_ is and how much a foot is.. or a mile. Yet if you tell an average American "50 mm" they will give you anywhere between a foot length till 1/4th of an inch :P. It's not to laugh at it, but I think it is a precision thing. Metric can be adjust up and down to match the measurement needed. So, it's easy to find the scale that fits and then get an estimate of how big something is. The other way around not so much. 1 cm about 0.4 inch. A Kilometer? Why about 0.62 miles. Etc. It just doesn't fit as well the other way around. One can notice this both ways with temperature, as there both sides can't adjust well due the nature of the scale involved. BTW: Science , Soda bottles and most Engineering companies also use it. this is to safe time with ordering and delivering internationally. :P. If you're Ford Motor Company, and you need to order some part from Germany or Canada, you want it to fit and vice versa :P. Also: 540inches of driveway is also easier for the metric folk. They just move a few 0's around and then multiply it with 2.5. To get the meters and from there they already have an idea about how long it is (about 13.5 meters) and if they want to explain the multiply it y 3.3 (times 3 + 10%) to get an about number in feet (44 :) ). So while it is an estimate, they can still convert due to how their system adjusts to different sizes. It's quite intriguing. Now if I tell most Americans "1350 CM" they have No idea what so ever. Again a good example of this issue is the temperature scale, were both sides of the argument are totally lost as there is no linear relation between the two scales. There is no easy way to convert either way nor a simple multiplication you can do by head for either. But for length, the problem of conversion is pretty one sided, sadly enough :( . Also: LOL at the 2 by 4 joke. I found that one hilarious :P. As a kid that one always confused me :P.

My grandma was from Belgium and she always counted with one hand to twelve by placing the thumb on the bone of each finger. By keeping track with the other hand she could count to sixty (5 times 12). This is the way many people counted for millennia and probably the reason for the 60 minutes in an hour and the 12 hours for the day and the 12 hours for the night that the Babylonians came up with. So, thinking in twelves used to be much more natural for most people. Plus, it's really handy so I taught my kids as well to count this way. You may find it interesting to note that in everyday German language and life there's still many references to inches, e.g. a folding rule is usually called "Zollstock" ("inch stick") or many plumbing items are measured in inches or fractions or you by stuff "en gros" i.e 12x12=144 when you buy in large amounts. And it's very common to talk of a dozen or dozens of something instead of ten or twenty or thirty. So, the old system is still very much ingrained here as well. I'm a chemist by trade, so I really use the hell out of the metric system and the SI system for units. But I would also like to point out that dividing the circumference of the Earth by 40,000 to get the meter is not the first thing that comes to the mind of most people to use as the new basis for measuring things. Yet here we are. Another thing I would like to point out is that inches (width of a thumb) and feet (length of a foot, duh) come natural to most people. What I am saying is, there are merits to both systems which is why I never got why people get so upset about one or the other. Myself, I have watched so many woodworking videos that I can do imperial now, so that's nice. Anyways, sorry for the long rant and thanks for the great video!

Hi Steve, I have the opposite problem; here in the UK we have gone over to the metric system. I am seventy years old and most of my life I have used the imperial measurement so I visualise measurements in imperial. In addition, I worked within the Ministry of Defence, I sent many items all over the world by aeroplane, and these have always been built in imperial so any sizes have to be in imperial (even now).

Steve, I always enjoy your videos, for the laughs and the woodworking. And now I’m seriously thinking about revamping my garage/shop to a more usable space. (what did I do with that screwdriver...?).

Metric for furniture, Imperial for houses. It's just another tool on your tool-belt

A nerdy look for those who are curious about the "why" of Imperial measurements: There are 12 inches in a foot because there are. Seriously. The inch was originally 3 barleycorns (grains of barley) laid end to end (there's an alternate using a man's thumb, but I've forgotten that one). The foot . . . well, obviously. Interestingly, in medieval England, you could get a legal foot for use in trade by waiting for church to let out on Sunday and then requiring the first 16 men who exited to take off their left shoes and stand heel to toe; that was 16 feet. Use a piece of string, fold it in half, in half again, in half again, and one more time and you have a foot. Notice these are entirely independent definitions; it just happened that there are 12 inches in a foot. Similarly, a yard is 3 feet long because it is - the yard is another measure that was defined independently (from the king's nose as he looked straight forward to the tip of his middle finger on his arm stretched out to his side parallel to the ground) and it just happens there are 3 feet to the yard. Notice, these measurements are all things that are easy to visualize in your head. The base unit of the metric system is the meter, originally defined as one-ten-millionth of the (inaccurately-measured) distance from the equator to the north pole. It is now defined as "the length of the path travelled by light in a vacuum in 1/299,792,458 of a second." Volume is based on the cubic centimeter and weight (actually mass) is based on the gram, which is defined as the mass of a cubic centimeter of water at "standard temperature and pressure" (which is well-defined). No human is capable of visualizing the meter as defined; it's just something we get used to, and it helps that it's very close to a yard. Metric is an entirely arbitrary system, which is both good and bad. I learned metric as a child. I prefer the "Standard" units (based on Imperial) Americans use. It could have something to do with being a software engineer and knowing that our standard fractions (1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16, 1/32, 1/64) can all be represented perfectly in a digital computer, but 0.1 cannot.

Yeah, the 2x4 thing at the end. The whole finish lumber controversy. The nice people of Finland really screwed us on that concept!

Dear Steve, As you know, all imperial measures are officially defined in metric. The decimal system is easier to work with in every way I can think of, across the board be it lengths, volumes, or squares. Adding, subtracting, dividing or multiplying in the decimal system is foolproof. In the odd case you MUST use IMPERIAL: Measure in imperial then calculate and cut etc. using imperial. If you have a choice: measure calculate & fabricate in metric. When working in 'mixed environments' make a firm choice and stick to it. Mix'n Match doesn't work!

"The only challenge in dealing with fractions is if you need to add or subtract them, thankfully this isn't something that comes up very often when building things." Wut? Every single thing I've ever built I've had to add and subtract fractions of an inch. This is the primary reason the metric system is better. Hilarious ending.

Fun and confusing fact: There is one highway in the US from Tucson AZ to the Mexican border, Interstate 19, that is signed in metric for distance and Imperial for speed! I used to travel it regularly as I was a tech that supported the hospital in Nogales AZ.

Thanks, Steve. This is really my only go to woodworking channel; despite the weird wall art in the background.

Always amazes me that Americans never got rid of British Imperial measurements when you got rid of everything else we brought over. Even the name “Imperial” must have grated on those that fought for independence.

Twitter = Dumpster Fire 😆

As a resident of the U.S. I was born into imperial but I did try the duel tape measure once. It wasn't long before I got confused and got rid of it! If your used to one use it and find the conversion when you need it. I loved the ending with the 2x4!

As someone born and raised in the US, I can see why metric brethren would be confused or irritated with the imperial measurement system. The only time I ever have trouble is when I punch something into a calculator and have to convert decimals to fractions. Personally, I've had to learn a few metric conversions and equivalents because I'm also a cyclist and bicycle mechanic. Pretty much everything on bikes is measured in millimeters except for wheel size, tire width, and chain length. So for example I automatically know that 203mm is 8in and 160mm is about 6in.

Imperial system is not even a "system" , it's a bunch of random unrelated measurements for different things, it sucks

We have a weird situation regarding this in Kenya. In school, we officially are taught in the metric system. Everything, from roads and liquid measurements to book sizes etc. are in metric, EXCEPT in the construction industry. Every foreman and expert in the field, as well as hardware store/shop sells in imperial, and everything is measured in the imperial system. No idea why. So I end up measuring a table as say 123cm at home, then go to the shop and ask them to cut me a 2ft piece of MDF board. Used to it though, but we're constantly on our toes as a result. Or, you have architectural plans done in mm, but you have to translate to the foreman/contractor in imperial. It's hilarious!

Transition to metric can start with adding metric to the measuring tapes, rulers, ect. The problem is no one relevant for system changes is willing to begin the change. People who don’t want complicated fraction mathematical problems already switched to metric. More accurate and less headache measuring system.

Years ago my family had a Germany foreign exchange student stay with us for a year. I tried to explain the USA ways of measuring things. She was totally baffled,12 inch in a foot 36 inches in a yard, what a gallion was etc. It was fun dinner conversation,

Awesome ending! And great video!