The five rulers covered in this post are all made of boxwood and brass, and all include a caliper for measuring the outside diameter or width on an object. Our folding rules are made by HULTAFORS in Sweden from a slowly growing birch near the Arctic circle. It is also one foot long when opened, but is four-fold, meaning that is is only about 3-1/4 inches long when folded. Afolding ruler, also known as a carpenter's ruler or mason's ruler, folds or otherwise collapses, so that it is generally between six and eight inches long when folded, and can be kept in a pocket. Folding rulers have been largely replaced by tape measures, but 'zig-zag' rulers are still being manufactured.

Folding Rulers | FINE TOOLS Folding Rulers | FINE TOOLS

All text and photographs by Donald Alburyin this blog are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.Feeling an affinity with old hand tools (some of which I remember from my youth), I have tried to learn more about the history of the tools in the Tison Tool Barn, and how they were used. All illustrations taken from Wikimedia Commons are either in the public domain, or have been released under a Creative Commons license.

Folding Rulers: Part I - Tooling Around the Matheson History Folding Rulers: Part I - Tooling Around the Matheson History

I do enjoy digging around to find out more about the tools, and hope that some of you share my interest in the old tools collected in the Tison Tool Barn. Klein Tools’ line of folding rulers feature double-sided measurement markings to provide easy-to-read measurements.

The caliper on these three rulers each have a bar just over five inches long, which would allow measurement of objects up to about four inches in diameter. Carpenter's overalls sold today may advertise this pocket as also suitable for holding a cell phone. Hinges, swivel joints, and bandings were usually made of brass or ' German silver' (a copper and nickle alloy).