"JUST ABOUT" isn't close enough any more.

I have been very impressed with the Wixey products. They certainly have filled the gap between mechanical and digital measuring devices and at a reasonable price.

That said, I have often wondered if we woodworkers are going over board- with the accuracy thing- when measuring a piece of wood. We are always talking about the types of joints that will permit the wood to move. Gluing situations that also permit wood movement. Yet we try to cut a board to 3 decimal places accuracy.

I believe when setting up a machine, “just about” isn’t good enough. Vertical means vertical and perpendicular is 90 degrees. But, board sizes will change with the weather.

Oh, yeah- I have a digital caliper and use it all of the time- so who am I to talk?

Lew

I have a digital caliper, but I regret not getting one with a fractional readout, since I always tend to think in fractions. (Does that make me a 1/2 wit?)

Lew makes a good point about getting crazy with accuracy. It’s WOOD people! LOL!

-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"

I also have a digital caliper.
Be careful… mine has a crystal window….
Yup you guessed it, I dropped it onto the table saw, and the crystal cracked.
I called every person I could think of… it can’t be replaced.
So I taped it over and use it as is.
Bummer, but it still work’s, just be careful…..Joero

-- Makers of fine butcher shop saw dust.

Yeah, I’ve gone off the deep end too. I put a digital gauge on my planer, now everything is down to the hundredth of an inch. Looking to get the angle meter and maybe the digital position indicators for my table saw.
I’ll probably upgrade my caliper to digital soon, too. Boy, what ever happened to story boards and folding rules?

-- Tim -- http://tmuli.com

Charlie,

Are you one of the three wit brothers?

Dim, Half and Nit. JUST KIDDING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :>)

Lew

Thanks Steve!!! I’ve been looking at these and now you’ve made up my mind I’m buying one next week. I think it will really help when deviding a distance in half.
John Gray

-- Only the Shadow knows....................

Lew, that’s me!

I stay close at all times to my brothers Nit and Dim, so I can truthfully tell people I’ve got all my Wits about me. :-)

-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"

Me too Steve. I have a mechanical one made out of some sort of plastic& a didital one like yours. Silly enough but I tend to use the plastic one the most mainly because the battery ran out on the good one. LOL.

-- Grumpy - "Always look on the bright side of life"- Monty Python

good inspection tools take a woodworker to the next level.

enjoyed reading the review

-- work from your heart and your spirit will live forever

I always use a dial caliper for precision. Doesn’t have fractions though.

Good Deal!

-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.

Hi Steve;

Anything to get us to the next level is a great thing. Especially if it’s under $ 50.00

Have fun with your new toy, but keep in mind you just threw away any excuses related to not having a digital caliper!

Great review;

Lee

-- by Lee A. Jesberger http://www.prowoodworkingtips.com http://www.ezee-feed.com

wixey makes good stuff!

-- making sawdust....

It really is amazing how accurate most digital calipers are as well as how inexpensive they can be. Most are accurate to within +/- .001”. More than enough for any woodworking and most any metalworking.

-- Jeff, Central Illinois, http://www.TheToolSpot.us

Thanks for all your comments, you guys crack me up… lol…

I’ve been using this thru my shop, measuring everything that I can measure. I’m finding out that some of my router bits aren’t what the say they are, some are oversized, some just right, and some that I’ve sharpened for a while now need to go in a “less than accurate” box. No wonder I can’t get some things to fit like I’d wanted to in the past, joints too tight or too loose. When I’m working on something precision like a joint or inlay, I’m going to measure the inlay and the router bit in the future to make sure I can get it as close as possible to get the best fit.

I agree with Lew to an extent, “it’s just wood.” But I’m finding myself measuring things like old drill bits that aren’t marked with the size, router bits, and so on.

This thing is handy as heck, I’m not really sure what I did to “just get by” before when I didn’t have it.

-- As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17) †

Hi Steve

Thanks for the review! I was wanting to get one of these. It is nice to have someone I know that can give me a thumbs up on this tool.

God Bless
tom

-- Mc Bridge Cabinets, Iowa

well steve now that you got an acurate measureing tool maybe you should consider putting a little finer edge on your hatchet to get a finer cut ! lol

LOL… MrTrim, you’ve just summed up my entire fine woodworking experience… WoodHack.

-- As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17) †

I finally broke down and purchased a less expensive digital caliper with fractional readout. It is amazing to me the precision of the woodworking before the advent of digital measuring tools.

Woodworking is a like a chain (chain of processes), and its precision is only as great as its weakest link.

Dalec

I have the Wixly digital readout on my planer and its great when you plane a stack of boards and then a week later you need one more. read the size and plane to it. A dream come true.

Wixly had on their web site a replacemet digital readout for the planer because you need to bend down to read the digits. The new one is at a 45 deg or so angle. I jumped at the chance. It hasn’t shown up yet.

-- What happens in the workshop stays in the workshop. No wait that doesn't sound right. Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com †

I shopped around on ebay and found a new set of 12 inch digitals for 45 bucks. Made in China but good quality and came with 2 extra batteries. I’ve kept it clean and still works fine after 5 years … 4 maybe.

-- work from your heart and your spirit will live forever

Having been a machinist in a previous lifetime, I have pretty much any high accuracy measuring device you can think of. I have had to fight myself to keep from checking wood with a micrometer (.0001” resolution). ;-)

-- There is nothing in the world more dangerous, than a woodworker who knows how to read a micrometer...

I was a machinist also in a previous lifetime, and don’t tell them anything about inside mikes. They’ll all be checking the holes made by their Forstner bits and won’t get anything done. bbqKing

-- bbqKing, Lawrenceville

best thing i have bought for my thicknesser especially when ou need to run more stock for a project you can get exact match on thickness, just makes it all so much easier

Got one myself along with the Wixey digital readout for the planer and the table saw. The older I get the easier it is to read a number not a ruler.

-- Carpenters make some of the finest firewood there is !

I’ve had one of these Wixey calipers now for several months now and use it every day. The inches to mm conversion sure makes dividing distances in half.

-- Only the Shadow knows....................

I picked up a similar model at Harbor Freight for about fifteen bucks several months ago. It has all of the features of the one you mention and seems solidly built. It even came with a spare button cell. Most are probably made in the same factory in China, and for the same wholesale cost. Mine is certainly well worth the money I paid.

Howard Ferstler