Am i imagining things or did these not used to be made to last in a way they clearly aren't now? The blurb tells you they still have a coating but once or twice in the rain and you can start running the clock down in how many days use you'll get before it's rusted unreadable. When the silver bodies were actually metal they seemed to last a hell of a lot longer.. and didn't they have a proper thick coating on the tape? Used them for a long time but thats it.. even the blade is sh1te the ones i normally use (8m .. not fatmax.. too big for the pouch). Tried Irwins this time for the first time to see how they go. First impressions are a good bit more compact and a lovely recoil.. and a great catch on the blade compare the the Stanleys. See what happens when it gets wet..
Stanley tapes..
- Thread starter kaseryn
- Start date
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Deleted member 174758
Try Bahco double sided magnetic end stainless steel tapes. Circa £12 for 5m or £15 for 8m even on Amazon. At least they don't rust.
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Deleted member 174758
Depends on the level of accuracy and consistency you require - and in the case of a tradesman the image you want to project..... In any case how long will your cheap jack tape last and will I be able to get enough stand out from it to measure from floor to ceiling? Oh, 3 metres, so too short for much practical building work, then (even 5 metres is a bit on the short side). Not all tapes are made equal.....
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Lol. Wtf? Who goes around assessing tradesman based on their tapes?
It's a fact that most people only use the first 1m of a tape. So those who know have a pocket tape for the routine measures, and a long tape for long measures but only the idiots keep the 10m tape in their pockets ... or worse still on their belts.
I don't know what you mean about accuracy. How can a tape be inaccurate?
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Deleted member 174758
If someone comes to work for me and pulls out a battered cheapo 3 metre tape then I know not to put him onto anything requiring any degree of accuracy or quality at first because he probably won't (can't) be that accurate - his tool kit in all probability will be just as crap.This isn't the case all the time, but 98% of the time it is in the joinery trade.
Install architraves, skirtings or joists and you'll need a tad more than the first metre. Try to figure out if that wall unit you like in the shop will fit into your living room and you might need a bit more than 3m as well.well.
Here's something to try - get a box of ten new tapes and pull them out to compare them against each other. Throw away or return the tapes which don't match each other along the full length. You'd be amazed at how inconsistent tapes can be and you might be lucky to find 4 tapes in 10 which are identical. We used to do this so that all the members of a fit out crews would be measuring consistently and about 50% of the Stanley tapes we used to see had inaccuracies or inconsistencies. Cheap tapes were effectively worthless to us because they were so bad and on cheap tapes the end hooks could vary from tight to extremely sloppy (inside to outside measurement) which also throws your measures out. Some of us need to work to tighter tollerances than 1/4in - even on 1st fix. Oh, and I've found the best way to carry a tape round is in a pocket on my tool belt.......
And like most of the chippies I know I have an 8 metre tape for first fix and a 5 metre for second fix. Don't need a 10 metre Bob the Builder special as I use a laser range finder for the longer stuff.......
Install architraves, skirtings or joists and you'll need a tad more than the first metre. Try to figure out if that wall unit you like in the shop will fit into your living room and you might need a bit more than 3m as well.well.
Here's something to try - get a box of ten new tapes and pull them out to compare them against each other. Throw away or return the tapes which don't match each other along the full length. You'd be amazed at how inconsistent tapes can be and you might be lucky to find 4 tapes in 10 which are identical. We used to do this so that all the members of a fit out crews would be measuring consistently and about 50% of the Stanley tapes we used to see had inaccuracies or inconsistencies. Cheap tapes were effectively worthless to us because they were so bad and on cheap tapes the end hooks could vary from tight to extremely sloppy (inside to outside measurement) which also throws your measures out. Some of us need to work to tighter tollerances than 1/4in - even on 1st fix. Oh, and I've found the best way to carry a tape round is in a pocket on my tool belt.......
And like most of the chippies I know I have an 8 metre tape for first fix and a 5 metre for second fix. Don't need a 10 metre Bob the Builder special as I use a laser range finder for the longer stuff.......
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And my 70p B&Q special does all those.
I stopped buying expensive tapes years ago, after my apprenticeship and after losing/breaking/borrowing countless expensive brands. And TBH, if I sat down and thought of how many cheapos I have used over the years it would not be many, and not as many of some other other blokes I regularly see with new tapes.
The majority of site measurements are just relative in any case and don't have to be in mm or inches or whatever. They can be in Mars Bars or cheese sandwiches, as long as the relative measurement is transferred. So as long as your inaccurate tape is consistently inaccurate, then its fine.
I don't assess a trades person by the brands he buys. It's normally by the work he does, but that's just me.
I stopped buying expensive tapes years ago, after my apprenticeship and after losing/breaking/borrowing countless expensive brands. And TBH, if I sat down and thought of how many cheapos I have used over the years it would not be many, and not as many of some other other blokes I regularly see with new tapes.
The majority of site measurements are just relative in any case and don't have to be in mm or inches or whatever. They can be in Mars Bars or cheese sandwiches, as long as the relative measurement is transferred. So as long as your inaccurate tape is consistently inaccurate, then its fine.
I don't assess a trades person by the brands he buys. It's normally by the work he does, but that's just me.
We get through a lot of tapes. I'm getting the 8m Stanley (broad blade) fellas at the mo' for 8 quid. We use them a lot. Great blade.
The cheap ones have a tendency to weaken near to the hook end after repeated whip-lashings endured during speedy retractions. This makes them frustratingly difficult to hook onto a corner as they always have a memory bend away from the hook.
I can't remember the last time I bought anything other than a broad bladed Stanley. You can feed them out a fair distance before snapping and they are better in the wind.
Anyone who uses a tape as much as I do will know exactly what I'm on about.
The cheap ones have a tendency to weaken near to the hook end after repeated whip-lashings endured during speedy retractions. This makes them frustratingly difficult to hook onto a corner as they always have a memory bend away from the hook.
I can't remember the last time I bought anything other than a broad bladed Stanley. You can feed them out a fair distance before snapping and they are better in the wind.
Anyone who uses a tape as much as I do will know exactly what I'm on about.
Absolutely. Horses for courses though woods. The same people that use a 70p special have never tried to feed one up a 5m long rafter in the wind. It takes me less time to bin one of these tapes as it does for me to eat a 1:00pm breakfast.
Of course. Just like you would not lay bricks with your jointer.
Yes there is a need for a long sturdy tape, and yes I have a fat max for it's excellent stand out ability.
But in the main, a long big heavy tape is not needed, and the small cheapo in the pocket does the job.
Btw, my old instructors and mentors on site would curse anyone frequently getting their tapes out to measure things that could be done with other items. Hammer and chisel or trowel for measuring block cuts, cavity, window, storey and other gauge rods and timber cut to setting out dimensions.
Nearly every measurement I need is etched into my levels nowadays. It's much easier.
I don't know how you are going through so many tapes.
A combination of the lads forgetting to wipe them before retracting them when wet, small nicks in the blade turning into a tuck then a snap and the fist half metre of tape becoming illegible.
The one below is a few months old and as you can see by the image that whilst the front of the tape is wearing, the back has had a lot of hammer. This one has been relegated to the bricklaying bucket and the old one in there thrown out.
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