Tips for improving woodworking accuracy

[thetyreman]

+1 I used a rod for the first time last year for making some doors and it was so much easier, if you do it accurately everything will fit perfectly and it saves so much time.

I'd still like to know a bit more about how to lay them out if anyone has any recommendations on books, or even better being taught face to face by somebody.

 

[Jacob]

+1 I used a rod for the first time last year for making some doors and it was so much easier, if you do it accurately everything will fit perfectly and it saves so much time.

I'd still like to know a bit more about how to lay them out if anyone has any recommendations on books, or even better being taught face to face by somebody.

Basically the idea is to put down enough information on your board so that you can take off ALL the marks you are going to need on ALL your workpieces. You can even add hardware details - e.g. put the hinge you are going to use, on the rod, and mark from it.
So a full sized sectional drawing will do it but as a rule I tend to simplify it so there are lots of marks but not necessarily recognisably a door/window etc. This is OK while it's all fresh in your mind but if you want to keep it and dig it our years later it might be difficult to work out exactly what it's all about.
It works for simple jobs too - if you wanted to mark and cut say 10 laths at 12" you put the 12" marks on a rod and take the marks off with a set square and pencil, probably in 2 stacks 5 laths high, depending on size etc.

 

[Gogsi]

Absolutely agree. It's also the last part of the design process where you are sorting out the details and making sure things fit. Once finished you are on auto pilot like a human CNC machine; no need to think - just do the work!
It gets rid of all those back of envelope calculations and all the mistakes that ensue
I'd been reading woodwork mags and books for years but had never heard of 'the rod" until I did a C&G course. Other stuff too about which I had learned nothing previously.
So I stopped buying mags.
Later I dumped the stack I'd saved except for some torn out articles. Later I dumped them too!.
Haven't read one in 20 or 30 years!
PS The paper idea is good, there are a few I wish I'd kept
With hindsight I realised that some of the first things I ever made were with the help of a form of "rod": Kiel Kraft model aircraft came with a full size paper pattern on which you laid your bits of balsa and marked or cut them, to fit.

I think you may be referring to a "story stick". It may be an American term .
But here's an old coot giving a very good example of what i think you're talking about:

 

[thetyreman]

I think you may be referring to a "story stick". It may be an American term .
But here's an old coot giving a very good example of what i think you're talking about:

that is the american term for it, we say rod or 'measuring rod' in the UK especially in england. Measuring rod - Wikipedia

 

[Jacob]

I think you may be referring to a "story stick". It may be an American term .
But here's an old coot giving a very good example of what i think you're talking about:

Sorry no he doesn't know what he's talking about! In fact very clumsy and amateurish, nothing like using a rod.
A "story stick" is literally that, a stick the height of story i.e. from one floor level to the next. This is essential tool for a stair maker on which he could work out and mark all the risings, landings etc. So yes that would be a "rod" too.
Also a similar thing for room interiors showing heights of skirtings, dadoes, picture rails etc.
I guess the term 'story stick' has got picked up over the years and misused by old American coots!
PS stair builder's story stick has to measure from floor level at first rising, to floor level at the top, which on a sloping lower floor would not be the same as the vertical from top to bottom.

 

[Mike.R]

Here's Jed with a staircase story pole.

 

[KevinLycett]

Rods. This sounds really interesting but I’ve no idea what the method is. Anyone care to elucidate? Or maybe link to some kind of instructions?

 

[Cabinetman]

White painted Venetian blind slats, are what I use, about 25 mil by 3, if you want to make a drawer front to fit a hole in a cabinet, you don’t measure the hole, you put your stick/slat against the end of the hole and mark off with a sharp pencil, same again for the height. I only use a tape measure right at the beginning of a job and from then onwards everything is made to fit the bits that came previously. I nearly always do a full drawing which helps to iron out methods of construction and obviously proportions. It’s sometimes the case though that when you have the wood in front of you things become more apparent. Ian

 

[TheTiddles]

Rods. This sounds really interesting but I’ve no idea what the method is. Anyone care to elucidate? Or maybe link to some kind of instructions?

It’s a stick.


no really. Ever cut up a cereal packet to make a template? Same idea

 

[Sgian Dubh]

Here are some scans of an old article on measuring room spaces using telescoping sticks to do the measuring and creating rods from the telescoping sticks to make fitted furniture to go into the measured space. Rods, of course, are useful for all sorts of furniture and joinery projects whether the finished item is free-standing or built-in, as has been said already by others.

Sorry about the relatively low level of the article scans, but hopefully they're good enough to just about read and to make sense of. Slainte.

 

[Jacob]

Rods. This sounds really interesting but I’ve no idea what the method is. Anyone care to elucidate? Or maybe link to some kind of instructions?

Rod slide show here joinery setting out and marking out
Not the same as the rods shown above, same name but different thing altogether.

 

[tibi]

Rods. This sounds really interesting but I’ve no idea what the method is. Anyone care to elucidate? Or maybe link to some kind of instructions?

You can find different Rods around the world. E.g. Rod Steward, Rod Dreher, Rod Brind'amour, etc .... You just basically draw required dimensions on the piece of wood or transfer them from an existing structure and then you transfer those dimensions to another object, or you create multiple instances of the same object by transferring dimensions from the master item, i.e. rod.

 

[TRITON]

You can find different Rods around the world. E.g. Rod Steward, Rod Dreher, Rod Brind'amour, etc

Rod and Emu.
He really creeped me out. Entire act consisted of him using a puppet to grope people. I reckon he's lucky he's deceased, or he'd be up in court and the claims would be telephone book long