Ask the Staff

Question:

You advertise a "Woodworker's Dial Caliper."

What's the difference between a woodworker's dial caliper and any other dial caliper?

Answer:

Dial calipers originated as measuring tools used by machinists and were primarily used in metalworking, where fractions of an inch are typically expressed in thousandths of an inch. Their round scales were therefore graduated in hundredths or thousandths of an inch.

Given that wood expands and contracts significantly due to changes in humidity, woodworkers aren't generally concerned about thousandths of an inch. We think instead in much more civilized fractions like halves, quarters, eighths, sixteenths and thirty-seconds of an inch (at least here in America these days.)

Highland introduced the woodworkers dial caliper to the American market a few years ago to address this inconvenience. The scale on its dial is graduated in 64ths of an inch, and the common fractions that we use like 1/16", 1/8", 3/16", etc. are clearly labeled.

The dial and its graduations are large enough for you to easily distinguish dimensions as small as 1/128".

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