If you work with metal frequently, you can probably tell what gauge material you’re working with just by sight and feel — for the rest of us, Starrett makes a precision US Standard Gauge for measuring the thickness of uncoated sheet, plate iron, and steel.
Starret makes this gauge in the USA, and though they don’t say what material they use, we’re betting steel. They give it a satin finish and mark one side with US standard gauge and the other with the decimal equivalents. After hardening the gauge, they carefully test it for accuracy.
If it’s not too late, you can purchase Starrett’s model 283 standard gauge for $24 at Amazon, which would make this one of Starrett’s more affordable tools. Normally they’re priced around $50.
US Standard Gauge [Starrett]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]
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4 Responses to US Standard Gauge
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Not related to this post, just wanted to tell you this blog renders well on Chrome.
Darn it, the price on Amazon.com is at $47.50 right now. And soon after your entry, I might add.
I love Starett stuff. I’m not a machinist or sheet-metal worker, but I buy their tools on occasion because I love how well they are made.
Dex,
Sorry you missed the deal.
I was a little worried that Amazon would change the price between the time I submitted the post and it was published, so I checked at about 2pm a little after this was posted and it was still discounted. Shows you how fast amazon can change their prices.
It would be nice if they gave you some idea of how long the discounted price would last.
If you need even more precision – there’s the venerable Starrett 170