Lol we get various freebies from our suppliers and big customers too. Like cheap tape measures that last a day if it's lucky, plastic rulers that snap at the slightest touch lol. The only things we keep are the occasional teamugs with the suppliers logo on it their great lol. Had quite a good game of golf this afternoon. no hole-in-one unfortunately, my mate John nearly had one though lol. About 6 inches from the hole, we were all actually gutted it didn't go in. Seeing it roll straight for the hole, we were all so sure it was in. Of cause we were all just willing it to go in lol. Bit chilly to start with, but the course being quite hilly we all soon warmed up. Did you have a nice weekend?.

We used to get alot of freebies from suppliers..always waited until they left to throw them away.. Hope you make another hole-in-one..never played golf, but I have a few friends that speak of nothing else..I think they might be addicts..are there meds for that?..LOL

Your guess is correct, i'd never even attempt to put a handrail on a curved staircase lol. Ahh glad to hear you use quality tapes like Stanley, my favourite too. I remember one time my company thought they'd save money and bought a load of cheap tape measures and they lasted about two weeks before the spring retractions stopped working lol, guess the springs inside were just too weak. So a few of the guys ran over them in a forktruck in disgust lol. Only a few of us in the mill have Stanley and we guard them with our lives lol. They eventually got our point that cheap doesn't mean good and did buy some decent ones but not all Stanley. I'm sure your'll agree in the chippie world the tape is one of the most important tools and a good one should be guarded with your life lol. Well here it's very difficult to get a tape with only one measurement size on it. Actually didn't know that you were still primarily imperial there. Got a game of golf tomorrow with a few mates and this is the course i played long ago where i got my only hope-in-one, i wonder if i can do it again!, certainly gonna try for it lol.

So I'm guessing you haven't ever put handrail on one of those fancy "Curved Staircase's" either..those are always fun..
Ahh..the debate..none of my US tapes have metric included..have to buy one of each over here..course all I use is the "Stanley" brand..my favorite for years...now my speedometer has both miles & kilometers..lol..maybe I could use the truck for the long measurements..

I love anyone who makes or puts up handrail balusters lol. Unfortunately i only have handrails with walls both sides. I just think balusters look so nice. Guess it really takes great skill in putting up and getting them accurate, closest i've ever got is just replace baluster spindles. Love to have a go from scratch. Just a shame both my stair walls are supporting walls, or i would have knocked down the right wall to put up handrail and balusters. Back on the measurement debate lol, i guess it doesn't help new chippies that tape manufacturers still print both measurements on the tapes. I've always thought you should be able to buy a tape just in metric or imperial, or is that just being silly? lol.

That makes sense to me..Europe has always been more metric than imperial & sometimes I think about going metric..an example would be in handrail baluster layout.
When I have a long run I generally use a construction calculator that converts to imperial measurement, but it is only accurate to 1/32", so if you have 30+ balusters, and gain or lose 1/64" as you go & you don't remember to compensate for that & other small factors, you can lose or gain up to 1" on the opposite end spacing..then it looks like **** & you have to do it over..lol..now that I think of it..I think I'll go get me a metric tape measure just for handrail installation..thanks for bringing that up..

Well i think the reason for me using both measurements is because of the orders we get. Hope your sitting comfortably, then i shall begin lol. I averagely get about 30 work orders a day and some are to be cut imperially and some cut metrically. Because some customers work in metres and others still in imperial. Like one customer may want 6 foot dead length and another may want the metric size which is 1.8 mt. Also we get imported timber in imperial and metric sizes, we call the metric packs regged as in it's been through a regging planer to a metric size. Which does make a lot of difference when choosing which pack to use. Like using an 8 in wide pack or the metric 200mm pack. Hope your still with me DWM222? lol. Basically what i'm saying is the company using both measuresments. Not actually sure which one i prefer though. I guess both measurements come in handy in their own way. Confused? i am.

I have the same setup with one big room with dining at the far end as well..small world..lol
I always use imperial measurement, but there are a few in the organization that use both as you do..I never got used to metric though..Its hard to change after 50/60 years of doing it the same way.

My dining room is Parqueted lol, maybe i should explain lol. My front room is also the dining room, it was two rooms, but i knocked down the dividing wall to have one big room. I like big spacious rooms and i dine at the far end of the room. Just out of curiosity, are you a metre man? or an imperial man?, sounds silly but when i measure long lengths i read in feet and in short like making small parts i measure in mm, do you use both measures?.

If you had Parquet in your dining room as well...you would have just described my house..lol..it does wear like iron though..Nothing like a great lunch, good conversation...& pretty girls..