now what you all to listen up very carefully because I have a scientific fact backed up by science well I'm not exactly sure who did the study or where I read it Bo it's very science e scientific it's impossible for a man or a woman to use a brand-new tape measure without first of all finding out how far they can extend it before it collapses under its own weight [Music] am i right or am i right is this you let me know down below see that's science get a folks uncle knackers here from do your for knuckleheads and welcome to episode 5 of my workshop hacks tips and tricks video series in today's video we'll be looking at the humble tape measure and hopefully I'll be able to share with you some quick and amazing tape measuring tips that I've learnt along the way but first before we do anything if you wanna see more videos just like this one do yourself a favor and make sure you hit that subscribe button and click the notification bell oh yes yeah Fox Trot did you hear all that over yeah Roger that make loud and clear over now don't tell me you haven't done that before cuz I know you have yes you okay let's kick off this series of tape measuring tips with what I think is the number one reason that bamboozles a lot of new tape owners you've gone out and you've bought yourself your very first tape measure you bring it home go to use it only to find at the end feels a little wobbly and you think to yourself oh no I've bought myself a dodgy tape I better take it back don't take it back there's a reason for that wobble and this is what it is the amount of what will you find on the end of your tape is the actual thickness of the hook and the reason for that is that doesn't matter if you're doing an outside measurement like that where you hope to tape over the end of the piece that you're trying to measure or you're doing an inside measurement like that we're lining up the outside of the hook with the edge of the piece that you're trying to measure the measurements are going to be the same now hopefully you can now understand that if the end of the tape was rigid and didn't have any play or wobble only one of those measurements would be accurate in relation to the marks on that tape either the inside measurement or the outside measurement the other measurement is going to be out by the thickness of the hook now here's a really good tip for marking a fast and straight line by using your tape measure as a marking gauge now this trick is used by carpenters and drywallers all over the world for instance say we want to cut 100 millimeters or 4 inches of the bottom of this door grab your tape measure and line 100 millimeter or 4 inches up with the bottom of the door and then with your index finger and your thumb line them up with the hundred for the four inches get your pencil place it hard up against the hook and away you go [Music] so easy just between you and me I can that turned out pretty good now if you don't need to be particularly accurate with your line you can use your tape measure as a straight edge not too bad and sometimes that's all you need and if by some chance your tape measure has the hook that also extends not only from the bottom but also above the tape you can turn your tape over and that'll give you a stronger straighter line now this next tip is a little ninja tip that I like to use to help identify my tape measure if you work on a big building site where there may be plenty of tradesmen there who could have a similar tape measure to yours to help identify yours I suppose you could just paint it a different color but what I like to do is I like to go a bit more incognito a little more ninja and I'll show you what I do grab your tape and extend that blade until it's almost run its full length now once you get toward the end of the tape just simply turn the tape over grab a permanent marker like a sharpie and write your name and sign it [Music] and there you have it that's my name that's my signature and a nice little reminder notice just don't do this down the other end of the tape within the first couple of meters because those measurements are used a lot more often than these ones which means this will wear off quicker speaking of tape measures how's this I was on the couch the other day just relaxing watching a bit of telly when my ten-year-old son comes up to me within about five feet and starts to pat me on the face with the end of a tape measure repeatedly and I said to him what the hell are you doing he says I'm just measuring your patience dad I said you cheeky little the next tip I have is that you may have noticed on the end of your tape on the end of the hook you can see a slot now that slot can be found on virtually every tape on the market and it's a very handy feature as essentially it acts as a second pair of hands which is great when you're working by yourself all you need to do is to place that slot over the head of a nail or a screw which locks the tape in place and you're good to go another thing to remember with the slot on the end of the tape measure is that when it goes over the head of the nail the end or the hook of the tape measure actually finishes up where you want to measure from if that slot wasn't there the tape will be sitting out away from the line that way your measurement won't be as accurate as it would have been like that now in a pinch you can even use your tape measure as a compass simply place a hook over the nail just like that work out your radius and then away you go not too bad at all a little glitch here and there only because I was trying to get around the camera but apart from that that works pretty good now the next tip is great for when you're working up high on a ladder now the first thing you need to do is to go out and buy yourself a couple of those really strong rare earth magnets I've got a big one boy but not for that a big magnet and I also went out and bought myself a smaller magnet which I just simply attached to my now bag on one of the rivets just like that so if you find yourself working up high on a ladder or some scaffolding and you drop your square nail or screw just grab your magnet place it on the end of the tape measure and retrieve your object now this is great for guys like me who have a Dickey knee because the less times we have to get up and down a ladder the better I've also seen guys put double-sided tape on the end as well which is great for retrieving a drop pencil [Music] there you go how is yours that it actually makes four trillion drop tools a bit of fun now this next tip is really handy for doing inside measurements you'll find on a tape most tapes at least they'll have a measurement down here mine says three and a half inches or 89 millimeters and what that refers to is the actual size of the tape measure case the main problem you face when you're doing an inside measurement like between these two sides is when you're trying to work out the exact measurement at this point now because
