There are many different kinds of these tools available, but I will only discuss the tools which I have used over the years for wood carving. One item which I use regularly in my shop is a six inch flexible plastic rule. At the top is imperial measurements and along the bottom is metric. At one time I only used imperial, but more and more I find metric to be more convenient.

I also have a twelve inch steel cabinetmakers rule, which I rarely use now. It has accurate machined edges which is handy to check how even a surface is. A sixteen foot tape measure comes in handy for checking board widths, and taking measurements over one foot. I also use an aluminum three foot rule for layout work where I want to draw a straight line on plywood,etc.

I have two 12" triangular scales. One is called an engineer's scale and has graduations of 10, 20, 30, 40,50, and 60 parts per inch. I often use the 10 scale. The second scale is called a mechanical drafting scale and is graduated 3/32", 1/8", 3/16", 1/4", 3/8", 1/2", 3/4",etc. right up to 3" to the foot. It also has the regular 12" imperial scale.

For drawing a right angle line to the edge of a board, I have a 4" try square, 10", and also a 24" framing square. For marking off odd angles I have a sliding bevel. A set of french curves is handy for irregular lines, as well as a flexible curve.

I have a pocket calculator for changing pattern sizes to keep in the right proportions. A large outside caliper is useful for measuring the thickness of the fish body at various locations. I often use a small twin pointed set of dividers, the kind from a drafting set. You can quickly and accurately check and transfer measurements. A very handy item. Sometimes I will use a profile gauge to check a shape or to transfer a shape.

I have two cheap venier calipers for taking outside measurements, and recently purchased an electronic caliper for very accurate readings. One last item worth mentioning is a circle template with metric and imperial.

Sometimes I will even use a piece of paper cut to about 1" x 6" to take a measurement on the fish. Wrap the paper around the body, mark the point on the paper, then reverse it to the other side of the fish centreline. This works well when the curve is too sharp for the plastic rule to work.

Someone mentioned the other day about keeping your pencil sharp. I certainly agree with that and it is handy to have a pencil sharpener in the shop and some fine sandpaper to help keep the point sharp.