A Good, Cheap Metric/Imperial Kitchen Ruler

[Chris Amirault]

I'm increasingly finding myself frustrated by the school rulers we've got around the house, and I'm hoping that someone has an idea for a perfect kitchen ruler. This has been maddening to find, and I turn to you for help.

The ideal ruler will:

-- be thick enough to use as an edge for cutting pasta or dough;

-- have both metric and imperial units;

-- be dishwasher safe; and

-- start its measurement at the edge of the ruler itself, not a millimeter or two inside the shorter edge (like this one).

I am unable to find something that fits this bill. Cork backs, inches only, non-stainless metal... there's always something. Please, someone, help me.

[weinoo]

Like this?

click

[PetersCreek]

-- start its measurement at the edge of the ruler itself, not a millimeter or two inside the shorter edge (like this one).

This immediately brought the machinist's rule to mind. Item #1276 from General Tools seems to meet your requirements, except for metric graduations. I could not quickly find a similar rule that sports both metric and imperial.

Edited March 1, 2011 by PetersCreek (log)

[ElsieD]

Something like this?

http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.aspx?p=32568&cat=1,43513,43519

[Anna N]

Something like this?

http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.aspx?p=32568&cat=1,43513,43519

That looks great and would be ideal to measure protein thickness for S-V purposes I would think. Thanks.

[Chris Amirault]

Indeed! Even has a hole for hanging.

[Mjx]

I was going to recommend the Rabone Chesterman engineer's rulers (my dad got me two a number of years ago, and I use them for everything), since they fit all your criteria, but when I went to link to them, I discovered that the company has been purchased by Stanley, and rulers are no longer made. The link ElsieD provided shows something that looks fairly close.

[andiesenji]

I use a framing square (aka carpenter square) I got in a hardware store - may have been ACE - it has both inches and centimeters/millimeters, is stainless steel and I put it in the dishwasher to clean.

I have actually have two, a small one that is 6 x 12" and the larger is 12 x 24"

I also have a plastic quilter's pattern grid that I found in a fabric store.

It looks like a giant protractor, flat on one side a full arc on the other.

[PetersCreek]

Indeed! Even has a hole for hanging.

DOH! I thought about that type but I wrongly assumed you wanted grads flush on both ends.

[Susie Q]

I have several Westcott rulers from the office supply store. The 18" and 24" gets used the most.

They are metal, measuring starts at the edge, have both metric and imperial measurements, have a hole for hanging, and I find them thick enough to use as a cutting guide. They come in many lengths.

Edited April 11, 2011 by Susie Q (log)