I recently bought myself a Mitutoyo 6″ stainless steel ruler (model 182-105). It has 1/32″ markings on one edge, and 1/64″ markings on the other.
On the other side, it has a metric scale, with mm markings on one edge, and 1/2mm markings on the other. Major markings are in 10mm increments, similar to the inch markings on the side shown in the above photo.
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That was actually a surprise – I thought it was an inch-only ruler, and I didn’t research it closely enough before ordering one. Having the metric scale is useful, and encourages me to buy a second one, for my other workspace.
There’s another surprise – the Amazon listing image says “Made in USA,” but mine is marked that it was made in Japan. Mine has the 64ths scale on the top edge, and 32nds scale on the bottom. This doesn’t matter to me, but it’s still important to point out that what you get might not be exactly as pictured.
This isn’t my only “short” ruler, but it’s by far the sturdiest. My other short rulers are of the “flexible pocket ruler” variety. This one is more useful already, because it’s wider, thicker, and very rigid.
It’s easy to read, and the edges are smooth and straight, allowing me to use it as a small straight edge.
I was a little hesitant about the price at first, but I soon forgot about that. This is much more of a precision tool than the plastic and steel 6″ rulers you can find at the office supply store.
Price: ~$12-13
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I have been buying and using Mitutoyo precision measuring tools and devices for years now, and they have never let me down yet.
taras
I had one of these gifted to me by a friend who’s an engineer. Yes it’s a ruler, and yes it’s expensive for a ruler, but for the product you receive, the price is totally reasonable. The ruler is milled on all faces before receiving it’s markings. Hell, the price of admission is worth it just to look at it and hold it, even if you never end up using it.
Jason
Used a lot for wood working , Machining, or in the mechanical field. Great product I use a lot of the same tools in my field for Millwright work (Pump Mechanic). L.S. Starret, and Fowler are the ones I use.
Hilton
I paid just over $13 in 2015 and I was surprised at the thickness of the ruler. Much better than some of the thin bendy ones I also have.
I’d buy this again.
csroc
I have some cheaper, longer stainless rulers but this is by far probably the nicest ruler I have around the house.
Mike
I have a few small 6”/150mm pocket scales but I made the small investment in a 18” scale from PEC Tools (made in USA) several years ago and it has been invaluable when measuring longer distances on automotive parts.
Nathan
seeing the picture say Made in America on it I was surprised as every other piece of mitutoyo equipment I have ever held has been made in either Japan or Singapore.
So I got to thinking who did they buy?
They are one of the few cases where I don’t mind buying their product despite where it’s made, I’ve never once had a bad experience with a mitutoyo device. I can say the same about Starrett too however.
Stuart
As mentioned in the post, the one I received a week ago is slightly different and marked made in Japan.
Their pocket rule is also pictured as being made in the USA. I think the one I bought a few years ago was marked as such. I’m not sure because there’s no branding or model number on it, but it’s otherwise identical to the Mitutoyo photo for that product.
These could potentially be made for Mitutoyo, if made in the USA. I can’t tell why mine is made in Japan, or what will be sent out to fulfill others’ orders.
Robin
This is most likely a rebranded starrett, or a in-house japanese made replacement for a model that used to be OEM’ed by Starrett, that Mitutoyo dropped due to quality issues. They (starrett) have been sending a bunch of their production to china overseas, and a lot of other machine tool companies have been scrambling to find OEM’s that will still qualify them for their gov contracts (source: I work in this industry)
That said, mitutoyo has been making their own scales for years (in the biz we call these “machinist’s scales” not rulers FYI)
fred
I like my old Starrett C604RE-6 – which also sports graduations along the short end.
https://www.zoro.com/starrett-steel-rule-end-graduations-6-in-4r-grad-c604re-6/i/G1190147/
Mitutoyo and Starrett items were often put on our shopping lists to wait on a sale at Zoro. the 30% off deals seem to have disappeared – but 20% off and 25% off deals cycle around
Stuart
I am hesitant to buy anything from Starrett. The small stuff I tried in recent years had poor finish quality, betraying not only their reputation, but the level of quality that should be expected at their price level.
fred
Most of my Starrett items date from the 1960’s and 1970’s – when their reputation for quality – like their satin finish chrome – was untarnished.
Taras
I find that nowadays Starrett has two tiers of tools their upper echelon machinist tools which are very high quality and a really cheap line of tools that is priced accordingly. The cheap stuff isn’t worth it because for only about 20% more you get twice the quality at an even fairer price. You can usually tell the cheap stuff by the red and lime yellow colour scheme.
Albert
I also have one of those Starrett rulers with the markings on the short side. It is surprisingly useful, especially when setting the height of a router bit.
As for Mitutoyo, I have one of their digital calipers (made in Japan), a magnetic dial indicator stand (made in Brazil), a 4 piece combination square set (made in Mexico) , and a machinist’s square (made in England). I think they have factories all over the world, just like most companies.
Jimmy
A year or so ago I bought a couple of 6″ Shinwa rulers (also made in Japan) that look pretty similar. They are fantastic. Satin finish stainless steel with sharp, dark matte black markings, both inch and metric (they’re actually a couple mm longer than 150mm – they’re exactly 6″ long).
Shinwa H-3412A 6″ 150 mm Rigid English Metric Zero Glare Satin Chrome Stainless Steel E/M Machinist Engineer Ruler/Rule with Graduations in 1/64, 1/32, mm and .5 mm https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0044948CY/
Eastbaygrease
Lee Valley sells a Shinwa 6 inch steel rule that has graduated ends.
http://www.leevalley.com/US/wood/page.aspx?p=32566
Oddly, I’ve never been able to find it on amazon or anywhere else.
mikeakafazzman
Being a machinist I have tons of Mitutoyo tools. Love their micrometers,only mics I even buy. I have a mix of Mitutoyo,Starrett,and Brown and Sharpe precision tools.
All of my scales are Starrett but ive had them for nearly 20 years now. Probably have 6 different ones of various sizes.
George
I have no idea why anyone would make or buy a ruler, etc, that are not marked with both inch and metric markings. And yet I find them all over the place. Glad to see they were smart enough to do both.
NewtonsApple
The made in the USA Mitutoyo was most likely made by PEC.
http://www.productsengineering.com/rules/rigidrules.html
I have no hard evidence for this other than that they are the only current US producer I am aware of that is running contract production.
PEC 2nds are available on eBay for very good prices. I have a couple 48” 5R style (32nd 64ths, 10ths, 100ths) at work and they are very nice.
Taras
What makes them 2nds? Blemishes or are the markings/graduations off?
Framer joe
Starrett, made in America. Nothing better,don’t know what the quality issue you had was,but should have returned it and received a perfect one.
Constantly berating Starrett because of an issue you had is wrong. Get another free sample or I’d be happy to buy you some and check it out. Starrett is still the best. …
Stuart
I don’t get what your point is. You’re saying I should ask for free samples to make up for several disappointments I had in disappointing Starrett quality?
Here was strike one: https://toolguyd.com/starrett-tools-tap-wrench-bad-quality/
Strikes 2 and 3 followed when I tried other Starrett products, and so I won’t waste my time with them anymore. How’s that “constantly berating” them?
Maybe I’ll give them another chance in the future, but for the time being, I’ve been quite happy with Mitutoyo, Interapid, and other alternate brands. When researching my last couple of precision tool or instrument purchases, public opinion of Starrett wasn’t very favorable.
When I buy a premium tap wrench, the threads shouldn’t grind because they weren’t cleaned of chips and grease before the tool left the factory. If an imported tap wrench can be cleaned before it leaves the factory, and sell for a fraction of the price, why can’t Starrett?
The knurled threads of a pin vise shouldn’t be sharp and loaded with metal flakes.
The scales are different, but how could Starrett’s 6″ ruler be any better than this one? It costs more than 2X as much.
My Mitutoyo ruler is flawless. I suppose I might have preferred a 16th scale instead of 64ths, but I’m sure there are other configurations if I look hard enough.
Yep – here it is.. Maybe that one is made in the USA as shown in the photo, but I don’t mind made in Japan.
I’ll likely buy a PEC or two to see how they compare. Those are made in the USA.
Mau
I’ve had quite a few Starrett tools with questionable quality, Made in USA.
The only one I still buy is the n°270, I’ve never found another taper gage with similar dimensions, but every 6 months I have to buy another one because the oxydation gets so bad you can’t read the numbers.
One day I will buy a CNC router just to make one in stainless steel.
Joe Y
I have a combination square, the ruler says made in Japan and the square base says made in Mexico.
Joe T
I have a combination square, the ruler says made in Japan and the square base says made in Mexico.
Brandon
Probably that ruler was made by PEC, as this looks somewhat similar based on the image Amazon provided. Not at all surprised Amazon had incorrect information, given that they are now ramping up their authoritarian behavior with now censoring books, just look at what they have done to Roosh V and others.
Starrett quality has at times been spotty and this is case by case, yet I’ve always had good luck with recent products. Thankfully I have a local distributor, as even if the Starrett products were 50% or more less expensive on Amazon, you couldn’t pay me to buy them from monopolistic Amazon. Not interested in activism when spending my own hard earned money. To each their own however, as I do not believe in censorship of any kind.
RX9
Yeah, I have started to deliberately avoid buying stuff on Amazon, even when it costs considerably more elsewhere, because of the censorship issue. I was kinda uneasy with them before, but crackdowns like that cross the line for me. What’s more, there’s a really big problem with drop shippers hawking stuff from Walmart and other big box stores on Amazon. Rule of thumb is to always use a price checking service like Nextag before buying from Amazon. Better to buy directly and not hand over a cut to some middleman grifter.
Eldmund
Both Brandon and RX9 make very good points, this is refreshing to see frankly. Censorship, no matter how much you may dislike the individual or group is never acceptable. Likewise, you couldn’t convince me to support Amazon even if the products were 50-75% off than other merchants. Decades ago, when I was a boy I learned first hand how both rewarding and challenging this was to make money. Last month a long time friend of my line had lost a pair of insulated Klein diagonal cutters and while the price was quite lower on Amazon, neither of us can stand Amazon at all.
Found a family owned and run repair shop that specializes in more “professional” brands that sold the same tool. Might not not been as “cheap” yet I spoke to the owner and he was professional. Even joked about how silly this is for corporations to involve themselves in subjects that could cost them money and lose customers. Believe me, people such my friend and myself don’t care about anything other than completing the job safely, being in compliance and earning money.
If I can, I’d like to buy directly as you can via Snap-On, Mac and a few other tool merchants. These companies know if I had to guess, the people that buy their products aren’t interested in whatever silliness is coming out of the internet. You’d think Levi’s would understand that, but I guess not. Their choice to virtue signal and my choice to spend my money else where.
As for Starrett, I’ve had good luck with their products over the years. I’ve had some duds, yet Starrett took care of the situation properly.
John S
At least the post is not about Craftsman. Mitutoyo makes good tools.
Tim B.
Totally agree about the Mitutoyo ruler quality… very nice, and at that price, very worth it. My favorite all-around pocket ruler for shop or desk use.
Alternatively, the Starrett spring-tempered ruler is very good as well (but always struck me as a bit over-priced), but has a little more flexibility which is sometimes very handy.
For full-size shop layout and markup, I go back to my ages-old Kueffel & Esser full size scale ruler…. Extremely precise, good size for full-scale use, and bullet-proof!
Eric
For this ruler, does 0 start on the end? Ive seen many rulers where 0 is just a hair off of the end so that you cant butt the end of the ruler against something and get an accurate measurement.
Stuart
I believe that 0 starts at the end.
My ruler is misplaced at the moment, but I’ll check as soon as it turns up.
Charlie
Lot’s of counterfeit products out there there days. Beware.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/23/technology/amazon-domination-bookstore-books.html?
Charlie
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