Woodstock International H5711 Fractional Dial Caliper

Discount Price: $34.95

Features:

• Combines metalworking precision with a fractional scale for woodworkers
• Dial reads 64ths and .01"
• Perfect for measuring board thickness, depth and inside dimensions

Customer Reviews:

Not bad. [Posted on 2004-10-12]
Its a reasonable caliper. Its good to hundredths of an inch for metalwork and 1/64ths for woodworking. My only issue is the needle on mine was bent about the width of the needle blade itself between the fractional and decimal scales .. which means I have to rezero it for changing scales. If actual thousandths was wanted, the company should swap the locations of the fractional and decimal scales (which would be a reasonable thing to do regardless, considering the decimal scale has greater accuracy than the fractional 1/64ths). Swapping the scale locations would give the caliper accuracy to .001 instead of a mere .01(5). Still, not bad for the price.

The best $35 bucks you'll ever spend. [Posted on 2005-03-02]
The caliper is made in China, and does not approach the fit and finish of a fine Starrett or Mitutoyo dial caliper. Having said that, the quality is far more than adequate for its intended purpose. It also happens to be the best quality fractional caliper available. Trust me. I've looked at all of them. (1-Mar-05)

Furthermore, it's dirt cheap, and when you consider the cost, it's truly a no-brainer. This unit is branded 'Shop Fox', and the dial on mine was all white. I lucked out. I prefer white anyway.

The unit is intended to be accurate up to 1/100" & 1/64", so I don't understand the previous reviewer who gave it only three stars, faulting it for not having a 1/1000" resolution (foolishly suggesting that it would have been possible by moving the decimal scale to the outer edge). I don't know if he's ever seen a 'real' machinist's dial caliper, but to achieve that kind of resolution you'd need the indicator needle to turn 10 revolutions per inch instead of 1 revolution per inch as this one does. ...Either that or you'd need a microscope to read the graduations.

The beauty of this fractional caliper (and its fractional brethren) is that while it does not replace a 1/1000" decimal caliper, there's just nothing like it when you're measuring things in (and I'm stating the obvious here) fractions of an inch.

In this land of fractional inches, we naturally find that things are never exactly sized, so when you measure something that is 1 1/8" with your decimal caliper, your rarely read 1.125. You always get something like 1.122 or 1.128.

OK, Fine, so most folks know that 1/8 = .125, but what happens when you're measuring a more obscure size? Quickly, without looking, what's the fractional equivalent of .173"?

If you said 11/64ths (.171875 to be exact), then you're an absolute genius and probably don't need this caliper. Everyone else however, will find this caliper to be the best $35 bucks they've ever spent.

I give it a solid 5 stars. Trust me on this one. I've looked around a lot, and I can't find anything better. There are cheaper ones available. Some of the cheapies are easily identified by a blue inner dial. They're OK, but not great. Without question this one is worth the extra $3-8.

Mine came with a nice quality case, and arrived with no functional or cosmetic blemishes.

Makes measuring board thickness easier [Posted on 2005-06-03]
I really like the fractional measuring readings on this caliper. It is much easier to deal with than my old one because of the accuracy and size of the display for the reading. I would recommend it to anyone dimensioning lumber. It is well made and should last a long time.

Good Value Tool [Posted on 2007-01-06]
I have been using this Caliper for about 3 weeks now. It does a fairly good job. The consturction is lightweight and the thumb knob isn't as precise as something from Starrett, but the price is right. It is accurate and repeatable. I am satisfied with my purchase

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