Scale Rulers 101

Today we’re going to talk about scale rulers. For years, you may have been using this little tool as just a simple straight edge or wasted your time counting the squares on graph paper to draw sketches. Well, no more. Let me help you unlock the time saving magic of using a scale ruler to its full potential.

Let’s talk about how much time you could be spending counting boxes. Let’s say you spend 10 minutes a week counting boxes. That’s 8 hours and 40 minutes a year. Over a 45 year career, that’s 16 1/4 days. That’s 3 plus weeks of vacation! I don’t know about you, but I’m not interested in spending that much of my life counting boxes or (if we’re talking about a waste of time) convincing the computer that I’m not a robot. We don’t have much control over the latter. But as for the former…

A scale ruler allows you to create sketches that are to scale without counting all those f***ing boxes. I’m probably the worst counter in the world (I always find a way to lose track of my count). But even for the counting savants out there, this will save you significant cumulative time in the long run.

Check out the infographics below on how to use a scale ruler… and let it change your life!

That’s it! It’s that simple and straightforward. You just find the appropriate scale for your sketch and then use the conveniently ticked edge to draw your line. No more counting boxes and deciding how many boxes should equal a foot if your structure is 50 feet long. And then multiplying each subsequent dimension by the factor you decided on. And then realizing the factor you picked doesn’t work well with one of the dimensions and trying to eyeball a third of a box. And then realizing you’re running off the page in the other direction because you miscounted your boxes at the start. And then copping out and writing N.T.S. (not to scale) under your detail title. NO MORE!

Happy hand sketching!