Woodworking Magazine Blog

My grandfather's workbench had an adhesive rule stuck to its front edge, which was extremely useful when woodworking. You could check part dimensions without pulling out a tape measure or steel rule.

The only problem was that it was fixed to that one spot.

Now a Georgia entrepreneur has made a cool product that allows you to put a rule almost anywhere, then remove it without hurting the surface below. Called "Red Tape," it is exactly as its name implies. It's a 55'-long roll of clear adhesive tape with a continuous ruler printed on it in red.

The tape can be stuck to your workbench then removed if you please. You can stick it to the curved arm bow of a Windsor chair and use it to lay out the spacing of the spindles. Or you can even stick it to your computer monitor to pull dimensions from a photo or use it to size object in CAD or a photo-editing program.

Shown below is how I used Red Tape on my monitor to pull dimensions off a photograph of a Shaker hanging cupboard. It was very handy and easier than holding a ruler up to the screen or even working from a print-out.

The tape is marked in 1/16ths, repeats every 12" and does not stretch, as far as we could tell. The printing job was quite accurate. You can read more about the product and order it from the redtape1.com web site. It's $6.50 a roll.

— Christopher Schwarz