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Got a drafting board from 1958 at an estate sale, the grid was off by a quarter inch
So I picked up this old aluminum drafting table with a built in parallel bar from an estate sale over in Spokane. Seller said it was from a civil engineer who retired in the 80s. I got it home, set it up in my garage, and decided to check the grid lines against my new scale. Turns out the engraved grid on the board itself was consistently off by about 0.25 inch across the whole 36 inch width. Not a big deal for sketching but I almost used it to lay out a foundation detail for a client. Glad I measured first. Anyone else ever trust an old board or straightedge without verifying, or do you always check vintage drafting tools before putting them to real work?
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the_miles28d ago
How many clients do you think that engineer accidentally wrecked over the years with a quarter inch of slop baked into every drawing? Honestly that board might have been the real reason he retired in the 80s, they just told everyone it was his choice. Good thing you caught it before that foundation detail turned into a foundation lawsuit. Old tools are like old maps, they look trustworthy right up until you're lost, so I check everything I buy used against a known good scale before it touches real work.
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