Show-and-tell: Mirock Wheel Ruler – FineWoodworking

We visit a lot of great woodworkers, and they have a lot of cool tools. Many of us on staff at Fine Woodworking also have bought a lot of cool tools. And I thought it might be cool to start doing some show-and-tells of the interesting tools we come across. Adam Savage, on his YouTube channel “Tested,” likes to do tool show-and-tells. Usually, he focuses on a tool that he recently picked up, but quite often it’s something just thinks is interesting or inspiring. Today’s show-and-tell is all of those things.

It might look like brass fidget spinner, but this Mirock wheel ruler is quite the contraption. The moment I saw the video of making it, I thought it was ingenious and knew I needed to buy one. I’ve been making a lot of ukuleles and most of the woodworking I do has few straight lines. This wheel ruler allows me to get reasonably accurate measurements of any surface, straight or curved. Sure, I could I could use a cloth tape measure to do the same thing, but it’s a lot less fun—and it’s certainly not as  inspiring as using the Mirock wheel ruler.

Mirock is a tool maker in Ukraine who had to close his shop for a few months while he evacuated his family. As soon as he reopened his Etsy store, I vowed to buy a tool from him. Soon thereafter, he posted a video of the making of this on YouTube, and I knew I had to have one. I don’t often drop $150 on tools—without hesitation—but I think this is worth every penny. Not only is it a functional, inspiring tool that I use often, but it also allowed me to support a toolmaker I greatly admire. This is probably at the top of the list of nice tools that I’ve bought from people I thoroughly respect.