You know, I have to admit, I've hardly paid much attention to my rulers.  I have several, scattered around my house.  Most of them are decades old, and I really couldn't tell you where they were purchased, or when.  But I do know that when my purpose in reaching for a ruler is to draw a straight line, I bypass all of my plastic and wood rulers, specifically grabbing the Fairgate aluminum ruler. 

Why?  Because of all of my rulers, this one has withstood the test of time the best.  There are no nicks in it, no chips, nothing to make my pencil skip a beat, when drawing that line.  And, I like the way the ruler's backing lifts the ruler above the page.  By doing so, my ruler doesn't get all marked up by the edge of my pencil or my magic marker.   My Fairgate ruler is completely free of any stray marks, as opposed to my wooden and plastic rulers - most of which have edges that are marked up.

This particular ruler is Fairgate's 22-112 model.  It is 12" long and has English measurements on both sides.  Many of Fairgate's other models have English on one side and Metric on the other.  But not this one.  This one has inches marked to 1/8 on one side, and inches marked to 1/16 on the other side.  This is one aspect of this ruler I would change.  After all, the edge marked to 1/16 also has markings for the 1/8 points.  There really is no reason to have a separate side for the 1/8 markings.  It would be much more useful to have Metric markings on the other side.

As far as durability goes, I have to say that my ruler is a little bit warped.  When placed on a flat surface, the middle of the ruler sticks up just a little bit.  That's because the aluminum is flexible.  It bends back and forth with ease.  One could probably snap this ruler in two if they bent it far enough, but for normal use, I don't worry about it breaking.  However, after I-don't-know-how-many-years of use, it has warped just a little bit.  So, when I use this ruler, I place my hand on its center, and hold it down, flat onto the surface, to ensure accuracy.

On the other hand, this ruler does have one nice feature... The edges are printed in opposite directions.  So, when using the 1/8 side, you can read the markings, from left to right, and straight up and down.  When using the 1/16 side, simply flip the ruler over, and the markings still read from left to right, and straight up and down.    I've seen other rulers where both sides are written in the same direction.  When you flip those rulers around to use the other side, the markings end up being upside-down and right to left.   

The backing is a non-skid surface that looks and feels like cork.  It's not quite as wide or as tall as the ruler, and it has a bit of thickness to it (approximately 1/32"), thus the ruler is raised from your surface a little bit - just enough to keep its edges clean.

There is a hole near one side of the ruler, in case you want to hang it up.  The markings are large and clear.   "8ths" is written along one side and "16ths" is written on the other.  The measurements go all the way out to the very edge, so you don't have to allow for "wasted space" at the end of the ruler.


If I were to go out and buy a new ruler today, I would definitely look at the Fairgate line, but I would choose one with Metric measurements on one side. 

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