I can honestly say, that up until about 6 months ago, I had never heard of a contour gauge.
And then, one day, I happened to see a little video ad about this inexpensive measuring tool while scrolling on my phone. At the least, I was certainly intrigued.
When it comes to new tools, especially measuring tools, I am usually pretty skeptical.
I have certainly had my fair share of purchases that simply didn’t pan out.
More times than not, all of the promises of how much time and effort something saves you never lives up to the hype.
And yet, as far as the contour measuring gauge goes, I now wonder how I ever lived without this little tool. Especially considering at under $10, it is under the price of most nice measuring tapes!
The Amazingly Simple Contour Gauge Measuring Tool
Making Difficult Cuts and Angles With Ease
One of the hardest things to do is measure when cutting around an object.
Maybe it’s cutting flooring to fit around a corner. Or perhaps trim and molding to fit around a cupboard or counter. Or even a pipe in a wall.
Every single DIY’er has been there. You have a crazy cut to make around something. You take a ton of measurements. Finally, you draw the cut lines out on the piece as best as you can.
And then you cut and hope for the best.
You think you have it perfect until you try to fit the piece in place. Until of course, you discover the cut is completely off. And one more piece of material is ruined!
No More Guessing…
The contour gauge can duplicate any shape instantly. With a push of the metal or plastic pins, the gauge creates an instant template for curved and odd shaped profiles with ease.
A look at General Tool’s video that first caught my eye:
No more guessing. And no more trying to trace outlines on paper or making cardboard cutouts. With the contour gauge, it is quick, easy, and painless. And most importantly, perfectly accurate.
I finally broke down this past spring after seeing the video, and on a whim, ordered my first contour gauge. And it paid off instantly.
At the time, we were building our little off-grid cabin. We used it to transfer shapes in the floor to cut around trim. And then to trace tile cuts for pipes coming through the floor.
But best of all, we used it exclusively for all of the trim boards to measure tricky corner angles and cuts. It was flawless!
No more running back and forth to the saw to nick off a little edge. And even better, no more cutting too much and ruining an entire piece of material.
I originally purchased a plastic model, but ended up going to the steel pin version from General Steel for under $9 that I love. See: Affiliate Link : 837 6″ Contour Gauge – $8.37
I found that the stainless steel pins are even more accurate than the plastic, and I love that it measure up to 3 1/2″ deep. It also has ruler markings on the tool body that I love!
One thing is for sure, it has certainly earned a place along side my impact driver as a tool I can’t live without!
Here’s to making all your cuts perfect every time! Happy DIY’ing – Jim
Jim and Mary Competti have been writing gardening, DIY and recipe articles and books for over 15 years from their 46 acre Ohio farm. The two are frequent speakers on all things gardening and love to travel in their spare time.
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