Help for a newbie looking for measuring tools?

So this brings up a problem I've been contemplating for a while. What would you guys say is the best way to get into gage blocks? How many pieces? It would seem there are different grades and different ways they define the grades. If say a Shars set has a NIST tag but is B or 2 is that good enough or what? I've been cruising eBay for a while and a search for gage block sets is pretty confusing. What's the difference between a jo block and other blocks?
 
So this brings up a problem I've been contemplating for a while. What would you guys say is the best way to get into gage blocks? How many pieces? It would seem there are different grades and different ways they define the grades. If say a Shars set has a NIST tag but is B or 2 is that good enough or what? I've been cruising eBay for a while and a search for gage block sets is pretty confusing. What's the difference between a jo block and other blocks?

Fantastic questions! Unfortunately... I don't even know enough yet to ask these questions! On the bright side... I won't be bidding against you anytime soon on these gauge blocks...
 
On the other hand....If you are doing this for a living then buying the best is definitely the way to go and all the above makes perfect sense. If you are hobbying around like I do, maybe a little lesser would be adequate. I have Mits which I use along side some clones and much less expensive calipers and micrometers. If the absolute value of the measurement is very important I will check twice and make sure my technique is the noise in the measurement. With proper care and use the imports can be adequate for a home hobbyist.
I have been able to make perfect cubes (+/-0.0005 inch) using some less than perfect equipment. My recommendation is either buy the best from ebay used, or buy good clones from Shars or iGaging and similar companies.
 
So this brings up a problem I've been contemplating for a while. What would you guys say is the best way to get into gage blocks? How many pieces? It would seem there are different grades and different ways they define the grades. If say a Shars set has a NIST tag but is B or 2 is that good enough or what? I've been cruising eBay for a while and a search for gage block sets is pretty confusing. What's the difference between a jo block and other blocks?
There are two types of gage blocks, the rectangular Jo blocks, and the less common square Hoke blocks; both types have their advantages and disadvantages; the Jo blocks may fit into spaces provided in some fixtures such as sine fixtures that Hoke blocks will not fit into, Hoke blocks have the advantage of being held together by a screw device through an axial hole in their center that is countersunk for a flat head screw. In that way, tall stacks of blocks may be made up easily without the tendency to fall apart, and all the accessories are held on in that manner. There are clamp devices for Jo blocks as well, but the Hoke setup seems easier to deal with. Of course, the Jo blocks were named for C.E. Johanssen, and the Hoke blocks were designed by Colonel Hoke of the U.S. Army, in charge of war production quality control during world war one.
I see 86 piece sets of Jo blocks on e bay (used) for around $250; who knows how they would calibrate, but how good do they need to be for hobby work? I have both types with accessories, but very rarely use them.
 
There are two types of gage blocks, the rectangular Jo blocks, and the less common square Hoke blocks; both types have their advantages and disadvantages; the Jo blocks may fit into spaces provided in some fixtures such as sine fixtures that Hoke blocks will not fit into, Hoke blocks have the advantage of being held together by a screw device through an axial hole in their center that is countersunk for a flat head screw. In that way, tall stacks of blocks may be made up easily without the tendency to fall apart, and all the accessories are held on in that manner. There are clamp devices for Jo blocks as well, but the Hoke setup seems easier to deal with. Of course, the Jo blocks were named for C.E. Johanssen, and the Hoke blocks were designed by Colonel Hoke of the U.S. Army, in charge of war production quality control during world war one.
I see 86 piece sets of Jo blocks on e bay (used) for around $250; who knows how they would calibrate, but how good do they need to be for hobby work? I have both types with accessories, but very rarely use them.

THAT is what I'm talking about. Thanks John. Sure you hi timers know who Jo and Hoke are but not a noob. This really helps. And yes, this isn't something I might use everyday but like most of this stuff when I need it, it is more than handy. But of course I have to know what I'd need it for and there has been stuff on Utoob with several of the guys I subscribe to that have used them for stuff I'd want to do. So it's not just random TAS.
 
I was able to come by my gage blocks for reasonable money, the Jo blocks were made , or I should say sold by Do All, and were brand new when they came my way from a repair ship; the Hoke blocks were from a local estate sale of a college machine shop class instructor. I picked up the accessory kits from E Bay. I did not say in my earlier post that it was Henry Ford who pretty much brought precision gages to the USA, in the form of the Jo blocks; I have a couple of them that actually have the familiar Ford script etched on them.
 
Mitutoyo made in Japan. Plenty of calipers and my go to here comes the inspector caliper is my eight inch beam scale Mitutoyo. Only problem is my eyes aren t like they used to be. Still it s what I trust even over the digital Mitutoyo.
 
Before I retired I worked in a Military/Commercial calibration laboratory as a repair tech. I was autorised to calibrate among other things pressure and IR/Insertion temperature devices so I was in the physical lab from time to time and the military had all Mitutoyo digital calipers, guess what 90% of these failed calibration and a lot failed straight out of the box brand new. They passed absolute accuracy and failed parallelism.

I bought Moore & Wright digital calipers. I do have some Starrett but the stuff I inherited from my father (who was a tool and die maker) is mostly Moore & Wright and Brown & Sharpe.

I think for a home shop any good quality tools will last you a life time.

My 25mm mic is Moore & Wright and and the larger ones Tessa, I love the Tessa mics repeatability is better than my eyes these days.

I bought a couple of 875/1 squares off eBay as I ony had reference squares and I didn't want to be using these on a daily basis. The 50mm one was way out of tolerance. So as you this hobby (illness) takes off a surface plate and a couple of reference tools are a good investment.
 
I bought a couple of 875/1 squares off eBay as I ony had reference squares and I didn't want to be using these on a daily basis. The 50mm one was way out of tolerance. So as you this hobby (illness) takes off a surface plate and a couple of reference tools are a good investment.

Can you tell me what you got? I'm looking at a Kinex (I think it is an 875/0 rated one); but I don't have a reference square yet, so that one would be it. If it is "way out of tolerance" it won't do me any good, and I won't be able to tell (well, unless it is further away from square than a Johnson speed square... which is unlikely!).
 
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