Under the Wire

Measuring up

The annual spring roundup has begun, not to gather in four-legged critters and such, but to corral the multitude of stray hand tools that survived winter projects only to be misplaced before making their way back into the toolboxes. And what is it that goes missing in the most numbers? Year in and year out, it’s utility knives that hold a decisive edge in the tool repatriation process. Until now.

By no particular volition on my account, steel tape measures seem to have taken the lead this spring, some purchased, some inherited, and others (for no apparent reason) appearing out of...