Torquata Digital Calipers and Height Gauge — and the Amazon Alternative

Torquata is Timbecon’s house brand, sold direct in Australia. The measuring tools it sells are the usual imported instruments under a house label, which is true of most brands at this price — including the one scored here.

That makes the specification the thing to choose on, not the badge.

Fraction mode is the feature

Woodworking in the imperial world runs on fractions, and machinery is dimensioned in them. A caliper that reads 0.7656 in is correct and useless — you then have to work out that this is 49/64, which is a hair under 3/4.

A caliper with a fraction mode shows 3/4 in. That single feature removes a category of arithmetic error, and it is worth choosing a caliper for above any other consideration.

What a caliper replaces

It is easy to think of a caliper as a thickness gauge. It is four gauges.

Outside jaws: stock thickness, tenon thickness, dowel diameter. Inside jaws: mortise width, groove width, the inside of a box. Depth rod: mortise depth, rebate depth, how far a screw is sunk. The step at the back: the height difference between two surfaces.

Once it is in a pocket it gets used for all four constantly.

Height gauges

A height gauge is a different tool: a column with a sliding scribe, used to mark a consistent height from a flat reference surface. In metalwork it is fundamental; in woodworking it is a luxury, and a marking gauge or a combination square does most of what it would.

If you are choosing where to spend, buy the caliper first.

Keeping it alive

Switch it off. Dust and battery drain are what kill these, in that order.

Check it closes to zero regularly. If it does not, most have a zero button that recalibrates — but a caliper that will not hold zero has usually been dropped, and that is not a recoverable fault.