[LaRemnant]

If you want a decent book that best explains not only how to read clinometers and why, check out Don Paul's book entitled: Everybody's Knife Bible .

He even has a diagram that you can stick to your knife and have engraved (don't know if that'll mess up the temper??), or just stick it to the back of a ruler that you may also use in measuring/reading sign.

[Dang]

I have a Brunton 15tdcl compass (which as I understand it is the original ranger 15) and it has a clinometer built into it (look ma no math!).

As far as measuring distance to an object I find this very interesting and have yet to verify how accurate it is. But it is simple enough to learn.

[warvet]

Hi folks well heres something I use to tell tree heights, mountains etc. I take a stick length of my arm hold it in my hand till it touches about my cheek then hold it vertical with my fist level with horizon. Move till the object is level with top of my stick, then walk paces to the object base and that about the exact height of the object. I.E. I see a tree Hold stick up till its at top of my stick and fist is level with horizon. Walk eg 50 paces to tree my pace in this example is 5 ft 6 or 66 inches x 50 = 3300 inches/12 = 275 ft so the tree would be about 275 ft tall.Hope this helps I used this for years and it works incredibly well.I learned this neat little trick from a Nepalese ghurka we were training with in Malaysia, these guys are amazing.

Tim

[tjwilhelm]

Seems like there's a piece or two of info missing , Tim...where did the "12" come from? Why divide by 12?

Just takin' a guess here...is it because the amount of the stick poking up above your fist was 1/12 the total length of the stick? Therefore, for this example, also 1/12 the length of your outstretched arm?


If my guess is correct, I could see doing something like this to a hiking staff:

1. Hold your arm out straight, lay the staff along the top of your arm, and put the top end of the stick at your cheek. Then, put a mark on the staff where the center of your palm is...make a small notch/mark. The distance from the top of the staff to the notch is the same as the sighting-length of your arm.
2. Between the notch/mark and the top of the hiking staff, layout equally spaced marks to create a sort of ruler or yard stick (I think I'd make 20 equal spaces between my main notch/mark and the top of the staff).
3. Then, when hiking, one could use Tim's method by holding the hiking staff out at arms length, sliding the staff up or down in your fist till the top of the staff visually aligns with the top of the object you're measuring. Then, just count the number of pre-marked spaces sticking up above your fist.
4. Example: Pace off the distance between your present position and the object you're measuring. If you have 3 marked spaces above your fist, and if you made a total of 20 marked spaces on the staff, then do the math like this -- multiply the paced-distance x 3, and then divide that product by 20.

Craig's recent pictures of his slings and hiking staff, under the thread about carrying more 550 cord, combined with the principle of having multiple uses for all our gear, triggered the thought of using a hiking staff as a pre-built measuring device, using Warvet/Tim's idea.

Thanks for that idea, Tim!

[warvet]

Your welcome TJ
Basically 12 is divided because it came out to 3300 inches divided by 12 inches in a foot = 275 Ft so 12 is representing 12 inches = a foot.
Sorry for not being clear
Tim

[AlpineZone]

Dang, yeah I looked at my silva compass since you mentioned that about the quality on another post and it says type 15 on it. I paid like 40-50 dollars for it at LL Bean in the early 90's. It works just as beautifully as day 1 and the glow in the dark directional and line up arrows still glow terrific. Didn't realize I had a rare original. Cool!

[Ron Fontaine]

A another trick you can use for finding the height of an object on a sunny day - While it may be difficult to get to the top of a tree in order to measure its height, you can certainly reach the top of an ordinary stick or post placed vertically into the ground.

Remember this - the length of an objects shadow depends upon the height of the object. The taller the object, the longer its shadow. Shadow length simply increases proportionally to the height of the object. This makes for an easy calculation.

Here is what you do:

Pound a straight stick into the ground so that a couple feet or more are sticking vertically plumb straight up into the air.

Measure:

The length of the stick that is above ground.
The length of the stick's shadow
The length of the tree's shadow.

Now make a simple proportion:

Tree Height / Tree Shadow Length = Stick Height / Stick Shadow Length

Which reduces to:

Tree Height = (Stick Height / Stick Shadow Length) X Tree Shadow Length

Of course the closer to high noon, objects cast shorter shadows or even non at all - making measurement difficult. Early morning or late evenings the shadows may be too long.

[warvet]

Very cool idea Ron, that definitely would work, its true though would be sun dependent and time dependent. The one thing I love about the method I utilize it works year round even at night. I just use a flashlight or lazer pointer for accuracy.TJ glad I could help and yesyour walking stick idea could work well onlyconcern I have is if its say a 7ft staff you may start having issues with length. A twig as long as your arm is a heck of alot easier to control in high wind or high rising ground etc. JMO

Tim

[Ashlar]

Trigonometry is very good.

However, if you have a partner and a pencil, small stick or even a thumb, you hold it vertical in front of your face and walk backwards until the top and bottom of the pencil/stick/thumb line up with the top and bottom of the tree/cliff or whatever you are measuring. Turn the stick/pen/thumb sideways, still keeping the base on the bottom of what you are measuring. Ask your partner to walk from the bottom of what you are measuring to a point that lines up with the end of the pencil/stick/thumb, counting out the paces.

Your partner has just measured the height of the object. If your partner paces out the distance in approximately one foot increments, you know the approximate height in feet.

[Dick]

Here’s another...
Get your partner to stand at the base of the tree. Hold a stick up so that the stick covers from the base to the top of the tree. Make a mark on the stick where the top of your partners head is.

This mark is your graduation. So if it takes 10 more equally spaced marks to cover the length of the stick, and your partner is 2 meters tall, then the tree is 20m tall (10 marks X 2m = 20).