Adam Savage Engineered the Perfect Tattoo

Engineers around the world: “Why didn’t I think of that?”
Have you ever been stuck in the middle of a project needing quick measurements? Maybe you were hunting through your toolbox trying to figure out if that screw was 2 1/2” or 2 5/8”…
You might not always have a ruler laying around, but Adam Savage had the perfect solution.
He put the ultimate ruler tattoo right on his forearm! It includes inches, centimeters, and even millimeters — perfect for quick measurements or converting from standard to metric.
Instead of making guesstimates, Adam designed his arm for scale. How convenient, especially for the type of machining work he does on the daily.
Here are the first two tweets from Adam about his tattoo:
I just got my first tattoo! Story and more photos on @imgur: https://t.co/7n3AQ0ITfm pic.twitter.com/Vg5m5L9uWg
— Adam Savage (@donttrythis) January 13, 2019
Here’s how my new tattoo looks two days later. I used it during a build today, too! (For those who missed it, I’ve wanted this tattoo for years, but only got it this weekend. It has inches, centimeters and millimeters.) pic.twitter.com/xQ5dXogJnu
— Adam Savage (@donttrythis) January 15, 2019
“Hold on. I have a few concerns…”
You probably have lots of skepticisms about this tattoo… Let’s dive into a few:
Just use a ruler, dude!
- Although this seems like an easy solution, this tattoo means a lot to Adam. He felt like it was time to add the utility of measurement to his body. It adds value to his life making it easy to gauge accurate lengths. (It is also his very first tattoo.)
Are the lines straight or spaced out correctly? Is it even to scale?
- For Adam he isn’t concerned about precise hyper accurate measurements. This tattoo is for quick and dirty measurements. It acts as an excellent reference point, and is significantly better than eyeballing.
Wouldn’t this tattoo change with age and weight?
- Overtime his tattoo will change, but not significantly. If he gains 200 pounds that is another story!
What’s your favorite utilitarian tattoo?
Adam rules! For an industrial designer this might be the most practical tattoo ever conceived.
Maybe you are a chemist, would a periodic table tattoo help you? Do you get lost a lot? Would a map tattoo help you find your way?
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Adam Beck
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