A good source for the use of tick sticks in boatbuilding is found in the 2011
book by Roger Kopanycia entitled "Lofting a Boat: A Step-by-step Manual", which
is part of the Adlard Coles Classic boat series (ISBN 978-1-4081-3112-1).
 
The author shows step by step how tick sticks are used, and states ""Note that
by using a tick stick, each position is only 'measured' once. If it needs to be
transferred,  then using a tick stick guarantees consistency, because it
eliminates the risk of any measuring errors that could occur if the same pieces
of information were 'measured' several times".
 
It's easy to see how story sticks are used much the same way - to transfer the
actual physical dimension of something without the need for a tape measure.
Author and cabinetmaker Jim Tolpin, who calls them "story poles", goes into
great detail about them and how they're used in his 1994 Taunton Press book book
"Building Traditional Kitchen Cabinets" (ISBN 1-56158-058-9).
 
Pete Leenhouts
MV RIPTIDE
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In a message dated 7/20/2018 11:54:28 AM Pacific Standard Time,
dragon01list@g... writes:

 
I can believe that, Ed.  Not least due to the curves across 3-dimensions...
 
Best,
Bill

On Fri, Jul 20, 2018 at 11:38 AM, Ed Minch  wrote:
Bill

Having worked with both, the boat stuff is logarithmically more complicated than
the building stuff.