A storey pole (or story pole, storey rod,[1] story stick,[2] jury stick,[3] scantling,[4] scantillon[5]) is a length of narrow board usually cut to the height of one storey.
[6] It is used as a layout tool for any kind of repeated work in carpentry including stair-building, framing, timber framing, siding, brickwork, and setting tiles.
Craftsmen use them to mark clapboard and brick courses so that, for example, a course ends neatly below a window sill or at a door's architrave.
They are used in remodelling so that, for example, the new coursing of exterior siding on a wing will match the existing.
[7] There is evidence of 'boning-rods' being used in building Egypt's Great Pyramid as counterparts of modern storey poles.