Tips on Measuring

One of the questions that require many answers 😉

I remember solving square equasion in school using graphs. I never knew, where exactly to read the results, no matter, how sharp the pencil was…

Suppose, you want to cut a board to length. in this case, you measure from one end to your measurement, and them you mark the “outside” of that measurement. If you have a ruler, where “0” is at the very end, you should always mark there, you can use the small side of the ruler to guide your pencil. Then you position your saw, so that it does not protrude into the measured length. If your ruler hasn’t moved, the marking cannot be short, so in the worst case, you will have to trim off a bit more, but it will always be long enough.

If you want to cut recesses to hold diamond plates, you should not measure, but use the diamond plates. However, a pencil line won’t do, because in this case, you have to cut on the inside, and the line might have been slightly away from the plate. The result is a lose fitting recess. So better use a marking knife here. When cutting along the grain, the knife can be trapped between two fibres and wander off, when cutting accross, there is no “guidance” except for the diamond stone, it can still wander off, but that is a matter of practising. Always read the grain. Sometimes it might be better to cut in the opposite direction.

Pencil lines are fine, if you want rough measurements. For accuracy, a sharp knife is the right choice. And don’t read measurements, when you can use the actual working piece to transfer the measurements.

Well, two simple rules to remember:

A layout knife makes precise marks.
Whenever possible, mark on the wast side.

There is much more to say, but this is a start.

Dieter

Just to add to Hugo’s comment–the one thing Paul always repeats but which I think still goes in one ear and out the other is “gently at first” when scribing your initial knife line. This helps establish the line so you can go harder on subsequent passes without fear but it also helps ensure that any errant grain doesn’t grab your knife on the first pass and leave you with a bad line and a freshly marred wooden surface.

I really thought, there would be more answers. I only barely scratched the surface of this topic.

Actually, you should go to youtube and watch Paul Sellers videos about the “three joints”, mortise and tenon, housing dado and dovetails. There is a lot of specific measuring going on and he explains the hows and whys. And, yes, he is using pencils too, where precision is not required (yet).

Dieter

• This reply was modified 6 years, 8 months ago by Hugo Notti.