Woodworking Talk banner

I have a stupid question on measuring & cutting...

5K views 51 replies 26 participants last post by  Rebelwork 
#1 ·
This might be a stupid question on measuring and cutting but I will ask anyway. Many, many years ago, when I was only elbow height to my own father, he showed me that you measure at least twice and THEN you cut. He also told me that when you draw the 'cut line', that the line 'ends' the piece that you want, so you should always cut just past the line. Made sense so I have always followed that. I recently had a conversation with a neighbor (woodworker) who said he always cuts 'on the line'?? When I asked him why, he answered that with a thin kerf blade it doesn't really matter. He went further to say that he sets his stop blocks up to cut that way as well. Thoughts??
 
#50 ·
This is for cutting mostly crosscut with a circular saw. This usually requires a line across the whole piece. every carpenter understood ,if you are right handed, the left side of the line, regardless of how wide the line, was where the left side of the cut was made. If you were left handed, the opposite was true. We were expected to cut leaving just the slightest bit of the line left so it could be seen. If you couldn't try to do it while you were framing, you probably couldn't do it doing finish work. We could usually do it on an 8 foot rip too. It was easier if you keep your arm parallel with the lumber instead at the top of the handle. You can make much finer corrections from your elbow than with your hand. maybe that has changed from 60 years ago.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top