Face frame question + Sketchup question

[dadiOH]

I see that they are cheaper in bulk...time to stock up for all your friends :)

Precision in woodworking is rather a "sorta" thing. Once, long ago and far away when lumber yards still did mill work, I needed to make a skylight for my boat and took a cut list to a yard. I don't recall the exact measurements but one piece was so many inches and some 64ths. They balked at that, said they couldn't cut it that precisely so I asked about 32nd of an inch. Yes, they could do that.

So how is cutting to 1/32 any easier than cutting to 1/64? Both are precise and measurable. The answer is, there is always some slop, regardless of the measurement; i.e., cutting to 1/32 may be close but there is some slop +-. Ditto to 1/4. Or even 1"...blades wobble, the marking on measuring devices have width.

Since then I haven't worried NEARLY as much about precision. Which is not to say I don't TRY to get stuff "on the money", just that I don't worry about things being a skosh off. As I said, "Clamp tight, wood compresses". It does. It also bends.

What I DO worry about is getting everything that is to be a particular length/width/thickness the same; if off a bit, I want them ALL off a bit, all the same. To that end, I don't use measuring tapes all that much, prefer story sticks marked with a knife cut.

[Lew Hodgett]

--------------------------------------------- Amen.

If you need multiple pieces of a specific size, then cut them all plus spares from a single set up.

No matter how hard you try, you can never repeat a setup exactly.

You will always be off by a few RCH.

Lew

[Greg Guarino]

I'm not sure why, but I grasped that pretty early on. I think it's my abiding faith in my own imprecision. I figure I may not get the measurement exact, but I can make all the parts exactly the same.

[Swingman]

It's called "batch cutting" and, as has been preached here numerous times down through the years, is absolutely necessary to obtain the holy grail of woodworking: SQUARE

In cabinetry and furniture making, SQUARE is the goal, "batch cutting" the most important methodology in attaining it.

[Scott Lurndal]

I would suggest that "batch cutting" leads to consistency, not squareness.

[Greg Guarino]

I think he means that if you have four members arranged in a rectangle, you can only achieve square corners if the two horizontal members are exactly of equal length, and the same for the verticals. Now you also need square cuts, or else you may end up with a parallelogram (or worse) instead.

[Leon]

Well that went with out saying but with out batch cutting, square, the goal, is more difficult to achieve.

[Swingman]

As your need to clarify attests ... and even with the Subject clearly dealing with "face frames" ... the main reason for some being here is not necessarily sharing woodworking experiences, but instead looking for an argument using misdirection, silly semantics, and unsuccessful attempts at logical thought.

LOL Absolutely no doubt there are some, with square components being a stated goal, who would NOT go to great lengths to insure that his/her cuts were indeed square to begin with .... like that woodworking ace teaching drawer making?

;)