Caught out by a tape measure

Nick · 2011-10-23T19:58:18+00:00

Odd thing this afternoon and something that I had never considered.Measured some jointing on site and wrote the measurements on a sketch. Walked 50yds to workshop and laid out the joints on 6x3" beech. Subject for the timber is immovable.Just before starting to cut the joints I thought measure twice / cut once. So took the laid out timber for a walk to its new home and compared.Blow me down. The markings for the joints were all to cock.Baffled.Turns out that the two tape measures I was using (on site & in workshop) differed by approx 11mm over 1M.I have checked and verified this. Both measures are same model Stanley and similarly aged.Cleaned the timber, re-measured all using one tape only, laid out again. Compared on site again. Cut joints. Fitted. Job done.Damned hard world if you can't trust a tape measure or two. This one won't catch me out again.A little lesson learned perhaps.Nick.

Oct 23, 2011 22 Replies

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Gib Bogle 14 years ago

Dark matter.

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Gib Bogle 14 years ago

I never went that far, but I did think the tape was badly made or worn out. The penny did drop finally.

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Lobster 14 years ago

Odd. So is the discrepancy consistent over the whole length; eg 2mm over every 20cm?

David

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