Showerthought: my old lead hand told me to stop checking square with a tape measure and it finally clicked

Julia Knight · 2026-11-03T22:10:03.531768+00:00

I was helping my neighbor frame a small deck in Boise last weekend and he caught me pulling diagonals with my tape. He laughed and said, "a tape lies to you every time it bends." He handed me his 3 foot framing square and showed me how to check the corner in about ten seconds. I've been doing the tape thing for close to 4 years and never thought twice about it. Turns out two of my old deck corners were off by almost a quarter inch and I never noticed. What's the one habit from an old timer that you picked up later than you'd like to admit?

Guest Forum

Loading…

Showerthought: my old lead hand told me to stop checking square with a tape measure and it finally clicked | Carpenters - Guest Forum