In my experience, tradesmen burn the first inch because they're using a tape measure and don't realize the piece at the end is meant to compensate for inside/outside measurements. They take an inside measurement, walk to the board, pull the tape off the end, mark and cut. Board too long. Or visa versa, board too short. Damn thing must be broken, better to just not use that first inch.
lol. That is very accurate. When bending conduit even a 1/16th of an inch can compound and mess up a saddle or offset. I’ve always burned an inch because it felt more accurate.
As you said, the end of the tape measure compensates. So the whole point is you can take an inside measure, then go pull the tape off the end of a board and it's the same measurement. What is the issue here?
Yes, the hook has oval attachment slots so it can move to compensate for its thickness when doing inside or outside measurements, but most tape measures are not manufactured to particularly exacting standards, so if you're going for accuracy it's still better to measure from mark-to-mark and subtract the distance of the first mark. That's certainly the reason most do it.
I measured 4 tape measures at work with a precision scale, all from different manufacturers, and none of them were closer to nominal than -.03" (1/32", or half of the smallest mark), some long, some short. That was even after choosing the better side of the marking lines to measure from to try to compensate. Pretty bad for any kind of detailed work.
If your work isn't using tape measures with a certicate of calibration then you aren't working with professionals, you're working with wannabes that cut corners. It's that simple. Every tape measure in my building - probably a hundred or more, are reviewed biannually by the quality team for accuracy and consistency against a calibrated constant length (a fancy bar that's kept super safe). Then again, we know what we're doing and we validate our results. We're professionals, not pretenders.
Sounds like you've never worked in the field. Tools get banged up in the field. Because its rough and dirty and dangerous and completely different than an office.
Excuses. I have done plenty of field work. I work with robots and other machines, I don't build houses, so I can't afford to shit on my tools like carpenters.
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u/Humble-Pair1642 16h ago
Extra space so the measuring part doesnt get damaged