It would seem that it would be more difficult to be so precise with measurments, given the width of chalk lines and having to judge the center of a chalk line. This leads to housing the joints according to what I have read.
Thin lines are good, but it is not difficult to judge the center of a standard chalk line. Remember -- a carpenter's best tool is his eye -- and it is like any other tool. The more you work with it, the better you get with it. Sometimes we use too many crutches in our work and it only slows us down and lowers our skill level. Practice eyeballing things -- you will surprise yourself with the accuracy if you work at it. I'm not saying to put up you tape measure or framing square, but judging the center of 1/16" or 1/8" -- how far off are you really going to be, folks???
Brad -- what do you mean by a lack of precision in snap-line square rule leading to housing joints -- do you mean to hide sloppy work? Sloppy work is sloppy work -- the system is as accurate as the carpenter using it. It is not inherently imprecise.
If you are putting a mortise in your second (tertiary) reference face, what technique do you use to measure the depth of your housing (the face) relative to the Chalk line on your Primary face?
yes, accurately checking the depth of blind housings on non-reference faces is not easy. There are many ways to do it.
the easiest is to put a straight edge across the timber at the housing and shim it on one side or the other until it measures the same distance from the bottom of the straight edge to the chalk lines on the 2 sides of the timber. Now your straight edge is parallel to the reference axis(or perpendicular depending on which axis you're talking about). Figure out how deep your housing should be from the straightedge and measure it with any tape, ruler, etc.
Will Truax and Glenn Dodge developed a nice tool for this application (the Regent), but the square and wedge work just fine.
For those interested in this subject, stay tuned to the next couple of issues of the Guild journal -- at some point soon, there's a new article on snap-line square rule coming out.
gabel
