At one of the timber framing schools I attended they taught us to burn 10 inches. Because some of the tapes had differences in the first foot of the tape.
And when you layout something you almost always layout in inches.
So like you said 116 1/2" but if you put the 10 on the zero point and add ten to your tape you'd mark it off at 126 1/2". A 10 inch error in layout shows up real big and fast. Where a 1" error may not.
When I layout using this method, I make my mark at 126 1/2" and then move my tape so that then end clip is on zero and check my layout to see if it's 116 1/2" or not.
This is my method to check twice and cut once.
Working alone I use a quick grip clamp to hold my tape measure onto the beam so that the 10" mark is on my zero point, that way I can be sure it is right on.
Thanks for your tip.
Jim Rogers
