My wife knows a fair amount about woodworking.  It would be kind of hard for her not to pick up a few things over the years of her hanging out in my shop.  I was making a lamp for her and busted out this little trick on how to layout where the mortises should be located.  When she inquired about it and what I was doing was when I knew I should share it with you guys.  That or she said I should share it.  Whichever scenario you want to believe is fine with me.  My ego just feels better if I tell both stories.

After showing her what I was doing and how it worked, I began to explain to her that “measuring” is where most woodworkers get inaccuracies.  It seems counterintuitive, I know.  But whenever you can “transfer” measurements of what you are working on directly to the workpiece you have a much better chance of being spot on.  I show how I use a couple of combination square heads to layout a double mortise I needed to drill.  A beam compass or set of trammel points could also be used.  This particular situation may not directly apply to a project you are working on, but the philosophy on how to use the tools is good in many instances.  Let me know what you think down below or how you make laying out your joinery a bit more accurate.

More Quick Tips

I Just Had To Share This One

The video below was released on April Fool’s Day – You Have Been Warned