Stopped using a chalk line to mark for splines after 22 years

Used to snap lines on every frame then recheck with a square, but since I picked up a laser level at a garage sale last spring I just run the beam and mark off that, anyone else feel weird trusting a red line over the old blue string?

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rowan_thomas14d ago

Check your laser level's accuracy before you trust it like that, because a lot of those cheap garage sale units are only good to about 1/8 inch over 10 feet, and some are worse. A chalk line and a square will catch a frame that's out of whack, but a laser beam doesn't care if your plate is bowed or your corner is off, it just shoots a straight line regardless. So if your walls aren't perfectly true, that red line can lead you right into a crooked layout and you won't know it until the splines don't line up. The old blue string had the same problem in a way, but at least when you snapped it you were touching the actual wood and could feel a high spot or a gap. Run the laser but still check it against your square every few frames, that way you get the speed without losing the sanity check.

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