Thank you for a good lesson!

Bill


CW wrote:

"Bill" wrote in message
...
CW wrote:

"Bill" wrote in message
...

To me, a beginner, it seems that marking the tenon from alternate
sides of the end of a beam using a single-bladed guage would yield
better
results than try to center a double-bladed guage by hand.


Any error is then doubled.

Not the error in the measurement of the shoulder width, and this
way the tenon would be more likely to be centered. At least, that's
the way I thought about it. How do you prefer to think about it--by
calculating the tenon width in advance and then trying to mark the
lines about the center by eye, or do you use a measuring rule?


That would give you uniform shoulders but, if the tennon doesn't fit,
what difference are uniform shoulders going to do you? Marking from both
sides of the stock will work if your wood is exactly the same size
(unlikely if dressed by hand) and you hold your gage just perfect. You
will have far better results with this (and everything you make), if you
pick a side and work from there.