"mac davis" wrote in message
I always start at the 1" mark of the tape and subtract an inch from my
total...
I don't think he ever explained the loose rivet thing to me, but it makes
sense... seems like he just said that the 1" mark was a line across the
tape
that was square, or something like that.. (maybe 50 years ago)


You start at the 1 inch mark to help prevent a short measurement. As rulers
and scales get dropped on their end's the beginning marks tend to disappear.
Scales tend to start in from the end to eliminate this problem.