My tape measure lied to me for 3 years and I never noticed

Last month I was building some upper cabinets for a client in Cleveland and kept ending up with a 1/16 inch gap on every single face frame. I checked my layout three times and finally grabbed a different tape from my truck. Turns out my old Stanley had a bent hook that was catching just enough to throw every measurement off. I measured the hook against a square and it was out by a full 32nd. I've used that same tape since 2021 and never once thought to verify it. Now I check my tapes against a known rule every Monday morning. Has anyone else had a tool quietly fail like that without any obvious sign?

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1 Comment

sage_dixon16d ago

Found my old speed square was off by damn near 2 degrees once, only caught it when a buddy pulled out his digital level and we compared on the same cut. Swear that thing built half my deck before I retired it to the scrap pile.