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Showerthought: Snapping a chalk line twice is actually faster than fighting a twisted one
I had a 40 foot wall to lay out last week and my line got twisted on the first pull. Everyone says just work with it or replace the string but I got annoyed and snapped it twice, once from each end to make a cross mark. The second snap lined up perfectly with the first and I saved myself 10 minutes of fiddling. Has anyone else done this or am I just getting lucky?
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jade_jenkins27d ago
You're not just getting lucky, that's a solid trick. I've done similar on long runs where the line gets kinked from rolling it up wrong. Snapping from both ends gives you a reference point and if they cross exactly you know the string was straight enough for the mark to be accurate. I'd rather spend 30 seconds doing that than five minutes untwisting a mess.
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diana51227d ago
Exactly. The cross check is the real win here. @jade_jenkins knows what's up. If those lines don't hit each other dead center, you know something's off and you can fix it before you start cutting or marking anything. Saves so much headache later when you're trying to line up a cut or a nail. I've had times where I just snapped one end and trusted it, only to find the mark was off by a quarter inch because the line had a hidden kink. That little extra step makes a huge difference on long spans.
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