Turns out my tape measure was lying to me the whole time
I've been building cabinets for about 8 years now, mostly kitchens and built-ins around Portland. Last month I had a job where every single face frame was coming out 1/8 inch too wide, no matter how careful I was. I blamed the wood movement, blamed the humidity, even blamed my miter saw. Then my apprentice asked if he could check my tape measure against his. We pulled both out and laid them side by side, and sure enough, mine had stretched about 3/32 over its length from getting dropped on concrete too many times. I never even thought to verify a tool that basic. Picked up a new one for $18 at a local hardware store and suddenly everything lined up perfect on the next tryout. Has anyone else had a measuring tool fail on them without any obvious sign?