Every now and again you will run across a correction to a plan in a later issue of the magazine. Doesn't help the fella who jumped right in and went to making the project, and I suspect that is how many of the problems are discovered.
I've never been very successful at cutting all of the pieces of a project to the cutlist, then assembling the project. Incorrect dimensions in a plan is only one of the problems with that method of building. A bigger problem is that there is some small amount of error in every measurement and cut that you make. Some of this is due to the measuring device being used, and then there is parallax error. Even the thickness of the marks on the measuring device can throw you off sufficiently to cause a visible seam where two parts come together. And, as Murphy would have it, these errors are cumulative rather than canceling each other out.
Over my years of wood working I have developed the attitude that dimensions in the plan are no more than suggestions and approximations. When actually building, I use the plan dimensions for the perimeter parts, then more or less toss the measuring devices aside. These perimeter parts are then dry assembled, squared and clamped, and I use a story stick or the actual workpiece held partially in place to mark them for use in setting up for making the final cuts. This is an old hand tool method that lends itself well to machine work.
