Switched to a chalk line reel for layout, never going back

I used to snap every line with a cheap string and a nail, figured it was fine. Then on a 40-foot wall in Nashville, the old way kept sagging and I got the marks off by nearly an inch. Picked up a Tajima chalk reel with a gear winding mechanism, and the tension stays consistent the whole run. Has anyone else found that the reel pays for itself on long siding jobs, or am I just slow to catch on?

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troyp3720d ago

Man, the sagging problem is real, I dealt with it on a long barn wall once and got so frustrated I almost went back to a laser. The reel just keeps that even pull all the way down, no fighting with the line dipping in the middle. For me, the biggest win was on vertical layouts too, where holding a string steady with one hand and marking with the other got old real fast. It's not just about the money, it's about not redoing a line three times because your hand twitched. You're not slow, it's one of those tools you don't know you need until you try it. Now I grab the reel for anything over ten feet, it's just habit at this point.