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tip: be consistent.
Do you cut on the left side of a pencil mark, on the right side, or down the centre? Did you mark the wood at the left/right or centre of the measurement?
Sometimes it doesn’t matter but, when precision counts, then, it matters – a lot.

I try to cut to the waste side of the line,leaving the line

when cutting my sliding 12" saw , I cut just to the right of the line. When using a scroll saw or band saw I try to go right down the middle of the line .

Obviously, cutting to the left or right depends on which side I’m keeping, since ignoring the kerf kind of makes the whole fine line thing moot. That aside, there is no real on or beside the line for, say, a point three Pentel pencil or a sharp knife. No?

Ninety-nine percent of what I do is with a point five mechanical pencil. I can’t remember the last time I picked up a regular pencil.

does anyone use a metal scribe tool?

I use an awl on many occasions. In fact, just just used one yesterday.

That’s as close as I can get.

I scribed an arched masonry window with a small scrap that had a point cut at one end and a hole drilled at the other that just fit a pencil.