And when you use a die-cutter it doesn’t subtract any material it just squishes it down and cuts it so theres not much kerf because the material can actually bounce back. With a laser it’s being vaporized and it’s gone so there’s no way it can bounce back
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Sometimes it’s exactly what you want and sometimes not.
For Stephanie’s Pokemon and other inlay type projects or those you want to have very tight joints you want to compensate.
But, when I’m making things where I want the parts to be repositionable or easily removable (for instance the land tiles or harbor buttons for Catan) I leave the kerf because that allows me to move the tiles into different patterns.
I also leave the kerf uncompensated for “folding” game boards that I make. Rather than actually fold I cut small dovetail or puzzle joints in the two halves of a board. Then I can disconnect or reconnect the board pieces so it’s portable in a smaller box but doesn’t require hinges which I don’t really find aesthetically acceptable for board games.
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