Roof framing geometry…
my explanation of rafter squares…
- 26 Replies
Are you fixing to put a new roof on the Tardis?
I enjoyed your video, after watching it I looked up this one by a guy who makes nice videos about carpentry.
I like this old movie because of the details. I’ve watched it several times and I am slowly getting it.
A jack rafter meets the hip, it has a miter and bevel cut. The modern training films indicate the miter is based on roof pitch and the bevel is 45 degrees. But the old movie appears to lay out the bevel using the roof pitch. Maybe I’m misunderstanding it, need to watch it 5 or 6 more times.
that video is mesmerizing.
That would be like watching a pre-1980 Survey crew parachute into a construction site with their transit, tape and plumb bobs and proceed to out stake the modern crew with all the modern tools, all calcs in the head or on the plan.
I love work. I could watch it all day.
Those guys work hard and know all the things to watch out for.
I once helped a housemate build a room over his garage. I learned a lot, but don’t consider myself qualified to be a real assistant. I would have to have detailed instructions for each step. “No. Allow a half inch there!” “You marked the angle the opposite way!” “Come on, can’t you lift that?:
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Fascinating video. I now have to go back and watch the first 2.
Thanks
Ken
sinking 16d nails accurately in one or two hammer blows is amazing. That guy is a bit cavalier with that old Skillsaw wormdrive. No or very little PPE.
That guy is a bit cavalier with that old Skillsaw wormdrive. No or very little PPE.
I knew a carpenter who could only count to 9 1/2 on his fingers.
.a comment on one of the videos the guy said the arrival of small job site table saws in the 1980s was the beginning of 4 fingered carpenters.
At about 1:55 “the Surveyors are not available” so the builders lay out the building using a 2 tape method. Note a 10lb hammer is needed to drive the hubs.
Larry was 80 when he filmed this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQWjA7u9LzM&feature=emb_logo
I would be hard pressed to keep up with him. He was a volunteer for Habitat for Humanity for years, a teacher to many, and a pretty good author. The first time I saw him use the claw of a hammer to grab a “tuba four,” it was a lightbulb moment. While he largely helped the “subdivision house” come about, he was far from a proponent of McMansions. He and his 2nd wife had 5 kids that all shared a 950sqft house. The story of tract housing in California and his role in it is actually pretty interesting:
https://www.keepcraftalive.org/one-carpenters-life/
https://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/27/garden/larry-haun-the-carpenters-carpenter.html
https://www.finehomebuilding.com/author/larry-haun
I’ll steal one quote from those articles:
“My wages as a journeyman carpenter in the early ??50s were less than $2 an hour. Jim and I found a builder in the valley who was willing to let us do his framing for a flat, per-house fee. For $90, we would frame a 900-sq.-ft. house on a slab. It had two bedrooms, one bathroom, and a gable roof. A three-bedroom, 1100-sq.-ft. version went for $120, which included setting door jambs and window frames, putting siding on the front, and making it ready for stucco on the outside and plaster on the inside. My younger brother, Joe, joined us, and soon the three of us were framing one of these houses every day, nearly doubling our wages.” (emphasis mine)
He died from cancer caused (at least in part) very likely from his working conditions (ie. little PPE as earlier alluded to, no NIOSH implementation, etc.). It, especially for our profession, is a reminder that being cautious and 15 minutes later to get the job done right and safely might not be such a bad thing in the long term.
My dad was a carpenter (‘joiner’ in Scotland) most of his working life, one piece of advice he regularly repeated, ‘measure twice, cut once’. When he started out there were no power tools, in fact there was no mains electricity. For a new house everything was made in the workshop or on site, sliding sash windows (for the well off), kitchen cupboards and all timber sections were dressed and planed to shape from rough timber. When he began fitting toilets in the 1950’s a common reaction from older people was along the lines of ‘s—–g in the house, what’s the world coming to’!
I was a framing carpenter before and while going to school for a degree in geomatics. Built my house and shop and only build stuff for myself these days or help out a friend. Still have an use my first worm drive Skilsaw purchased over 25 years ago, I think I’m on my 3rd or fourth power cord. Works as well as the day I bought it (used).
Willy@artie-kay
The Scots have the most awesome swear words.
My house built in 1935 has rough Tuba-4s, they are 1-3/4×3-5/8. I can tell where dry-rot repairs have been made in the attic because the newer 2x4s are smaller and S4S with eased edges (there are fairly large old roof leak stains on some of the lumber up there). S4S=smooth 4 sides.
My Grandparent’s house in Mill Valley, Marin County, California (north of the north end of the Golden Gate Bridge) was built in the 1910s. Houses then often came with an unfinished walk-up attic that could be converted to bedrooms. My Dad remembered my Grandfather up there in the 1930s planing the tops of the ceiling joists flat because they weren’t consistent heights.
I see those old Skilsaw wormdrives on Facebook Marketplace from time to time. I have been really tempted to acquire one. I have a Makita wormdrive, don’t like it all that much, the blade guard has too much play so it tends to get caught in the kert which can cause kick back when the saw swings to one side.
The way Larry swung that thing around like a samurai sword is a bit dangerous.
They’re heavy, get heavier every time I pick it up, but bomb proof, long as you don’t drop it. Was common practice in the day to pin the guard back with a framing pencil and not for a moment did you forget that spinning blade would open you up in the blink of an eye. Once had a kid grab my saw without asking permission. He cut something and dropped the saw and it took off across the floor and cut several air hoses and power cords before coming to a rest. Told him if he ever touched my saw again it would be the last thing he remembered. The risk involved seemed tame compared to hanging 30′ off the ground nailing rafters with a nail gun, but that’s another story. Pull back the nail guard and fire a nail into a rafter from a few inches away to hang the thing while you swung like a monkey to the next rafter. I sure miss that, not.
Willy
I remember helping a carpenter, he had removed the entire blade guard. I asked him why. He said they just get in the way. He had to lay it down upside down. I’m tempted to do that sometimes. I was a kid but was smart enough to know not to touch another man’s tools.
Not interested in nail guns. I do have a pretty decent Harbor Freight air driven palm nailer. That is handy, drives it in like a hammer. The only issue if the nail wants to bend because it hit a not or another nail that thing will turn it into a pretzel in half a second.
Harbor Freight, half the stuff is surprisingly decent quality for the price and the other half is a pile of you know what. It’s okay for homeowner work.
Was common practice in the day to pin the guard back with a framing pencil
Ripped wedge of scrap lumber, but yeah, used to work with Florida’s biggest Jimmy Buffet and Clapton fan, and that’s how things were done.
Years later worked for another company, and you would’ve thought I just shot the Pope for wedging back the guard.
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