Rant: Old timer in Pittsburgh showed me up on a tape measure trick

I was on a job in Pittsburgh last spring, hanging 12-foot boards in a hallway with a bunch of angles. This guy, must have been 60 years old, comes over and watches me measure, mark, and cut each piece one at a time. He just shook his head and said 'son, you're wasting half your day.' Then he showed me how to mark multiple studs at once with a chalk line and a speed square, cutting all the boards in one stack. I felt like an idiot but honestly it saved me about 45 minutes on that room alone. He didn't even say much else, just walked off to his own work. Has anyone else had a random stranger on site teach you something that simple but game-changing?

3 comments

3 Comments

tara7452mo ago

Did he explain why stacking cuts actually keeps the angles more consistent too? Ive seen carpenters do that but never knew if it was just speed or if it helped with accuracy as well. Feels like the kind of thing you only pick up from watching old guys who have done it all before.

noranguyen1mo ago

Oh yeah, my buddy Alex had this happen to him in a warehouse in Philly. He was trimming out door casings and measuring each one separate, and some older guy just came up, grabbed his tape, and showed him how to set up a stop block on his miter saw. Then he ran all his pieces through without re-measuring a single one. Alex said he felt like a total rookie but that stop block saved him so much time he still uses it on every job. The guy just nodded and walked away, didn't even stick around to see if he got it right. Funny how those quick lessons from strangers stick with you way harder than any class or video.

miab872mo ago

My buddy Jason had a similar thing happen to him on a roofing job outside of Cleveland. He was measuring each rafter one by one like a chump, and some old framer just walked over and drew a pattern on the deck with a piece of scrap wood. Told him to use that as a template for every single cut instead of re-reading the tape. Jason said he felt about two inches tall but it cut his time in half for the rest of the week. That kind of stuff only sticks with you when you actually get embarrassed by it in real time.