Shoutout to the old guy at the job site who showed me a trick for cutting rafters

I was framing a roof last week on a house outside Austin and this 65 year old carpenter walked up. He said I was overcomplicating my layout with a speed square and showed me how to use a simple story pole instead. Took me 10 minutes to mark 12 rafters after watching him. Has anyone else picked up a trick from an older carpenter that just blew your mind?

2 comments

2 Comments

sagey6912d ago

I read somewhere that story poles were common before speed squares even existed.

fiona_scott4412d ago

Had a buddy who framed houses back in the 80s, swore by story poles his whole career. He said they were just a long stick with marks for stud spacing, window heights, and roof pitch. No batteries, no math, just a stick and a pencil. He could frame a whole wall without touching a tape measure once he had his pole set. Showed me one once and it looked like a beat up yardstick covered in Sharpie lines. Said he only bought a speed square later for cutting rafters cause the new guys kept asking him for angles.