olivia_bailey•17d agoProlific Poster

Got called out by a framing crew lead and stopped using a speed square for every cut

I used to pull out my speed square for every single rafter cut, even on simple stuff. Last month on a job in Salem, the crew lead watched me and said "you're wasting time, just mark the pitch angle and go." He showed me how to read the common rafters on the square itself instead of measuring each angle. I tried his method on a 12/12 roof and cut 30 rafters in half the time. Has anyone else had a pro call them out on a habit that slowed them down?

3 comments

3 Comments

wrenh6517d ago

Hold on though, is this REALLY that big of a deal? I mean yeah, if you're cranking out 30 rafters on a 12/12 roof, sure, skip the extra step. But on a complicated cut or a weird pitch, being off by a degree can screw your whole day. I've seen guys try to rush and end up recutting three times because they eyeballed it wrong. Plus, a speed square check is just good insurance if you're not 100% sure. I'd rather waste 10 seconds now than 30 minutes later fixing a gap.

stella_baker16d ago

Nah my uncle did that once. Took him all weekend to fix one rafter.

kim.xena16d ago

Actually saw a video from a master carpenter out of Eugene that talked about this exact thing. He said the guys who rely on the speed square for every little thing end up slower overall because they never learn to read the framing square properly. There is a middle ground though. On a simple 12/12 like yours I can see skipping the extra step but on something weird like a 3/12 or a bastard pitch I still double check. Maybe the trick is knowing when to trust your eye and when to grab the square.