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An old guy in Baltimore taught me more in 20 minutes than 4 years of shop class
Back in 2011 I was doing a kitchen remodel in Baltimore and the homeowner's dad, this 78 year old retired cabinetmaker, sat in a lawn chair watching me fit a face frame for about an hour. When I finally got frustrated with the gaps, he walked over, ran his thumb along the joint, and said 'son, you're fighting the wood instead of listening to it.' He showed me how he used to check for square with a piece of string and two nails, no tape measure, no fancy jigs, and the frame he fit in 20 minutes was tighter than mine. I still use that string trick on every cabinet I build, and it bugs me that most young guys in the trade have never even seen it. Any of you old timers got a trick like that you picked up from somebody who's long gone?
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robert_roberts13d ago
Heck, that string trick is older than dirt and I bet half the guys on a job site today would stare at you like you grew a second head if you pulled out two nails and a piece of twine. I learned the same thing from a plumber back in the 80s who used a bent coat hanger for everything, and he could true up a door faster than any laser level I have ever seen. The sad part is these tricks die with the old guys because nobody sits and watches anymore, everybody just watches a five minute video and thinks they know it all. You got lucky that old man bothered to get out of his chair, because most of them just shake their heads and let you keep messing up. Makes you wonder how many other free lessons got buried in the ground with those guys.
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