redwing44

davey lee, I was raised in Harrison, NE. It is in the NW part of the state near WY & SD. RThe pop. now around 200, elevation near 5000 ft, 500 miles from Omaha, and less than 100 to Gordon. The elevation in Omaha is around 8oo ft. if I recall correctly. As we neither had an auto or much $$$, most everywhere we went was a looong trip. You do realize that there can be lots of carpentry in concrete work. I have a friend in LA who often does intricate carpentry work building forms. I left that part of the world a day after graduation from high school---1949---before I froze to death.

Mortar Works,

At one time I was fairly good at laying concrete blocks, but know little about restoring brick walls, pointing, and all that goes with this trade. Not much of this is done here on on the west coast---just stucco and wood siding. You might want to put your question out on Fine Homebuilding's Breaktime. Have you tried that? That is one of the places I go to when I need help. Thanks for your questions. Larry Haun

Hi,
Maybe you can help me----What about cell phones and I-pods on ther job site? Are these a danger especially when they might cause you to be distracted when working with saws, around cranes, or any other type of mechanical tools?

thanks, Larry Haun

Hi,
Thanks for the comment, Renosteinke. I am only a story teller. Most all of what I write has been true for me. It is sort of like the old proverb: "There are three truths, My truth, your truth, and the truth." Hopefully, some people can take a bit away from my writings about my experiences. Yes, my body has checked out for high arsenic.
I always find it interesting about THE facts finding that today's facts are often tomorrow's fiction. Sort of like the earth is flat. Or as Mark Twain once said (I paraphrase): "The only truths in a newpaper are the advertisements."
So, please, keep feeding us the facts, really. They are welcome with me. I will keep telling stories. Larry Haun

SitUboo,
I appreciate your comment. I know that Habitat has looked into this but not sure if they have had success or not. Problem seems to be these thousands and thousands of houses are owned by banks and insurance companies. Any ideas as to what to do with that blockade? Larry Haun

HI,
Did I miss a photo of the entire handle? I would like to see that. I like the connection between the hammer and the handle. I always wrap that point with shrink plastic and add a little heat. Makes a wooden handle almost unbreakable. Having swung a few hammers in my life, I guess "the proof is in the pudding." Your hammer looks great, but how does it feel---proper balance is not easy to come by. Good to see a new framer on the market. Larry Haun

Reno,
Or even 72 sturgeons as us NW people think. Thanks, Reno for your thoughtful posts. Larry Haun

Reno,
Thanks for the thoughtful comment.
Yes, These blogs are my opinions. And you know what? Often I am wrong.
A question for you if you don't mind....Is, to use an over used word, the life we have built for ourselves sustainable. Where do we go from here on this planet with dwindling resources?
I think maybe the biggest boon that Habitat offers us is that volunteers often learn some good building skills and working with others draws a community together.
Mainly I post these blogs for people like you---hoping to give others a chance to think and comment.

christopher99
Thanks for that helpful comment. I found it very informative. I have a blog on this subject that I will post in a few weeks. Toxins anywhere including the job site need to be taken seriously. I learned this the hard way.

Here in Coos Bay we do build a shed for Habitat owners---8x10 shed where they can store stuff.

Larry Haun

Dreamcatcher and Whodog94,
As I mentioned somewhere, the questions I asked in the recent blog about carpenters upgrading skills and tools is the tip of the ethical iceberg. Ethical questions are everywhere. Each one of us has to take our own look-see.
I apprecdiated your comments Dreamcatcher. I am glad you are passionate about what you wrote. Passion helps us write and ask the right questions.
Whodog94---If you can find FHB issue # 53, April May---I wrote an article in that issue about Production line jamb setting and door hanging. There is a photo of Al Schaeffer at his door bench. There is also a paragraph where I write about his bench. Maybe that will be helpful to you.

Thanks to all for helping clarify this ethics issue. Larry Haun

Chapeli,
First of all, it means that each brother could hang 60 to 80 doors a day. What it meant for each door----scribing, fitting, cutting to length, drilling for lock and deadbolt when necessary, and hanging in the opening.
I knew Al Schaeffer the best. He was a master. What they did to speed production was develop tools to hold the door in place while being scribed, a door bench that allowed them easy access to power tools, marks on the bench so they didn't have to use a measuring tape to locate where to drill for lockset, and on.
If you are hanging doors, I would encourage you to check out the article I wrote in about 1989 on setting jambs and hanging doors and also one by Gary Katz on the same subject -- both are in FHB archives.
This is an ethical question----can we learn new ways to do our work that will allow us to hang a door faster----without reducing quality and costing our customers less money?
There are many other ethical questions.....that is just one.
Thanks for the question. Larry

Dear Folks,
Thanks again for the thoughtful comments. Maybe I can add a bit to the ethics issue. There is seldom if ever any excuse for an unsquare rooms that I know of. Whether we work with production methods or methods from long ago---square is square. There are, by the way, people who learn production medthods and do lousy work. To me that is not ethical.
In ther 50s, I worked three years as a trim carpenter. I was started out hanging doors by the forman. I was expected, at that time, to hang at least eight doors a day. Several years later the three Schaffer brothers were hanging 60 to 80 doors a day (with a helper--- on the tracts and in larger commercial buildings) doing a much better job than I did with my hand tools. They had developed production methods for trim carpentry that I needed to learn. Gary Katz knew these brothers and learned from them. I think he even wrote an article in FHB showing a few of their methods. The brothers made good money for themselves and gave their customers quality work. Larry Haun

Dreamcatcher,
Thanks for your considered comment. That is what I was hoping for---comments that open up this discussion on the "ethics of carpentry." Larry Haun

Thanks for the insighful comments. Appreciated the good words from WHODOG. Palaces to apartments from Wood & Iron also interesting. Larry Haun

Tomasll,
Thanks for the comment. You must live near Craig. I have backpacked in your state many times. eautiful country.
It seems obvious that a straw bale house takes less labor than an adobe. Making adobe and laying them up one piece at a time takes lots of labor. Tightly compressed straw bales , made by others, go up rather rapidly espessially when used as infill in a timber frame. Go on-line for adobe mix.
Go on-line also for Cob Cottage. This school is about 20 miles inland from where we live on the Oregon Coast. The master teachere there are Llanto and Linda Evans. They teach week-long classes all over---maybe even in Colo.I love hat you can do with cob. Beautiful buildings---but they take time to build. Larry Haun

Rob-D,
Wanted you to know that part of this book chapter on building with adode contains a number of pages on building with Cob.
About 20 miles from where I live is a school---teaching people how to build with cob. Cob Cottage is the school. Llanto and Linda Evans are two long-time good teachers.
Thanks for your comment. KLarry Haun

Bill 117,

Glad you spotted the satellite dish. I had other photos to choose from, but liked the way this house had been maintained so well. Larry Haun

Dear Matt,
Thanks for your kind words. Wish I could study with you and learn more about building with timber.
As a writer----about all I have to offer to the writing world is courage. By that I mean---courage to write as best I can and to put it out there for anyone to see.
As a student in our isolated rural high school, I went through those 4 years and never once was asked to write an entire paragraph. I have never taken a writing course in any Univ. or even advanced English courses.
I have learned to write because I had the courage to write. I try to write simply and from the heart. Over the years, many editors at Fine Homebuilding magazine and books have helped me to improve my writing skills. Much credit goes to them.
So---please write. If I can do it, you can also.
Larry Haun

Scott,
BTW---any ideas on how to straighten an old framer's back.
Best to you. Larry Haun

Hi Scott,
Good job on the wall straightening. I love your rigging axe. I used one for many years.

Bob Y,
Thanks for the kind words. Coming from you, I take it as a real complement. Larry Haun

Hi John & Justin,
My message on the layout stick was sent before I finished.

Anyway, I know that construction information sometimes moves slowly across our wide country, but as I say, the layout stick has been around for 60 years. It is a production tool.

Take care, Larry Haun

Hi John and Justin,

Wall layout with a measuring tape? Now I do realize you know what a layout stick looks like. Is there some reason you didn't use it rather than a tape and a speed square.
The layout stick has been in existence for 60 years. We would have not have used it when framing if it was not faster than using a tape. I write about it in all three of the books I wrote. I even wrote about how to use it on exterior walls to offset the layout 3/4 in.

Hi,
I was born in 1931 in a small town, pop. 85, in NW Nebraska. In 1938 carpenters remodeled the old high school. Stuck deep in my smell memory is the sweet sniff of pine that was released by a jointer plane sending up curls from the edge of a 2x4. Larry Haun

Hi All,
I have been avoiding posting anything about "why I hate vinyl siding." Maybe one day I can post a blog.
Let me just say that I am sorry I had to write so much about vinyl siding in the last book I wrote--The Habitat for Humanity---How to build a house book. At that time I was told that installation practices for this siding had to be included in the book because vinyl companies were donating free siding for every Habitat house being built in the USA!

We can do better folks. Thanks, Larry Haun

Hi all,

Dear Chuck,
With total regards to Jud Peake and Chuck Miller........
We never used this method for cutting multiples out on the job site. The reason is that it isn't very accurate. It does work fairly well if your circular saw is cutting totally square. Most saws on a framing job get banged around and are at least slightly out of square. So as you cut down through the stack, each piece gets slightly shorter or longer depending on the tilt of the saw blade.
So if you want to cut lots of multiples and don't have a chop saw, take a look at an article on this subject that I wrote in FHB # 88, p. 58-61 back in 1994. Or for a shorter version, you can look in the book: "The Very Efficient Carpenter" on p. 86.
Using this setup, you can accurately cut hundreds of multiples like top and bottom cripples with a circular saw in a short period of time.
Take care all you framers. Larry Haun

Dear chuck,

Thanks for the Leed blog, Kevin.
A friend from Santa Fe told me a year or so ago that building green was much more than following a list. In the first place, a long list is not a huge motivator for most of us, certainly not for me. What we need, so he said, is a change in the way we think about our world.
We need to begin to see that the earth does not belong to us, but that we belong to the world. I have a hard time thinking of one single item in the building industry that is sustainable. Sustainability means, for me, that we give back to our earth at least as much as we take from it.
These days I build Habitat for Humanity houses. Some of what we do with those houses is not sustainable, but it is a beginning approach that everyone can understand and get behind. STEP ONE in building a house that has some sustainability is to BUILD SMALL. There is a house being built not far from me that looks like a high school.
I for one, can't afford all the "green bling" the Leed list says I need for a certified green home. But there are lots of fairly simple things I can do or have done to our small home to cut down on energy waste: better windows, weather proofing, solar heated water, more insulation, collect water, air dry clothes, and use local materials.
Maybe we could listen to our Native American brothers and sisters who encourage us to not build anything without thinking about how it will impact the next 7 generations---our children and their children.
Thanks for allowing me to say a few words. Larry Haun