Whats your favorite? Thanks.
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the one I can find when I need it
same for tapes and knives and especially true for pencils
Tajima.
Andy
"Never try to teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and annoys the pig." Robert A. Heinlein (or maybe Mark Twain)
"Get off your dead #### and on your dying feet." Mom
"Everything not forbidden is compulsory." T.H. White, The Book of Merlin
ink or chaulk?
Chalk. I'm not to be trusted with anything that makes a permanent mark.Andy
"Never try to teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and annoys the pig." Robert A. Heinlein (or maybe Mark Twain)
"Get off your dead #### and on your dying feet." Mom
"Everything not forbidden is compulsory." T.H. White, The Book of Merlin
Me too. I like the red one.... just right for both fine layout as well as normal framing. And it's Candy Apple Red.... so it MUST be fast.View Image
Hey, DP- yer back!
haven't seen you post for a while.
Been busy?
Yup. Been very fortunate lately.... some big tricky houses that have kept me hopping. Not complaining, but we've been averaging 55hr weeks since July and I'm still having to turn down work. I'm always paranoid so I gobble up work thinking a slow down has "gotta be" around the corner. Hopefully I'm just psycho and it keeps up. I could use a rain day or something at this point though. :)View Image
Hey DP, what's a rain day? View Image View Image
A rain day is when you spend all day in the shop, cleaning up after all the rush projects you didn't have time to clean up before.
I need one about now.
we have lots of "rain days" here, but they are no different than any other day. Put on the rain gear and frame away.
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Yeah there's always one "hard guy" with a comment out of the side of his neck about 'rain days'.
But when the forklift is getting stuck in the mud, you can't snap lines, you've got $1500 worth of table saws and miters saw set up, the breakers keep tripping, your tape will no longer retract, and you're trying to do a nice job running 5" crown up a built out rake............ yeah..... we wrap up early sometimes. View Image
I'm with ya', I don't stay out long in that weather. There is always some nagging task or three around the house, or an unclimbed mountain of paperwork to do. My guys are always remodeling their own places. A few times per year we get a few straight days of hard rain and we skip it. Lighter rain comes and goes and we work in it.
Exactly. When I see either quality or production start to slip noticeably... we wrap up. You don't make any money on the guy standing at the temp power pole flipping the breaker back and forth.View Image
"A few times per year we get a few straight days of hard rain"
wow..I recall couple years ago. doing a monster foundation job, we had 7 guys on it for a least a month. rained heavy solid the whole time - not a break once. the one good thing was by time we got up to framing the hand cut roof which was a month on it's own, summer had come and the sun was back. View Image View Image
Man... if I lived in a climate like that I'd either move or change jobs.
yeah it gets depressing at times I'll admit. come summer it's one of the most beautiful places on the planet though. View Image View Image
I wasn't being a smart*** DP
it's different where I live. all the stuff you said about the mud, snapping lines and tripping breakers is true. But here we have no choice during the rainy season which is 8 - 9 months out of the year. for example right now it's pretty much been raining 3 weeks solid. the week before last we lucked out and got 2 clear days to lay a deck down that had to be dry.
we get guys from back east or where ever, that come here and think it's time to wrap up when the rain starts. they just get laughed at when they don't have any rain gear, and ask what about the saws gettting wet. If I went to Boston, I would probably get called an idiot for working in the rain, and would most likely adapt to your "rain days".
snapping lines is no doubt one of the most anoying things to tackle in the rain. all one can do is pull a string and mark every 16" or so with a pencil.
sometimes like you, if it's been dry all day, and 1/2 hour before quitting it starts to pour, then we call it a good time to wrap up. or if the rain starts coming down heavy and it's close enough to lunch, we take a break, hoping the worst will blow over.
it's a different way of life here, you get used to the rain, appreciate that everything is so green, and enjoy the summers while they last.
PS....Go BoSox
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Edited 10/21/2007 2:26 pm by alrightythen
I don't do much framing anymore, tho I do still work outside doing repairs and trim.
I try to manage it so I'm inside when it's wet, and outside when it's not.
That doesn't always work out well, tho LOL. Especially when I take the weatherman's word on how conditions will be.
Same one I have probably, with the gear drive.Andy
"Never try to teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and annoys the pig." Robert A. Heinlein (or maybe Mark Twain)
"Get off your dead #### and on your dying feet." Mom
"Everything not forbidden is compulsory." T.H. White, The Book of Merlin
I bought a Tajima, with high hopes. It's OK but the rewind action is rough and it currently resides in my helper's bags. At the moment I'm using a Fat Max Extreme and it's a pretty good tool. I wish there was a real A+ chalkline out there but I haven't found it.
I also bought a Tajima with high hopes due to all the praise they receive here. Well, same issue - rough rewind. I can live with that, and the fact that I had to learn to draw a little longer line as the hook hides the mark more than my old Irwins. The part I have real trouble with is that the cap has a nasty habit of coming off in my pouch. Reach down for a tool and get a blue hand. Never had that problem with the Irwins either.
I have the red Tajima. Don't know if I just got a lemon or what, but, the cap issues sucks.
Do you have the "Ultra Thin Line?" I do, and I have pretty much no cap issue and I never had a problem with the rewind.
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No, I have the red one.
FWIW I've owned four (if my memory serves me) of the Tajima chalk lines. Three were perfect, but the one I've got now has the clunky rewind issue. Haven't had one where the top comes off though. I think you got a clunker Shoe.View Image
Good to see you Brian. Understand you have been busy, thats good. Here is hoping you get the rain day you want. I know you like to have time to maintain your tools.
Yeah, I kinda figured I got a clunker - based on some of the people here that have given the great reviews. It would have gone back to the store right after I tried it had I bought local rather than Amazon. Oh, well - suppose I will put the line in one of my old boxes and chuck the case.
FYI the rewind on mine got better with use, but, the cap issue was a deal killer - gave it three strikes even.
I have a metal bodied Malco, and it does the job. The handle has a positive locking mechanisim that can come in handy when used as a plumb bob. I don't know if they make their own or if it a rebadged item.
I've had the plastic bodied Irwin style, and it works ok. The chalk fill slot worked its way open, and that was irritating.
After the Irwin incident, I decided to try the Tajima chalk lines based on positive feedback from this forum. I was disappointed to learn they are made in China. I have both the "regular" and "fine line" version. The tajima chalk is less chunky out of the bottle than the Irwin stuff I had, and the Tajima line is much crisper (I'm sure that Tajima replacement line in any chalkline will yield similar results). I have had no issues with the geared rewind or caps coming off.