Anyone use a plumb bob for framing? Came across one cleaning out grandpa’s house, figured I’ll try it out. It’s just the bob. I put about 30 ft of string on it….but how/what do you rig it to ??
I didn’t do it….the buck does NOT stop here.
Discussion Forum
Discussion Forum
Up Next
Video Shorts
Featured Story
Join some of the most experienced and recognized building professionals for two days of presentations, panel discussions, networking, and more.
Featured Video
Highlights
"I have learned so much thanks to the searchable articles on the FHB website. I can confidently say that I expect to be a life-long subscriber." - M.K.
Fine Homebuilding Magazine
Fine Home Building
Follow
-
Fine Homebuilding
Dig into cutting-edge approaches and decades of proven solutions with total access to our experts and tradespeople.
Start Free Trial Now -
GBA Prime
Get instant access to the latest developments in green building, research, and reports from the field.
Start Free Trial Now
- Home Group
- Antique Trader
- Arts & Crafts Homes
- Bank Note Reporter
- Cabin Life
- Cuisine at Home
- Fine Gardening
- Fine Woodworking
- Green Building Advisor
- Garden Gate
- Horticulture
- Keep Craft Alive
- Log Home Living
- Military Trader/Vehicles
- Numismatic News
- Numismaster
- Old Cars Weekly
- Old House Journal
- Period Homes
- Popular Woodworking
- Script
- ShopNotes
- Sports Collectors Digest
- Threads
- Timber Home Living
- Traditional Building
- Woodsmith
- World Coin News
- Writer's Digest
Replies
You mean you don't have an Audel's old timey carpentry book? Man, when the revolution comes and you can't get plywood or batteries for your laser level, you're going to be in a world of hurt. :)
http://search.ebay.com/audel-carpentry_W0QQfkrZ1QQfromZR8
So long as it's not windy, a plumb bob is far superior to a level for getting something vertical. Great for transferring a measurement from the ceiling to the floor or vice-versa.
Also really handy when working on an existing structure, like when you want to know how far a chimney may be out of plumb.
Take the string off and replace it with a Gammon Line (braided line that doesn't stretch ).
Want to plumb a tall wall? Add a block to the top plate (perpendicular), with a nail at a measured distance from the egde of the wall. Hang the bob and after the swing stops, measure over to the bottom plate. If the top and bottom are the same , you're plumb.
Need to layout something on a ceiling? Lay it out on the floor and use the bob and string to plumb up to the ceiling.
Slower than a lazer, but you don't have to calibrate it either.
Dave
This one has some sentimental value too. Plumb Brandy I think she's called. There was one I believe without so much stuff on, but didn't see that one at the yard I got this from.
View Image
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
Quittin' Time
There are some crazy a-- plumb-bob collectors out there, too. I was at an auction and could not believe my eyes and ears at the prices some of things went for.
http://www.oldtools.com/collect.html
(only thing I could find in a quick google)
Wow, pricey. Unless I'm confused those prices are from a 'fu-fu' site catering to yuppies who want bragging rights, mantle decorations and office accent pieces. Possibly collectors unwilling to dig. Certainly not people actually intending to use them to build anything.I keep a small plumb bob, brass but nothing special, in my tool box. Laying out light locations on the floor and transferring it to the ceiling with a bob is fast and accurate.Trick I teach my helpers is how to quickly steady the bob by skimming the floor and then lifting it an eighth or so to get it dead on. In electrical work anything +/- a sixteenth is more than good enough. Consistency being more important than absolute measurement. Easy enough to get that working alone. A 'target sheet', a bold 'X' drawn at right angles on a piece of cardboard with a Sharpie with a small hole in the middle that allows location of the finer marks on the floor, placed on the spot makes alignment by eye easy even when looking down from ten feet.
But what do you tie your string to...
I didn't do it....the buck does NOT stop here.
still got my surveyors plumb bob.. 16 oz. for taping and setting up the transit
was never without it until we got our laser.. nice thing about the laser plumb. you can plumb UP.. instead of climbing the ladder and hanging your bobMike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
> was never without it until we got our laser.. nice thing about the
> laser plumb. you can plumb UP.. instead of climbing the ladder and
> hanging your bobTo plumb UP, just use your antigravity plumb bob. (I used to have several, but I kept losing them.)
.Heck If I know....
you're screwed james, the guy doesn't have any pants on. Hope they just give you a temporary sabatical.Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
Quittin' Time
LOL!!Durn!
You're right. And when I was having such a good time,too.Heck If I know....
Flashlight supposedly works for going up--but the beam is pretty wide--hey, why not use a laser?
Jim was sayin.....Wow, pricey. Unless I'm confused those prices are from a 'fu-fu' site catering to yuppies who want bragging rights, mantle decorations and office accent pieces. Possibly collectors unwilling to dig. Certainly not people actually intending to use them to build anything...........................................Hnmmm. sometimes I find out that the more I know, the more I find out what I don't know. at least you know what a plumb-bob is.Eric
in Calgary
I used a plumb bob on my own place, hung it with an adjustable hitch to get it about 1/16" from the floor, and let it swing overnite to settle. Then I slid a card with a big "X" on it under the point and taped it down. It was moderately interesting as an experiment in antique methods, but lasers are just as good and a lot faster and easier.
-- J.S.
you hang a bob with a slip knot and adjust it up or down until it is about an 1/8 " off the surface..
then you form a small triangle with your thumb/forefinger/middle finger to trap the bob until it stops oscillating..
works like a charm unless the wind is blowingMike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
> then you form a small triangle with your thumb/forefinger/middle finger to trap the bob until it stops oscillating..
I tried that, but it still had some wobble and swing to it. So, I left it overnight.
-- J.S.
you're a patient man, john sprung... a patient manMike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
> you're a patient man, john sprung... a patient man
Not really, I had plenty of other stuff to do. I guess with enough practice you develop the skill to stop the plumb bob in exactly the right position. But I didn't have the patience to practice that much.... ;-)
-- J.S.
That's not the half of it, Mike.He did that for every stud and piece of trim in his house...
The person you offend today, may have been your best friend tomorrow It is easy to be friends with someone you always agree with.
> He did that for every stud and piece of trim in his house...
That's not true. I haven't done any of the trim yet. I haven't even finished the rough framing.... ;-)
-- J.S.
I'm a construction psychic.; )
The person you offend today, may have been your best friend tomorrow It is easy to be friends with someone you always agree with.
> I'm a construction psychic.
Now there's a useful trade. Could you hire yourself out to electricians to find buried j-boxes and stuff like that? ;-)
-- J.S.
Only if they consult him before they are installed.
A lot more money in telling contractors when the OSHA inspectors are coming, etc.
Man he is going to be rich.No need for T&M jobs because he nows what it is going to cost. Big call for him to tell contractors which customers are going to be slow paying or just a PITA. Man avoiding those could save a lot of time and money.A really good construction psychic could revolutionize building codes. He could predict which lots are going to get hit by tornadoes, hurricanes and earthquakes. Either build extra strong on those lots or not at all. The unimpacted lots you could eliminate all those extra straps, shear walls and reinforcements.If he could tell which lots would never get burgled you could save money by eliminating locks.Man oh man a construction psychic will be swimming in money. How do I sign up.
I've heard of putting a shallow dish of water or oil for the bob to swing in--slows down the occilations.
Am I the only one who likes to swing a plumb bob around by the string to build up speed, and then let it go so the point sticks into wood?
Add a length of crepe paper and you would have a nice "bull roarer".
I have an old sash window counterweight I use for plumbing up big column forms or glulam columns. It weighs 2 or 3 lbs I would guess. No good for transferring marks down from above but great for the measure-to-the-string method mentioned by other posters. Being so heavy it takes a fair breeze to cause problems, but an easy way to deal with that it to let the bob swing in a bucket of water. It will still find plumb but is less likely to be moved by wind. I've heard old timers talk of using a bucket of oil if things are really difficult but never seen it done. And where would one find a bucket of oil conveniently laying around on site anyway?
For supreme accuracy I plumb the really important columns and walls with a transit. End of story.
Wally
Hang it on a nail.
-zen
Isn't there a special knot to be used to attach the string to the plumb to keep it "centered" on the string. I used to work with an older guy who was very particular about that. He didn't want to be off the width of the string due to the knot being on one side or the other.
Mike L.
Lots of plumb bobs have a screw in the top. You unscrew that put the string through the hole in the screw, then knot it. (Boaters will use a figure-eight, others will just tie a double knot.) The string is necessarily centered in the hole.For bobs with a hoop on top, just tie the string a little loose. It will center fine. Physics at work.The tricky part is at the other end of the string. If you drive a nail and just wrap the string around, then run it off to a second string (or just hold it), the string will be tangential to the nail rather than centered on it. Once again, though, if you tie a loose loop in the string it will center on the nail just fine.
So what do you guys use to carry the string; wrap it around the bob, on a reel?
I didn't do it....the buck does NOT stop here.
Chalk box works very well.
Jon Blakemore
You use a Gammon Reel. It's a retractable plumb bob string.http://clausen.american-data.net/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=CICI&Product_Code=GR-012&Category_Code=GRWe used plumb bobs exclusively for plumbing basement walls when I lived in Colorado. Every pour it was my job to walk around the walls and check the corners for plumb with the bob. With walls from 10 - 20 feet, there isn't really another good method that I know of.It's definitely a pain to use a plumb bob yourself when you have to climb up the form to drive a nail, hang the bob, and read the string to panel measurement. Then you climb down, check it at the bottom, climb back up the form and adjust the brace if necessary. Repeat until perfect. Hopefully you put in a good brace and built the wall plumb to begin with.
For real accuracy, I check my transit first, with a plumb bob.
Dave
How could a transit possibly be more accurate than a string?It seems to me that the string concept is idiot-proof. As long as it's motoinless you know, 100%, that the string is plumb.A transit's vials may be off .01° which could be enough to skew the reading.
Jon Blakemore
A plumb bob level is a handy tool for fixing door frames because if you make it 6'- 7' long it doubles as a straightedge.
You take a straight piece of 1" x 4" and make a line down the center of it. A nail or screw to take the string at the top and at the bottom where the bob will be you make a heart-shaped cut-out.
Add a couple of staples along the line driven part way in and the string is threaded through these -- this helps to damp down the swing.
Someone mentioned using a bucket of oil as a damper -- it used to be common practice on high-rise concrete buildings to have a 56lb sash weight suspended on piano wire -- the weight in a drum of thick oil -- as a vertical reference point all the way up the building for fixing curtain walling, elevator rails, etc.
A plumb bob is one of those tools, like a water-level, that can still be useful -- even in the days of lasers.
IanDG
Thanx for the idea.
I didn't do it....the buck does NOT stop here.
Getting the string motionless is the thing. If it's a tall column - I've done ones 24' high in one pour - then inaccuracies due to wind and motion can be critical. Easy enough to check that a transit or level is reading accurately, and much faster for checking several columns too.
WallyLignum est bonum.
My father is 82. He dropped out of high school and joined the carpenters union. (got his GED later) He was telling me the other day that they used a bucket of water to get the bob to stop swinging more quickly. I suppose that is why they are brass...won't rust, still heavy. he said that they would take a couple of 1x8 planking and nail them edge to edge to make a wind shield for the line. I suppose you could use plywood today.
They're also great for lining up spindles from under the handrail to the treads.
BruceM
Had to frame 25 elevator door openings,5units 5 floors each,all floors 9'1" plus 16" trusses.You do the math.
Company had no laser,partner and I used a heavy straight line and I brought a 10 lb barbell weight from home.
To make a long story boring,I held the string on the 5th fl and my partner measured off the shaft walls in the basement.I adjusted the string on 5 to meet his spot in the basement.We snaped control lines for in and out and center lines for the openings.
Elevator "Guy" said he had no trouble with his installation.
I have used water levels also and they work very well.
But if you get a chance to use a laser, you will never go back.
You guys actually use plumb bob's for plumbing things??!!! Im only able to use them to get a nice breeze going in summer. Wont use them in winter, cant stand the windchill factor!!
m2akita
The other day I got out my PB to center a fixture over a kitchen island. I can't bring myself to buy a $150 plus laser deally to replace a tool that I only use once a month a most.
I pulled the string out of a cheap new chalk box and now use it to wind my PB line.
Some pups were on the job watching me like I was doing witchcraft or something. I told them that it was a cordless lazer. Their foreman got a laugh.
I've never seen a chalk box that wasn't also a plumb bob already...
The person you offend today, may have been your best friend tomorrow It is easy to be friends with someone you always agree with.
I seem to recall a buddy drop the PB pointy tip smack dab in to a granite island top once, trying to plot a new can light. Left a crater 1/4" deep.
Cardboard coulda saved him a lot of $$$
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
"Sell your cleverness, Purchase Bewilderment"...Rumi
Ouch. Yeah, cardboard or a piece of plywood on top of the drop cloth or moving blanket that should've been on that counter before he worked over it.
went to work on one commercial job as a trim carp...
so naturally one week later I'm helping the head maintenence guy frame up a new elevator shaft?
anyways ... they were making the top floor useful office space .... 5 story building ... 100 year old evevator only ran up 4 floors ... we had to make the space for the real elevator guys to come in and install their stuff.
The head building guy was bothering us everyday ... "Gotta be right" ...
"gotta line up" ... "can't be off more than 1/16th" ...
How we gonna do it ... How we gonna do it ....
Both me and his guy said ... Easy ... Plumb bob ... on different occasions.
Hell ... we only had to drop 10 or 12 ft?
So he's all nervous .... calls and bugs the elevator people ... they say they'll send a small crew over to help get us started .... just so everything's right from the beginning.
One elevator guy shows up ... one tool box ... and first thing he pulls out ...
a plumb bob!
guy I was working with turned to his boss and says ...
"Should we ask him for lessons on how to use my F'ing hammer while he's here?"
Jeff Buck Construction
Artistry in Carpentry
Pgh, PA
Tajima makes a reel that combines a magnet, a hook, & a captured pin...'bout the only thing you couldn't attatch it to would be an aluminum sphere...
Having a bob handy beats the heck out of carrying one of those Stabila $$$ plate levels around...
I still have a plumb bob in my tool box and use it regularly, too. I think I have three, in fact, if I count the one in the transit case.
The way you stop the swinging is the same way a crane operator keeps his load from swinging. You watch the swing; when the bob reaches the end of the swing and stops there, you move the top end of the string over it. Everything stops.
It looks like magic but with a very little bit of practice you can get that thing motionless either over a selected spot on the floor or under a selected spot on the ceiling. Having people come over to "help" by trying to hold the plumb bob when I'm trying to stabilize it just slows me down.
Practice this line for when some slack jawed plumber or whatever asks howinell you managed to do that so fast. "Tricks of the trade, son." It has to be delivered in a condescending manner as if you're thinking, "You poor ignorant slob" but you're too polite to say it.
Ron