Appreciation post: the old boilermaker who taught me about tube rolling in Oklahoma City

I was out on a job at a power plant just outside OKC last fall, this older guy maybe 68 years old was working next to me on a condenser retube. He overheard me fussing about a tight fit on some of the tubes and he just laughed and showed me this trick with a simple drift pin and a ball peen hammer. He said "son your fancy expanding tools ain't worth a damn if you don't understand how the metal moves." We spent the whole lunch break talking about how he started in the trade back in 1976 when everything was done by hand with templates. No power tools, no laser guides, just feel and experience. He showed me how to read the grain on a tube sheet to avoid cracking and I swear I haven't had a bad fit since. But man it got me thinking about all the knowledge that's gonna walk out the door when guys like him retire. Anyone else run into an old timer who saved you hours on a job?

2 comments

2 Comments

shane_nguyen13d ago

Yeah, everyone's got some hack that'll be gone when they clock out for good.

william40713d ago

Why do we have to treat every old timer like some kind of folk hero? That guy was probably just bored and wanted someone to complain to about how things were better in his day. If his methods were so perfect we'd still be using hand tools and templates in 2024 instead of power tools that actually save time.