Watching old timers set up their jacks at Burns Harbor back in 08

I was on a job at Burns Harbor back in 2008. This one old boilermaker, must have been pushing 70, walked over to the tube bundle we were about to pull. He set his jacks by feel, no level, no nothing. I thought no way that holds. But he had it dead perfect. These days I see guys spending 20 minutes with a laser level on the same setup. I wonder if we lost some of that instinct or just traded it for accuracy. Any of you find yourself skipping the laser and just going by eye still?

2 comments

2 Comments

benb2122d ago

Man, I feel you on this. That old timer knew his stuff by feel and experience, not by gadgets. I still skip the laser half the time on simple setups. You just get a sense for it after enough years in the field. These young guys lean too hard on the tools and don't trust their own eyes. It's not that we lost the instinct, it's that nobody lets themselves learn it anymore. But don't get me wrong, I still grab the laser for tricky angles.

spencer40722d ago

Totally agree. I had a similar moment working a condenser retube years back. Old foreman told me to just walk the jacks in by feel, no level at all. I was sure I'd mess it up but after the first few bundles came out clean I never looked back. Now I can set a straight pull by how the jack head sits and how the chain tauts up. The time you save not fiddling with that laser on a simple job really adds up. I still grab my level for anything with an off angle but for a standard pull my hands tell me more than a light beam ever could.