I never gave much thought to work gloves. They were just another part of my work... More
Getting framers to tool-test wormdrive saws is like convincing kids to eat ice... More
Years ago I'd routinely build houses that didn't have any metal connectors in them... More
Rookie framers always get stuck with the worst work, like cutting out doorplates and knocking down braces. They also get stuck doing work that's just plain miserable, like nailing off joist hangers. Anyone who's ever been sent into the dungeon to back-nail hangers knows what I'm talking about: trying to drive tiny nails in a confined space over your head. Pneumatic nailer manufacturers, however, seem to have heard our prayers (and curses), and are building tools that make the task of installing framing hardware faster and easier. More
I spent most of my career framing with solid-sawn lumber before the more stable, denser, and stronger engineered stuff started sliding off the truck. Now, my company, Framing Square in Albuquerque, N.M., works with engineered products all the time–laminated strand lumber (LSL), laminated veneer lumber (LVL), parallel strand lumber (PSL), and oriented strand board (OSB) to name a few. And sometimes we run into a problem working with them: Our air tools can't sink 12d nails in the tough stuff. I didn't spend big bucks on compressors and nailers so that my guys and I would be out there swinging our hammers, too. More
When the Ridgid R84040 18-volt adhesive/caulk gun arrived at the office, my crew... More
On one recent project the architect and engineer wrangled about a suitable... More
As a production framer building large-scale projects, I could probably measure the... More
Four new nailers make it faster and easier to install joist hangers and other framing hardware. More
