Finally nailed that framing square trick after 4 years of guessing

I was building a deck in my buddy's backyard in Portland last month and kept messing up my rafter cuts. Been doing roofs for 8 years but stairs and decks always trip me up. An old carpenter who was walking his dog stopped and showed me how to use the tongue of the square for the rise and the body for the run. Took about 20 minutes of practice but now I can mark a birdsmouth in under 30 seconds. Anyone else have a tool they thought they knew how to use but really didn't?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_wren21d ago

You seen that trick with a story stick yet?

robertb4721d ago

Whoa yeah, I've used story sticks a bunch and they're AMAZING for layout work. I remember helping a buddy frame out a tiny cabin last summer and we used one for marking the stud spacing on the sill plate. Saved us so much time compared to measuring each spot individually, @the_wren. We just laid the stick against the bottom plate and marked every 16 inches in like 30 seconds. Honestly, I don't know why more people don't try it for simple stuff like that.

williams.jenny21d ago

Did you ever try using a story stick for something like laying out stair stringers? I mean, it sounds weird but I had a old timer show me this trick where you mark the rise and run on a stick and just flip it down the board. I messed it up the first time because I forgot to account for the tread thickness, but once I got it right it was way faster than measuring each step. Maybe it's just me but I think people overthink layout sometimes when a simple stick does the job.