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An old foreman told me I was bending pipe too slow. That changed everything.
He showed me a simple hand trick for 90s with the bender (using my knee for leverage) and I cut my time by about 40%. Anyone else pick up a weird tip from a grumpy veteran that totally stuck?
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lucas_grant833mo ago
Learned that same knee trick from an old timer back in my early days... changed my whole game too. He called it "working smarter not harder" and he was dead right. The thing that really stuck with me was his way of marking pipe lengths with just a sharpie line instead of measuring twice. Saved me so much time over the years, plus it made my bends more consistent. Funny how the grumpy guys usually have the best advice if you just shut up and watch them work.
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karenlane3mo ago
Oh wow, I gotta push back a little on the sharpie line tip though! @lucas_grant83 I actually tried that method and it cost me a whole afternoon of rework because the marker smudged off when I was bending. The old timer I learned from swore by using a little piece of tape instead, just a tiny wrap of electrical tape right where you need the bend. It stays put through the whole process and you can peel it off clean when you're done. Plus if you're working with copper or black pipe, that sharpie line disappears the second you hit it with flux or oil. But you're totally right about the grumpy guys being goldmines of info. I had one foreman who never said two words unless he was barking at someone, but I caught him one day using his fingernail to score a tiny mark instead of any tool, and I've done it ever since.
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