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You know you are mason when...

17K views 126 replies 30 participants last post by  TheItalian204 
#1 · (Edited)
I figured we needed one of those :D...


so You know you are mason/bricklayer when...

Every stucco,brick and stone house you drive by gets at least a glance before you drive off.

You wake up in the morning with numb hand and go to sleep with sore knees.

You never diminish other trades but deep inside you know they got it easy.

Most likely will scrap almost every piece of wood you have to cut.

You complain about prices on portland for two and half hours,and they should never get you started on prices on brick

Your foreman used to say: My daughter can do more than you did (and you think that must be one hell of a mutant daughter)

standing on 35 feet scaffolding in the dark while your help is holding the spotlight so you can finish the wall,thinking that they dont teach that in the apprenticeship program

You shiver in disgust when someone inquires about cultured stone but shiver of pleasure when you are paid big bucks for it.

You can eyeball the slope without whipping out the level or string line.

You might have heard this when you were just starting: "When I wasa like you,I can putta 1500 bricks aday."

In the end you still enjoy that you are probably only trade HO does not have DIY seminars about.
 
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#39 ·
masons

When you remember paying 58$ per M for brick delivered in a dump truck. Then some one invented a BOOM TRK and banding and you thought the 72$ per M price was highway robbery. When the only way to cut a hole in a flue tile was to pack it tight with sand and chip away with a brick hamer. (you made sure to always keep it sharp)
 
#61 ·
When you remember paying 58$ per M for brick delivered in a dump truck. Then some one invented a BOOM TRK and banding and you thought the 72$ per M price was highway robbery. When the only way to cut a hole in a flue tile was to pack it tight with sand and chip away with a brick hamer. (you made sure to always keep it sharp)
Brings back good memories. I'm not really that old I guess, but i can remember, as a young kid, one of the "old-timer" boom truck drivers always rode the forks in and out of the basement excavation every time he unloaded. OSHA would have a heart attack if they witnessed that today.......:laughing:
 
#43 ·
bets

When you pull out your MARSHALL TOWN 33/13 on the jobsite and all the young bucks working for you ask hey boss what do you want to do break your wrist? You tell them you can spread enough mud with one trowel full to lay 12 bricks! You state you will cover any and all bets. You make it clear several times that it is just for the bed joints. The head joints can come from the mud board. They all agree thats more then fair. The money flies out on the scaffold, even the tenders get in on the action. There is probably 500$ bet. You temper your mud just perfectly,cut it from the pile,roll it to the edge,pick it up,set it and spread the most perfect 31 inch spread in a while. Every one starts to reach for the money. You say not so fast boys----- as you start to lay all the bricks as soldiers! Of course you do not keep the guys money. Instead,you give a tender 50$ and send him off to Mcdonalds for breakfast sandwiches an coffee.
 
#45 ·
masons

One day about the time you were thinking about hanging up your trowel,the phone rings. The guy on the other end states he is wanting to have his house built of stone.He says he just read your newly finished book on stone masonry and you are the guy to build it. You try everything to bow out,he pleads with you and addresses each and every one of your objections. Because your hearing is not what it was ,you think he is Lipton the tea manate. His pleading wins out. You pack your ditty bag,off you go to the West Indies. Three years ,over 2000 tons of rock and 64 arches later the walls are nearing completion. Close to the top of the last wall the guy shows up (one of several site visits) He says he wants to put in a few rocks,so he feels more a part then the guy with the check book. You say o.k. i will get you a trowel. As you are climbing back up the scaffold you reconsider. You say,i won't let you .Your fingers are to valuable. I will lay them ,you pick them. The guy thanks you for helping you save him from himself. You found out about a year into the job he is not Lipton the tea guy,but Eric Clapton the guitar guy ( even though you never heard of him) This is how Eric CLAPTON got his rock house in the West Indies and my friend Ian Cramb was talked into building it.
 
#46 ·
One day about the time you were thinking about hanging up your trowel,the phone rings. The guy on the other end states he is wanting to have his house built of stone.He says he just read your newly finished book on stone masonry and you are the guy to build it. You try everything to bow out,he pleads with you and addresses each and every one of your objections. Because your hearing is not what it was ,you think he is Lipton the tea manate. His pleading wins out. You pack your ditty bag,off you go to the West Indies. Three years ,over 2000 tons of rock and 64 arches later the walls are nearing completion. Close to the top of the last wall the guy shows up (one of several site visits) He says he wants to put in a few rocks,so he feels more a part then the guy with the check book. You say o.k. i will get you a trowel. As you are climbing back up the scaffold you reconsider. You say,i won't let you .Your fingers are to valuable. I will lay them ,you pick them. The guy thanks you for helping you save him from himself. You found out about a year into the job he is not Lipton the tea guy,but Eric Clapton the guitar guy ( even though you never heard of him) This is how Eric CLAPTON got his rock house in the West Indies and my friend Ian Cramb was talked into building it.
great story
 
#47 ·
masons

After a good number of years in the trade (about 10) i feel ready to take the city mason crontractors exam for a major mid-west city ,that takes masonry very seriously and has some of the most stringent building codes anywhere. After paying the 500$ for the "privlige" of sitting in on the test myself and 16 other guys stick our toes into the acid bath. A month later i get a letter saying i passed. Come on so and so bring another 100$ and you will get your first years license. On said day i 'am standing at the counter in building dept. The only guy i see is a chinese guy who was there on test day. I pay the clerk get signed up. She says the building commissioner wants to speak with me.I go see him. He shakes my hand and hands me a certificate. I got the highest score in the previous 5036 guys that took it before me.100% on masonry 99% on concrete. I ask him where are the rest of the guys including the GC who flew in from boston with his super cause he was awarded a 10 million$ job and he had no mason license. He said they all flunked it.
 
#48 · (Edited)
masons

This happened to a old friend of mine many years ago.First day on job boss is gone for day Shows up at quitting time.Building 12 in. all brick foundation for frame farm house in deep south. Boss asks who was working here,as he points to my friends portion of wall. Friend answers sheepishly----- i was boss. The boss proceeds to tear into rest of crew .Look here 3rd yr. apprentice and the back side of his wall looks better then the front side of yours. Taylor is gone now,i sure miss him,great guy,great mason.
 
#50 ·
masons

When you pull the rug out from underneath the timber framers when they tout the merits of frame construction by asking. What buildings do we build to educate our children? (schools) What kind of buildings do we use to store our money?(banks) What kind of buildings do we build to heal our sick?(hospitals) What kind of buildings do we build to warehouse our dangerous criminals?(prison) What is the main material we use to worship in? Then ask them why would you settle for anything less then a masonry building for your own home?
 
#55 ·
stonecutter said:
.... a good portion of your tools are older than anyone on the jobsite.
We had a mason who last year turned 92. He retired this year but that guy was amazing. He is german and helped rebuild germany after the war. The stories this guy had were amazing. His hammer was from the 50s.
 
#67 ·
When you often announce "I think we can get one more course up before the storm comes in" and half way through that course you get dumped on.
 
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