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Stair gauges

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#21 ·
Ok, as right as you are. In this day and age of framing (especially in our area) we don't frame stairs and a lot of area's don't do hand cut roofs anymore. So the "framers" of the age aren't getting the proper skills. They lift stairs into place and nail them, and they can bang up some simple truss roofs. But other than that they are screwed. I am in no way saying that trusses are an easy way either, cause i have done some truss roofs that were insane, but without my knowledge of hand cutting a roof i wouldn't have caught problems before it was too late.
 
#22 ·
But also, put the shoe on the other foot. If we don't change with the times and play with these gizmo's then we with be left in the dark. Some of these new thing's might even help us. I'm always open for new idea's on faster ways of doing things. Or an easier less time consuming method. Framing by myself i have enough thing's to think about. So if it helps, you can bet your toolbags im gonna try it.
 
#24 ·
Why wouldn't anyone use a build calculator? It's like saying what's the point in these new power tools as my old gut buster drill does the same thing. We have the tech so may as well use it as its never going away. A guy I was working with down at our lake house asked me why I use a calculator when Its easy to do it on a piece of paper. I showed him the info the calculator gives you in less than 5 seconds of data input. He needed 3 stringers calculated and I hade all 3 done before he even got his pad and pencil from his truck. he uses one all the time now. I call BS when guys give it the big one and say I can do it faster than the calculator and it just shows they can't move with the times. It must be great knowing that when we all get teleported back in time that we know how to do things without electronics and electric to help us :laughing:

But this debate has gone on with everything from cars to laser levels. There's always other ways to do things and some make life much easier.
 
#32 ·
BCConstruction said:
Why wouldn't anyone use a build calculator?
Click to expand...
Because in many cases, an experienced carpenter just doesn't need one. Case in point, by the time you get all of your calculated tick marks laid out for that stringer, the old guy has half of his cuts already made using stair gauges (or just the marks on the square). If the rise or run winds up 1" off, big whoop. That's adjustable; it just isn't that critical.

The big trick in all of this stuff is knowing when it matters.
 
#34 · (Edited)
Tinstaafl said:
Because in many cases, an experienced carpenter just doesn't need one. Case in point, by the time you get all of your calculated tick marks laid out for that stringer, the old guy has half of his cuts already made using stair gauges (or just the marks on the square). If the rise or run winds up 1" off, big whoop. That's adjustable; it just isn't that critical.
Click to expand...
I have never needed one until I used one. You can see the stringer and all the dimensions on the fly even before you have laid them out on the stringer. Say you need to adjust the stringer for any number of reason because a conflict in size or placement you can then again do this on the fly and check the complete layout before your pencil even touches the stringer. There's multiple measurements that can be taken from the software that would be a pig to work out unless you layout the risers and treads on the stringer then measure it. No need with build calc just load the advanced setting and check it. Not using a build calc is like not using a laser level because you have a line level.

Just to be clear though I still use my square to layout stringers. The build calc just makes sure I'm 100% accurate and not 95% accurate. You would be surprised at how far out your marks are even though you think they are spot on. Like someone said even the best carpenter can be out a 16th on every mark which is almost an inch on some stringers. I ain't happy when I'm a 16th out at the end of a stringer let alone a inch.
 
#36 ·
I use decimal equivalents without a construction master calculator. A simple calculator will do, but not necessary if you know how to do division and can write with a pencil. If you have your decimal equivalents memorized you're half way there. A calculator is nice for double checking quickly but again not necessary. I have cut hundreds of stairs this way and never varied more than 1/8" on rises, most times they are all equal. Fail safe. The gauges? yeah I use em and lose em too. If you get yourself in a bind take a scrap piece of 1X and cut a slot in it for your square, slip it over your square at your numbers tighten it with a screw or nail and you're good to go
 
#37 ·
i love these debates as trivial as they may seem, until someone mentions another way to do things that some of us have never seen before. That being said, someone needs to take a pic of this 1x and slot method. It's been brought up a few times tonight.
 
Discussion starter · #38 ·
I too have been using those brass stair gauges for many years, I was just curious if there was something else out there to make it easier to be more accurate, I'm getting a little older my eyes aren't near what they used to be. And of coarse I use the construction master calculator, however I got my start in 1983 things were a little more primitive back then, not a lot, but a little. I was taught by an old angry man who was one hell of a carpenter, he took me under his wing I am very privileged to have gotten to learn things the old school ways, form forming the foundation to cutting a conventional roof.
 
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#39 ·
Cumulative marking error can be cut in half by using a framing square and slotted 1X (or clamped). Set it up for marking double the run and rise, then come back with your regular stair gauge setup to fill in the rest.

For best precision, I'll make up a saw guide. You can get these to 1/32" or better, but you have to use a machinist's rule to set it up or something else that has 1/32" markings. Then there is no marking, just align to the previous cut and make the next cuts. Most of the time it isn't needed, but it's very easy to align it precisely.
 
#40 ·
Californiadecks, if you have eased edges that are giving problems with those small guages do as hdavis says and use slotted scrap. Whether you set it for a single unit rise-run or a double is up to you. I have a nice jig like this out of maple with bolts and wing nuts, but it was faster to grab scrap and slot then screw it than to dig it out of the shed.
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