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IRON
WORKERS SAGA II
HANGING STEEL AND TOPPING OUT
By
Marty Rice
Welding Instructor
Dale Jackson Career Center
Lewisville, Texas
Iron
Workers Local #263
When
John walked up, Mick could see the resemblance to his younger
brother.
Mick had worked with John’s brother Mark connecting,
and welding, on quite a few jobs over the last year.
A lot of those jobs had been pretty dang scary, putting
up and taking down tower cranes, outside elevators and the like.
The pay was good, $2 bucks over scale, plus they worked
Saturdays and Sundays drawing time-and-a-half, and double-time.
Good money, but a lousy social life!
Mark
had kept Mick laughing with his crazy, dry sense of humor, and
he hoped his brother was the same.
He’d soon enough find out. They were to start hanging
steel on an elevator, so welding machines could be moved from
floor to floor without tying up the crane.
Once the job gets pretty well topped out [see note] the
general contractor gets stingy with the crane.
Never
mind that the Iron Workers hung all that steel in record time
with no accidents. That’s good for an ’attaboy, but then
it’s time to finish out the building.
There isn’t time to use a crane costing thousands a day
for every little pick.
Time is money, and there is nowhere that this is truer
than on a construction job.
So,
up with the elevator so all the other crafts and materials could
finish out the steel skeleton.
Other crafts don’t cotton to the idea of climbing up
columns and walking beams -- they want an elevator and a floor.
So the Iron Workers hang outside elevators, stairwells,
ladders, and throw down decking so concrete floors can be
poured.
It never ceased to amaze Mick how different a building
started to look after the steel was hung. It would transform
right before his eyes. And man oh man, seeing a building after
it was finished always blew his mind.
Didn’t look anything like what it started out to be!
You’d
be amazed how many people have lost their lives, or been badly
hurt building structures in this country.
Mick would often think about a fallen comrade whenever he
passed an office tower or factory.
“What
the hell are you doing over there, man?
You having a nice daydream?”
Mick snapped out of his daze and saw John looking at him
in disgust.
“I thought Mark said you were a good hand, and here you
are standing there looking over the horizon while I punk these
braces!”
(Punking is slang for carrying, dragging, lifting, etc.
all kinds of HEAVY equipment, or materials.) Mick realized he
had drifted off as he looked off of the 30th floor.
It’s very easy to do given the view from that high,
especially on a nice day.
“Sorry
buddy, guess I was reminiscing.” Mick replied.
“With
who?
Yourself?
Man, now I see why you and Mark got along so good.
You’re both crazy!”
Yep,
Mick knew he was going to like John.
They had a lot in common already. Both had been in the
service at the end of the Viet Nam war, had traveled all over,
and were a far piece from ever settling down.
After only a couple of days together, they would become a
team.
It’s like that in the service, and it’s like that in
construction.
You meet people unlike any others in ordinary life.
And it doesn’t take long to get close as friends.
After all, you are doing things together that could
literally get you or someone else maimed or killed.
Common bonds are formed when one works under those
conditions.
And
of course many a construction worker has worked together, hit
the night scene together, and then even shared the same hotel
room or trailer together on a job far from home.
Now that’s when you will find out just how good your
friendship is…because looking at each other’s ugly mugs that
much can be bad!
It wasn’t for Mick, he’d pay the extra bucks for a
hotel room by himself anytime!
Note:
Topping
out is when the highest beam is hung in place.
It is a tradition that goes back hundreds of years to
Europe.
Pine trees would be placed on the top of a finished
structure.
Therefore you may see a building’s highest beam with a
Christmas tree and an American flag flying high.
This
is a big deal to us in the Iron Workers union.
We all sign the last beam and used to we had a big party
on that day.
There was food and drink and everyone got off early.
The parties kind of slowed down or stopped all together
after too many drank too much and bad things happened. (i.e.
fights, gunplay etc.)
I remember a priest bringing us cases of beer as we all
rejoiced together at the completion of his new chapel!
Another
memory is of a building at an “unnamed” southern university
where some bigwig didn’t like us signing the beam, nor it
being painted red, white, and blue.
A fresh coat of paint was applied before it was hung!
(Then we promptly put our names back on the beam once it
was in place!)
Topping
out is a feeling of accomplishment for a job well done. It is
especially meaningful now after 9/11.
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