RISING HIGH ABOVE THE REST

 by Marty Rice

They’d been driving non-stop for over 15 hours. Mick drove first, then Harry, now Mick was back at the wheel while Harry was sprawled out in the backseat of the pickup. He was in that half-dream, half-awake state.  All of the sudden Harry felt like he was heading straight down into who knows where. He looked up and noticed the truck was going downhill. There was a huge dam holding back a big mass of water, and it seemed they were in some mountains. 

“Damn!” Harry exclaimed. 

“Yep, it’s a dam.” Mick looked out and remembered the first time he saw this beautiful sight.  It was as a child in the backseat of a 1957 Chevrolet.  And the roads weren’t half as good either.

 “No, I didn’t mean dam, I meant DAMN!” 

“Whaddya’ mean you didn’t mean dam, you meant dam?” Mick asked with obvious delight. 

“I said “damn”, because there is a dam there!” 

“You know Harry, you must be the brightest scholar on earth!  Next you’ll say “lake” because there’s a lake there!”

“That’s it!” Harry hollered disgustedly, “I ain’t talking to you no more. But before I quit, I wanta’ know why we are at a dam.”

Harry had made the drive to L.A. before but didn’t remember any dams along the way.  Mick had cut up to Hoover Dam on the way to Las Vegas.  “I took a vote while you were asleep Harry.  It was one to nothing to go to Vegas.” 

“You had me drag up all in a big hurry to get to Los Angeles.  No time to eat in a nice restaurant, just fast food and potato chips. No time for a quick beer to tell the other hands ’bye.  Heck, you won’t even let me stretch my legs for more than a few minutes, but now we have time to go to Vegas???” 

“I heard Buford Wheeler is running a job there.  I figured we’d hire on with him a while and maybe play the tables with some of your money.” Mick adjusted the mirror so he could fully appreciate the exasperated look on Harry’s face. 

“Heck, why didn’t you say so?  I’d work for that ol’ ironhead anytime.  And whaddya’ mean MY money???!!! 

Word had it that Buford was either Job Superintendent* or General Foreman* on a high-rise hotel going up.  Mick and Harry had worked on a lot of jobs with him and appreciated his honor and character.  He was a good guy.

Mick reflected back to a factory where they were welding stainless steel next to a 1700 degree blast furnace.  That was one hot job!  He’d weld for only a few minutes before having to head to the water barrel while Harry would step in.  They took turns doing that for two weeks.  Both of them had lost considerable weight; you just didn’t have much of an appetite after a day like that.  And Mick had gotten a heat rash that lasted for weeks after the work. Still, as funny as it sounded, he enjoyed the heck out of that job.  Struck up a friendship with a Boiler Maker there who was funnier than a standup comic. That’s one of the things he liked about the field, the characters he met.  Doesn’t take long to develop a friendship when you’re working side by side in conditions like those. 

“And guess what Harry? I found all this out from a guy on the phone while you were sawing logs.  And by the way, your snoring is worse than fingernails on a chalkboard!”

“We know someone working there?” Harry was wide awake now, but still shaking off the fog that comes with trying to sleep on the road.

“Yep, and he said when he sees you he’s going to give you a nice slap upside the head!”

“BILL!!! OH NO! Don’t tell me I’m gonna’ have to listen to you and him both!” 

Mick noticed the smile on Harry’s face. It was going to be good; the three of  ‘em back together again.  It’d been too long.

THE STRUCTURAL IRON WORKING TRADE

The Iron Working Trade has a unique vocabulary.  If you are just entering this trade, it will be helpful to know some of the terms that are used daily on the work site.  On the big jobs there is a * Job Superintendent who is in charge of all the trades and just about everything happening on the structural iron working job.  Then you have your * General Foreman (Superintendent / Super) in charge of the different gangs, who can make a good job bad… or a bad job good.  A good leader knows how to manage the work site and treat the hands.  Just as it’s important to make a good hand, it’s also important to be a good boss.  If you aren’t, the good hands aren’t going to work for you, especially when work is good and the jobs are plentiful.  Plus, they may be your boss on the next job!

That’s what makes the Iron Working Trade one of the best trades out there when it comes to freedom.  When work is good, you can drag up one job and be working on another the next day. (Or you can give yourself a well-deserved vacation!)

On a structural iron job there are different gangs. Each gang has a pusher (foreman) who answers to the General Foreman.  A good general foreman/superintendent will make sure the workers get the tools and equipment they need, and make sure the working conditions are the best and safest possible.

Raising Gang

The raising gang is in charge of shaking out the steel, hooking on, and connecting.  Shaking out means unloading the beams and columns off the trucks.  This has to be done in the proper sequence so that each piece can be easily retrieved as quickly as possible.  Once erection starts, time is money, and there is no time to be searching for a piece of steel while two or three connectors are up in the air waiting.   The steel also has to be put on dunnage (blocks of wood the steel sits on to keep it out of mud or snow).  If it’s a multi-story job, the steel is put on the floor closest to the derrick as the building goes up.

After the steel is shook out, erection starts.  The hook on man stays on the ground and does just what the job says – he hooks steel onto the crane.  A good  hook on man will know where the next piece is, where to hook the choker on the beam so it is balanced, and whether it will need a rope on one end to keep it from spinning around in the wind.

The connectors climb and crawl around up in the air.  They are the elite of the trade.  They climb up, around, into, and onto the top of a column and connect the beams, braces etc.  They go places the average person will not go.  I’ve heard a lot of people tell me they “wouldn’t be afraid to work up high.”  (I notice they are always telling me that with their feet planted firmly on the ground… many times with a beer in their hand!)

After connecting the steel, they walk out and cut-loose, or unhook the choker so the crane or derrick can go back for another structural member.  Watching them is like watching a high wire act; they are graceful and highly skilled at what they do.  They have to be because up in the air there isn’t any room for mistakes.  Most of the time, one mistake will be the last you ever make.  Connectors will put in a couple of bolts, and then be off to the next connection.  The bolt up gang will come and add the remaining bolts.

Plumbing / Bolt Up Gang

This gang makes sure beams and columns are plumb (vertically straight) and level before adding the remaining bolts and tightening them.  It’s a lot of hard work.  The bolt up gang does this by using wire ropes and shackles to pull the columns plumb.  If all the columns aren’t plumbed the building will lean like the Tower of Pisa. 

After the bolts are added, they will be tightened (rattled up).  This is done with a pneumatic impact wrench (Yo-Yo) that feels like it weighs about a ton when you are hanging off a beam using it.  It’s loud, hard work because you have to hold the heavy wrench with its hose.  There’s a safety rope on it to tie it off, making sure it won’t fall if you lose your grip. 

Welding Gang

Only the jobs with a lot of welding to be completed will have a gang fully devoted to welding.  Many times out in the field you will find yourself doing all kinds of different jobs even if your primary job is welding.  That’s why it’s important to learn all you can about whatever field you choose. 

Some jobs require welding at every structural connection, or have huge spans of welding to be done on seams, or column splices where two columns come together.  Structural columns are usually very thick steel with wide groove openings.  There needs to be two welders welding at the same time on opposite sides of the column. If just one side at a time were welded, the column could draw out of plumb because of the heat.  Jobs like these need many welders because of the time involved on each column, or the many points or seams to be welded. 

Miscellaneous Gang

This is the gravy train.  The miscellaneous gang is responsible for all the last finish-up work.  It might be fixing a window frame, putting a beam in an elevator shaft, welding braces, or any number of jobs it takes to finish the steel erection.  Although most of the jobs are easy, there still can be some pretty rough and dangerous ones, such as finishing the elevator beams.  You might find yourself hanging in a basket in a 30-story elevator shaft with nothing but darkness below.  That is not part of the “gravy” of finish work! 

Check out http://www.bls.gov/oco/home.htm in the Occupational Outlook Handbook for insights into some of the welding trade unions such as:  Boiler Maker, Iron Worker, Pipe Fitter, Pipe Liner, & Sheet Metal Worker.