Tag: building-trades

The Aviator Of Evendale

September 1st, 2025

It was December and I was working inside for a change. We had working toilets, a break room and my Journeyman’s name was Tim. Tim had a grey beard, wore bibs, and always had something interesting to say. He was the kind of old timer that sat on his tailgate at the end of the day to change out of his weathered boots. This was a trick I would appreciate later in life but as a young 20-year-old, I poked fun at him. I would always tell him “See you tomorrow, Tim.” He would correct me, “Just say see you around. You never know if you might need to take off tomorrow or maybe just quit.” Tim would laugh and leave me wondering if he really intended to quit but he never did.

My foreman and the rest of the crew just tolerated being around Tim. They thought he talked too much and maybe he did. Looking back, I think they were envious of a man that had so much freedom. Tim was a hobbyist mechanic, he flew remote control airplanes, and he didn’t mind being off a few months in the winter to tinker around in his heated garage. As for the rest of the guys in our crew, they were married to their jobs and felt a great importance to stay with one contractor. Tim would say staying with one company might be nice, but often you could get pigeon-holed. Tim was one of the many journeymen that taught me there are endless opportunities to further your education in this field. Stay in one place if you like but the moment you feel stagnant, it’s time to move on.

Tim did talk a lot about the things he knew. He was a WW2 history buff, and he liked his muscle cars. He talked about jobs he worked on and about his family. Like I said before, Tim enjoyed his remote-control planes and used to fly them at Lunken Airport once every couple of weeks. Tim told me more about his life than most journeymen I worked for. I’ve always felt respect is a two-way street. I was polite when he told his stories, and he was patient with me when he taught me the trade.

It was Thursday morning, and tomorrow was Christmas Eve. Tim was listing some random facts of World War 2 as I was on the struggle bus and not really listening. I was trying to fish a half inch flex down the wall for a receptacle. “How’s it going Jimmy?” Tim could see I was getting frustrated. “Sometimes you have to whirry it in.”

I quickly looked down at Tim from my ladder, “Are you saying worry?”

Tim chuckled, “No, it’s whir-eee. One of my mechanic friends used to say that, I figure it’s kind of like a wiggle with a slightly different rotation.”

We were both laughing now as I finally got the flex down the wall. “What do you have for me next?” I had some hand tools in my back pocket, tape measure clipped to my belt and I was ready for my next task. Tim was on his ladder, taking measurements and doing some figuring in his head, “I need you to bend a stub ninety with a 24-inch back-to-back ninety. Let’s see if you can bend it all on one full stick of 3/4 inch conduit. “

I nodded as I took out my tape measure. I marked up my conduit and grabbed a 3/4 hand bender. “Here goes nothing.” I placed the pipe in the bender and went to work. I took great care to make sure all my nineties were true and square, double-checking it all with my level. It all looked good except my back-to-back was about an inch short. I shook my head as Tim asked what was wrong. “The back-to-back is short by an inch so I guess I have to cut it and start over.”

Tim came off his ladder, “You don’t have to do all that.” he grabbed the pipe and the bender from me as he explained how to fix it. “You are a very respectful apprentice, and I know you really care about the trade, that’s why I want to show you this trick. ” I watched him as he put the pipe back in the bender. “You see Jimmy, conduit bending is a dying art. I only show my best tricks to the ones I think really care and I feel it is important to pass this down to guys that want keep this skill alive. ” Tim reworked the conduit a little and believe it or not, the back-to-back was an inch longer. I was amazed and now, I too knew the trick. Tim did tell me that if it was more than an inch short, it couldn’t be fixed. He said this was taught to him on rigid conduit and it was a way to save on material.

After that, I felt like I was part of, “The Few” that knew that trick and I was honored that Tim taught me. “Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, are you coming in for a half day?”

Tim nodded his head, “You bet I’ll be here Jimmy. Christmas Eve is the easiest day of the year and the only day we get paid a full 8 hours for showing up.” We had packed up our tools and we were heading to the parking lot.

It was Christmas Eve morning and all I could think about was the family parties I would be going to with my wife later that day. I opened the gang box and started bringing out the tools. We were all there but honestly, we milled around a bit and listened to our journeymen tell stories. Around quarter till nine we sent a first year to pick up biscuits and gravy from Cracker Barrell that was down the road. This was the best Christmas Eve at work I can remember. After we ate breakfast, Tim got up and asked if I was ready to get back to it. Tim had a surprise for the whole crew, and we knew something was up by the big smile on his face. I noticed this big cardboard box he had brought in and now was reaching inside.

“Are you guys ready for this? ” Tim asked. Tim was like a kid in the candy store as he brought out one of his remote-control airplanes. It took him a little to get it started but then Tim was flying this plane all through the building.

I was in awe but also a little concerned, ” You might get in trouble for having this here Tim.”

The plane whizzed by my head, “Nah! Look around Jimmy. Construction workers are the only ones here today. Just enjoy the show.”

Tim did put on a great show that day, keeping everyone entertained. Tim asked me to come out to Lunken airport in the spring but unfortunately, I never did. I couldn’t afford a remote-control plane on apprentice wages and I felt embarrassed to show up empty handed. Looking back on this I realize I should have just showed up. I did however work with Tim again after I topped out (became a journeyman), on a casino job. We got to catch up and working around him was like old times. I didn’t put myself out there enough when I was younger, so in recent years I’ve tried to be better about that. My goal is to be a journeyman just like Tim and a few others that had impact on my life. In fact, I write my blog to ensure their stories live on.

I’ll see you on the next one
Welcome New Apprentices

August 19th, 2025

So now you made it in the apprenticeship. Congratulations! Now the real fun begins. First off There’s a tool list you must have when you show up on your first day of the job. Tools are expensive. It is a real hardship to get all of them. Some guys might cut you some slack the first few months. On my first job I showed up with a complete tool list from Harbor Freight that went over like a led ballon. For those of you not familiar Harbor Freight is fine for home use but definitely not proffesional level. However, it was all I could afford at the time and I was proud that I could get all the tools on the list. My pride was incredibly short lived. Electricians use their linesmen pliers for everything, and I pull out my 6 inch handled orange pliers. “Is that your wife’s pliers you have there, Jimmy?” Tim was just giving me a hard time, of course, but he did say I should replace those first. He explained to me when I cut through live wires, I’m going to want something that is double insulated. Tim flipped his pliers in the air, caught them, and put them in his back pocket. Tim also explained to me that for cutting bigger wire, it’s important that I had some heavy-duty pliers.

Early on in my career I cut a hot wire and blew a hole in my pliers. I didn’t get hurt but it wouldn’t have happened if the head of the pliers wasn’t touching the metal box the wire was in. This leads into my next piece of advice. Always check to see if the circuit is off. If you are working somewhere, like a hospital, where you can’t turn off the circuit cut the wires one at a time. There are two types of electricians, the old and the bold. The old electricians live a long life and enjoy their pensions. The bold ones, well, you get the idea.

There are so many obstacles to overcome your first year. Construction workers don’t like working in the heat, so we start early and that might be a challenge to all you newcomers. The internet will tell you that waking up at 4 A.M. will make you more successful. Don’t believe everything on the internet, but I did alright joining the union. We don’t have running water, and we get dirty. Drywall dust, cutting oil and dust from drilling into concrete are just a few things we deal with on the daily. Some contractors provide gloves, wear them, they will protect your hands and keep them cleaner. We climb ladders and we do a lot of heavy lifting. Electricians can work in great heights and sometimes in confined spaces; I have done both. These are a few things to consider before joining the trade.

Any skilled trade is not only physical, but you will need to be book smart as well. You will have to have a good understanding of math and science. You will learn how to read prints and symbols and what they stand for. Learning how to read a code book will get you far in this trade. Believe it or not, it will be good to have some people skills as well. Out in the field a good dirty joke works for Ray and Tom but not for Dick and Harry who are the customers.

You might think you are taking break when everyone else does, but occasionally and without warning, here comes a full stake bed truck full of material. Today it looks like 500 feet of 3/4 conduit, 200 feet of 1 inch conduit, boxes of hardware and large spools of wire. On every job I’ve ever been on, the material trucks show up at break, lunch or the end of the day. Bundles of pipe and spools of wire can be heavy but there will be other apprentices helping to unload the truck. If a fellow apprentice challenges you to carry more than one bundle of conduit at a time, do not except this challenge. You have a long career ahead of you and a broken-down Journeyman holds no value.

Four years of trade school will teach you so much, but you learn how to be a mechanic on the job. I tell my apprentices to take something you learned on this job to the next one. There’s such a broad spectrum of what an electrician can do that is possible to say we learn something new every day. There’s Lighting, power and distribution, motor controls and fire alarm to name just a few. Get through the apprenticeship and then find a niche. Construction is temporary but any certification you have makes you more employable. Stay healthy, stay sharp and don’t be afraid to ask questions, even after you become a journeyman. I hope this all helps.

I’ll see you on the next one.

Tag: building-trades

The Aviator Of Evendale

Welcome New Apprentices