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Veteran told me to use a soapstone on my first boiler tube job and I laughed | Boilermakers - Rigidtalk

Veteran told me to use a soapstone on my first boiler tube job and I laughed

I was 19, fresh into the trade (union hall in Pittsburgh), and this old timer named Red hands me a soapstone. I thought he was messing with me, right? Like, how is a rock gonna mark 3/4 inch steel tube better than a sharpie or a scribe? I ignored him, used a scribe instead, and spent the next 45 minutes fighting with marks that disappeared after the first pass with the cutter. Red just watched from his stool drinking coffee. Finally he walks over, scribbles a line with the soapstone, and it survived the whole cut. I felt like a total rookie. Has anyone else been burned by ignoring old school advice?

2 comments

2 Comments

taylorm894mo ago

Started using soapstone on tube right after that lol. I was one of those guys who thought old timers were just being stubborn for no reason. Then I tried it and yeah, it stays on through grinding and cutting way better than any pen or marker. Still use a sharpie for layout on clean metal but soapstone is king on anything greasy or hot. Red probably had a good laugh watching me learn that one the hard way.

lunaw724mo ago

Honestly the part that gets me is how nobody's talking about what happens when you drop a sharpie in a boiler tube bundle and have to fish it out of a 6 inch gap vs losing a soapstone that just shatters into harmless pieces. @taylorm89 hit on the grease and heat thing but there's also the safety angle - scribes leave permanent scratches that can crack under pressure but soapstone just wipes off. Tbh Red probably knew you'd learn faster by letting you fail than by explaining it. Ngl I've seen apprentices lose scribes down tubes and spend half a shift trying to get them out while the old guys just laugh. Soapstone doesn't roll as bad either since it's got that flat shape.