Lost skills?

[TheWeekendGuys]

Does anybody still bend s/w pipe these days?

I was quite impressed when I saw this on a job, Ive not been shown how to do it but it could come in handy now and then.
Most plumbing colleges have stopped teaching lead work for some years now, what other skills are we losing?

 

[Billy Bob Bob]

i did lead welding,was fun,dont do much now though,very seldom

 

[ShaunCorbs]

I hated bending steel pipe with sand

better than bending with lamp post tho

 

[newcastle phill]

Never do lead work. About as useful learning that as it was learning matrices in maths at school

 

[spanner]

Lead has gone discontinued. Now they just make plastic looking chimneys on new builds with roof angles and the good old slated roofs I think it's tin now in place for sheet lead weathering.

 

[afgew]

I also hated lead work at college!

 

[spanner]

I quite enjoyed the leadwork although it was being discontinued in the times of 6129 plumbing.

 

[Ray Stafford]

We still sell shed loads of lead. There are still some proper leadworkers about.

 

[Unregistered]

Don't see nothing wrong with using the conventional leadwork. It won't surprise me if it'll be back. Has some very good properties and I think most definitely a lost skill. But just don't forget to wash the hands before eating smoking and the wearing of proper PPE gloves

 

[spanner]

Don't see nothing wrong with using the conventional leadwork. It won't surprise me if it'll be back. Has some very good properties and I think most definitely a lost skill. But just don't forget to wash the hands before eating smoking and the wearing of proper PPE gloves

As above

 

[12poi]

Anyone else had to learn using Bobbins for thin wall lead waste and soil pipe bending - up to 4"?

Accessible lead flashings are nowadays obviously gone - but high lead flashings on stacks etc is still the way to do it.
Lead burning is still a useful skill.
So is lead bossing. Instructor "You have 120 mins to boss that Code 5 16" x 16" piece of lead into a hopper head. Do not use a wedge chase or a mallet or hammer, only use the bossing & dressing sticks. The bossed lead must be of an even thickness all round."

Lead wiping and rolling are well gone, but silver/hard soldering and cup brazing are still around for specialty uses.

We were also taught to safely use Oxy-Acety for lead burning and steel cutting and basic gas welding for frames etc.
And, surprisingly enough, we had to weld sheet copper for a back gutter.

 

[spanner]

Talking of lead. What is the method of measuring diameter of lead pipe with the bit of string to give the LB size equivalent . ??
If I remember you wrap around twice with piece of string and that's all I remember!!

 

[buckley plumb]

You can't beat the old high level cistern. One flush and it's gone!

We're losing the skill of cutting out balanced flue holes with a hammer and chisel. Not sure if that's a bad thing.

i bet you still use bits of wood instead of raw plugs lol

 

[spanner]

i bet you still use bits of wood instead of raw plugs lol

Lolz no I prefer the spit plug.. ;0D

 

[stevetheplumber]

i did lots of lead as an apprentice we had a massive roof to do along picadilly which had bossed four way roll caps there was only one old plumber who could do them perfect so we kept moving the ones he had dome and covered the rest wih sheets or rolls of lead when ever the clerk of the works came up for an inspection
my first morning as an apprentice was watching the plumber wiping in a new lead bend into a stack he said then it was a waste of time me watching and he was right never ever saw another

 

[stevetheplumber]

I hated bending steel pipe with sand

inch and a half copper with a spring was bad enough

 

[Ric2013]

And now college tells us guttering isn't really a plumber's job either. My reply was that that would explain a lot of the guttering you see, especially the ones where there is an uphill bit before the outlet.

Still, some textbooks (Treloar) suggest using Plumber's Mait to joint cast iron gutters - what!? And City and Guilds textbook suggests using linseed oil putty, and no mention of putting any under the roofing bolt head itself. Sad.

 

[stevetheplumber]

you dont need anything under the bolt head with putty

 

[stevetheplumber]

we had to do a back gutter in four matierials copper lead aluminum and nuralite that was a fecker burnt fingers and the black tar took ages to get of your fingers probably full of asbestos as well

 

[stani]

I'm glad lead has now become a specialist trade, some of the quality is excellent, I'm glad also that gutters and glazing is now not a plumbing remit, can't think of any other parts that were "plumbers jobs" that should go as well.

 

[Ric2013]

I'm glad also that gutters and glazing is now not a plumbing remit, can't think of any other parts that were "plumbers jobs" that should go as well.

What's wrong with a plumber doing gutters, or do you just not like doing them?

Ric

 

[stani]

I like doing them in summer when it's nice and warm, hate doing them when they leak and it's freezing.

 

[chris watkins]

Guttering not plumbers work …… rubbish & I would like to see some of of them who say it is so easy put up some nice powder coated Ogee Alumasc guttering with square section double offsets in the down pipes.

That would get their little brains warm.

 

[stani]

I'm more talking the plastic, done in 30 minutes stuff.