Practicing his examples in the book opened my eyes to the fact that I had missed an entire step in the learning process, which is the ingredient necessary for true understanding.
![jack rafter jack rafter](https://www.raftertools.com/help/octagon-tower-ring.jpg)
#JACK RAFTER HOW TO#
My time spent with the framing square–and the true understanding of the geometry behind how to lay out rafters and rooms–was inspired by a section in A.F.J. It wasn't that I used it to figure out rafter lengths or lay out the rafter cuts I used–and still use–a calculator and a speed-square, unparalleled for their speed and accuracy. I didn't really grasp the elements, the building blocks of roof-framing principles, until I spent some serious time with the framing square. Understand the principles of basic construction and you will increase your current skill level you will support an understanding for what you're currently building–and what you have yet to build. Just like a foundation supports a house, knowledge supports your trade. And, using the framing square really got me to believe in an important concept I eventually read in the 1923 book How to Use the Steel Square by Frank Graham: "The intelligent workman should not be satisfied with knowing which number to use but he should want to know why each particular number is used." Basic Training But after all that, it was the framing square that gave me the best and clearest window into the world of roof framing, where you need trigonometry and the understanding of compound angles to conceive, in 3-D, intersecting roof planes when there is only space before you. To increase my roof-framing skill, I read books, used rafter tables and got handy with a speed-square. It was only when I needed to learn the language of the framing square that I began to really pay attention to the square–and discovered what learning it really meant to me, my craft, and my bottom line. Little did I know (or care) of the language this tool really spoke I ignored the markings and scales until I started framing roofs myself. Like the other apprentices, I thought the wormdrive and pneumatic nailer I soon acquired were the keys to the kingdom and I used my square mostly for marking wide boards and square-checking corners. He instructed me to show up with a 16-foot-long 3/4-inch-wide tape, 2-foot spirit level, 1-inch chisel, 22-ounce Plumb hammer, 10-point Disston handsaw, and that shiny L-shaped piece of steel–the framing square.
![jack rafter jack rafter](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8w2GM3pjaJc/UOG83mpyPWI/AAAAAAAACsc/WrUTyMm6xqk/w1200-h630-p-k-no-nu/3.gif)
I'll always remember the first tool kit I assembled as an apprentice carpenter and the old, well-seasoned carpenter who told me to buy it. And really, who cares? In this era of computers, calculators, digital tools, and laser-guided layout, why bother learning this dead-language tool when instant answers to complex problems are just a button-push away? I can give you the answer in one word: Foundation. So what? you might be saying, a tool that does more than one thing. The framing square is as simple in design as it gets, yet its markings point to uses far more complex than its obvious appearance implies.