There are two things that make electricians worry; fire and electrical shock.  The National Electric Code is written around these two dangers.

One old timer electrician told me that it was very difficult to start a fire with electricity.  All combinations had to be just right.  To start any fire, conditions have to be just right.  For instance, try starting a campfire with damp wood.

Electrical fires do happen.  There are trained fire investigators who can get into a burned area and determine how, why, and where a fire started.  When electricity is the root cause, the NEC is adjusted to meet experience.

I have worked on a number of jobs after the fire was out.  Insulation really does make a difference.  Many times I have seen Romex (NMB) wire cable, with all of the wrapping burned off.  But where the Romex enters the insulation, the wire is in very good shape.

Making electrical repairs in such an instance, I can put in a junction box and pick up the undamaged wire in the insulation.  Thereafter I can finish the circuit with new wire.

One particular job I recall necessitated replacing almost all the wiring in the building.  I worried a lot about the area where I couldn’t get to the wiring.  After 30 years the building is still standing, so I have decided to quit worrying.

In one apartment that had burned (1 unit out of 10), the manager wanted the power turned back on before the walls and ceiling were repaired.  I devised a way to re-wire the place and leave the wall building to later, thus providing power to the area before the carpenters “renovated” the fire damage.

It must have worked, because I got paid and no one called to complain about anything.

Back in the ‘90s there was a firestorm created by outdoor, high voltage electrical wires.  It took a combination of high winds and trees that came down on high voltage power lines.  The fire spread for miles.

We wired a number of new buildings that replaced the ones that had been destroyed.

Electrician wages have always varied according to where you are, and when you worked there.  Union wages were always more than non-Union.  Big city wages were always more than small community wages.

I started out with nothing.  Literally.  The first thing I ever did in the electrical trade was to set up a wind charger on the family farm.  (Blog post #1)  When I went to work for a family friend, helping him change farm houses from wind chargers to the REA (Blogs 2-4), I can’t even remember now what I was paid, but I’m sure it was less than a dollar an hour.

The only expense I had in those days was gasoline, and it was at $.21 per gallon.  I wasn’t paying much attention to wages at that time.  I was more interested in learning.

The first wages I can remember receiving was in Glasgow, Montana.  I was working for an electrical contractor that paid me the grand sum of $1.50 per hour.

One day a gentleman came around saying he represented the U.S. government.  He wanted to know how many had served in the military.  There were two of us employed on that job.  The other guy had served in the army, so he was given papers to fill out.  The papers were to record how long he had worked at whatever kind of work he was doing.  He was supposed to fill them out weekly.

I told the government man that the military had notified me that they didn’t want me and I didn’t argue with them.  (Maybe they had determined that I was too crazy, “but it kept me from going insane.”)

The government man gave me the papers anyway, saying it wouldn’t hurt to fill them out weekly and send them in.

The other guy faithfully filled out his papers weekly.  I worked with him for several years and he finally received a certificate from the government saying he was a journeyman electrician.

I never sent any paperwork in.  I was too independent and I thought it was a waste of time.  I got a certificate at the same time as the other fellow.  I was really surprised!

My wife tells me I save big boxes, in which to put little boxes, the certificate must be among my souvenirs somewhere.

As I wasn’t in the IBEW, my wages gradually went up.  By the time I left Montana in 1969 my wages had gotten up to just under $5.00 per hour.

A well engineered and built tool is appreciated by the craftsmen that use it.  A tool that breaks while in use is discouraging, as well as dangerous.  You can seriously injure yourself.  Really, to do good work, you need good tools.

When you work with a poorly designed and built tool it is easy to recognize that the designer had no experience in the trade for which the tool was built.  However, I have seen some farm implements designed and built by a farmer, later manufactured and sold by a large equipment manufacturing company.

This can happen with hand tools also.  One tool that I built for myself to make my work life easier was later copied by a tool manufacturer.

One shop I worked for had a crew doing high voltage line work.  Whenever the high voltage line crew used a tool belonging to the low voltage crew, the tool would invariably come back broken, bent, or in pieces.  As well as with pieces lost.  That is one reason I am very reluctant to loan out tools.  Also, when you’re working in a large crew, it is not unheard of for a tool to get damaged, broken, or grow legs and walk off the job.

In one instance, I had purchased a new ½” EMT pipe bender.  I was careful to keep it near me at all times, laying it by my side as I worked.  Soon a large, heavy workman came by and stepped on it.  A piece was broken off that made the tool absolutely useless.  The portion that was broken was made of pot metal, making it irreparable.  It wasn’t so much that I had to purchase a new bender, but it was such a waste.

There was a scene played out in front of me on one job that had to do with tool usage.  One day a carpenter showed up on our job with a brand new 6’ level.  He was so proud of that thing.  I think he went around checking the level of everything just for the opportunity to use it.

He was standing on a ladder with the level leaning against the wall next to him.  A Native American fellow came in from doing cement work out back.  The Native American stopped and gazed longingly at the new level.

The conversation went like this:

“Hey Tim, can I borrow your level?”

Tim looked down and said; “What do you want to use it for?”

“I need to screed off some cement out back.”

There was a slight pause, and then Tim said: “If you use my level to screed off cement you will wish Custer had won!”

The Native American went outside chuckling to himself.