How Plumbing USED to be Done

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If you're watching this, it means you're curious about what the heck lead and oakum are. And that's a good thing! Lead and oakum were once common materials used in plumbing - especially during the days of "old school" plumbing. In this video, I'll give you a brief explain what they are, and show you how they're used today (hint: not very often).
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1 авг 2024

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Комментарии : 642

@goobfilmcast4239 Год назад

My Dad was a plumber in NYC in the 60s. Once did the molten lead and Oakum thing... there was still a little water in the pipes and molten lead splashed out onto his face and into his eyes. He and my Mom spent a tense 2 weeks while he was in bandages hoping he wouldn't lose his eyesight. Thankfully, he made a full recovery. Later moved to Florida and did tons of rough plumbing on new construction... with all of the waste piping in PVC.....he didn't miss lead and oakum a bit.

@nicholasseriale1644 Год назад

I worked in NYC for about 4 years and to this day still doing lead and oakum for underground in schools and city contracts. Most people don't realize how dangerous it is. Lead is so reactive I've had a lead pot blow up cause the pig was too cold. I had left the city as well and I don't miss it a bit either!

@sa-amirel-hayeed699 Год назад

This is why you ALWAYS wear eye protection

@Blox_fruit_master1 Год назад

You don’t know what you are doing, you pour the lead joint in one pouring, NOT TWO POURING.

@thomasproctor3047 Год назад

When there is water in a joint, fill the runnered joint with motor oil and then pour the lead into the joint, there will be a lot of smoke and smell, but no blowback. Learned this when I was working with an old plumber at a DuPont plant when we were leading a joint with water flowing through it.

@AimForTheBushes908 Год назад

@@sa-amirel-hayeed699 pretty sure the eye protection beck then was absolute crap that made the job harder and most guys probably didn't see the benefit.

@tonyrago Год назад

Hello Roger, Thank you for making this great video. Just a few observations from an old NYC Master Plumber. 1. When you separate the oakum strands, wrap them so that where the overlap is, you start the next one right after so to avoid any uneven packing. 2. NEVER use a joint runner that has not previously been soaked in oil so the molten lead won't stick to it or burn it up. 3, Tap the runner tight against the hub with a hammer all around the pipe and pour INTO the joint with a full ladle. 4. NEVER pour a joint in stages. 1 pour per joint period. 5. Caulking irons are different from packing irons. They are smaller and only used for "trimming" the finished joint, which should be peaked in the center all around. 6. Lead depth is minimum 1" ONE POUR!! Thanks for demonstrating just some of the ways plumbers practiced their trade back in the day. When we were craftsmen. Crack open that joint and show how it looks finished internally. Now show people how to cut that pipe using a hammer and chisel, like we did back then. And, how to "wipe" a joint. Thank you again. Tony

@ramsaybolt3881 Год назад

Anytime i struggle in the field, i always remember how grateful I am to have propress, abs drains, pvc drains, pex and all that stuff that makes a job 10000x easier. If we still used lead and oakum today, I probably would be an electrician. I am so excited to see what future technology will makes its way into plumbing 30 years from now when im 50

@Dave7820 Год назад

It's all we use in Chicago. It's code to have hub and spigot, lead and oakum joints.

@dannyboots Год назад

@@Dave7820 wait.. what?

@user-zl1bh2gk1b Год назад

Pro press is Garbage. If someone attempted to use it in my house they would be thrown out on their ear! Do it right or don't do it at all!

@ramsaybolt3881 Год назад

@@Dave7820 Did not know that, im halfway through my second year rn, learning in california

@lawrenceoleary4589 Год назад

@@Dave7820 just the underground? I assume

@dass1333 Год назад

Always have your ladle in your lead when melting. Ladles being cast-iron have lots of crevices that water can collect in. Putting a wet ladle in molten lead can lead to a trip to the burn unit. Ladles were often left in the lead pot as it cooled giving the lead a handle.

@the_inquisitive_inquisitor Год назад

The things you don't think about until it's too late...

@jamesrush5367 Год назад

that using the ladle as a handle is a great trick im gonna use that one with casting

@chrisgee5893 Год назад

Leaving the ladle in the pot will cause the ladle to get hot, really hot. Pick it up with a bare hand and you will lose some skin when the blisters burst.

@totallymady42069 Год назад

@@chrisgee5893 Just don't use your bare hands fullstop when dealing with molten anything 😅

@Fuckthathoe Год назад

Dad was a master plumber as was his father, I remember working with him and him telling me that when he started that's how it was done. That guy was an artist. I miss ya ole man

@davefellhoelter1343 Год назад

RIP Pops! thank for Teaching me to WORK and a Job done half assed, IS a Job done "TWICE!"

@Mignogna82 Год назад

I remember back In 2000 while I was beginning we used to use this method often as we worked in a historic area. We were required to keep all plumbing natural to the time period. This was a great blast from the past, thanks for the great videos.

@ranckie Год назад

I was following my dad at the age of about 12 or 14 and was pouring lead joints by the time I was 15, both vertical and horizontal joints. Now 65 years later I still have all the tools needed to melt, caulk, and pour those lead loints and would love to see all that equipment be bought by someone that might still put it all to good use, and yes some commercial jobs still use leaded joints though No-Hub has taken over much of the soil pipe landscape today. I have all of the horizontal lead runners, ladels, and caulking tools including the curved ones that allow you to caulk behind the pipe, along with all of the ladels and propane melting pot and burner. Purchased today, some of those caulking tools sell for $60.00 each. Lord was that XH cast iron heavy when you had to make up an assembly and then drag it under a building and lift it in place. The way that we used to tell if the lead was hot enough in the melting pot was to test it by inserting a small piece of pine into the lead. If the lead scorched the pine it meant the lead was hot enough. I'd sure love to see someone buy those tools soon because at my age they won't be around much longer. Great video.

@simpleman9991 2 месяца назад

let me know if you are interested in selling some of your lead and oakum tools

@jeffreykindron7162 Год назад

My grandfather was a pipefitter for more than 35 years. I inherited all of his tools including these tools. I had no idea what they were for until I saw them being used on an episode of This Old House. This video went more into depth on their use. I work at the same company as my grandfather and look at some of the hubbed pipes and wonder if he installed them. Thank you for a great video

@the_inquisitive_inquisitor Год назад

That's really cool, take good care of those tools!

@jeffreykindron7162 Год назад

@@the_inquisitive_inquisitor I'm actually contemplating giving them to a friend of one of my son's who is a plumber. I know he would appreciate them and possibly put them to use. Hate to see tools not being used. I have hundreds of my grandfather's tools, so I wouldn't miss these few.

@killaken2000 Год назад

I'm in a similar position my grandfather was a plumber and ran a plumbing store from this era so there's an entire store's worth of tools, lead bars, pipes and other stuff in the garage.

@miralemmahmutovic5119 Год назад

In Chicago we still do it on a regular basis, it might be a unpopular opinion but nothing like banging iron

@edwardstalkergaming5841 Год назад

Please come to local 130 in Chicago show you the correct way to do a hub and spigot connection 🙏

@psuengineer84 Год назад

Great video. Oakum strand is a material/concept that has stood the test of time. I am a structural engineer who uses it to plug annular gaps around pipes through foundation and pool concrete walls/slabs. You soak the oakum in pre-catylized polyurethane resin, and it holds on to the resin while it cures and expands to seal. Not very different from this pipe joint is done, as neither the liquid lead or polyurethane resin will stay in the joint without the oakum.

@Hybris51129 Год назад

"These are not gold bars..." Reloaders: "Are you sure about that?"

@BudTheDrummer Год назад

As a Freshman in 1971 I had 2 weeks of Exploratory Training in all the Trades. We were taught how to connect cast iron soil pipe with lead and oakum. There were 3 lead pots always hot and we were warned not to spit in them. There were so many Houses built around the 1900's that it was normal to have cast iron pipe and lead joints. The house I owned in the '80's, built in 1950 had cast iron pipe and I once made a repair with Oakum rope and molten lead. I'm glad I learned the technique!

@Mikemarionerd Год назад

A similar thing i've done not as a plumber but in the shipyard i work in. The commercial fishing vessels have lead bearing for their prop shafts which we melt out and pack and pour similar to this!

@Dan-qt7kq Год назад

Nice one, my dad is 95, started apprenticeship in 47, he taught us how to do it a bunch of years ago, and glad he did. 45 yrs myself in trade and started early enough to see a lot of this stuff. Nice one.

@naturaldt5 Год назад

Ahhh Good ol' Lead and Oakum. Started Plumbing in 2009. I was on lead and Oakum jobs as an apprentice. Heavy duty work. Unique work especially water testing with a 10foot head of pressure. Gotta love NYC.

@jacksplumbingvideos7147 Год назад

People in the 1940s - 1980s could run water lines with pressure rated ABS pipe, some ABS pipe in the early 1950s was threaded like galvanized and could be used on water lines and drains. Plastic pipe in Wisconsin started becoming popular in the 1960s.

@plumbdumb2427 Год назад

I'm a plumber in Chicago we're doing a high-rise right now all lead and oakum joints we usually use white oakum but there is a shortage. So we're using the brown oakum wich is worse. Doesn't hold the pipe or fittings that good in place before you pour the lead. Also way more stickier makes which leaves your irons nasty.

@NoName-yr1jv Год назад

Local 130 👍

@jonPETERS Год назад

@@NoName-yr1jvPlumbers LU 130 UA. Third generation here

@reedburke7762 Год назад

When I did this for a living up to 15” , the Irons actually needed: yarning iron, packing iron, inside and outside caulking irons and wide sharp flat chisel.

@MrClassiccarenthusia Год назад

This is possibly the BEST video on the channel! But that's only my opinion. This is up there with hand scraping metal mating surfaces on engines, silver soldering parts like push rod ends, lead loading body panels, wood working with manual tools. Did I mention I hate plastic? It might cut the mustard in the plumbing world, but us mechanic peeps are sick of it. Heat cycled plastic will become brittle and disintegrate on an engine when it comes time to service it.

@waterheaterservices Год назад

My 66 Cadillac will probably still be around when the modern piles of plastic we are calling cars, and me, have been recycled.

@TheRealDonVerga Год назад

I did okum and lead my first year of plumbing back in 2013. Massachusetts still does old school plumbing in commercial aspects

@nijuwolf Год назад

Rather interesting to see how its done. Over here in Europe it was similar, but tar was used instead of lead.

@Ragnar8504 Год назад

I think in Austria it was some kind of cement-like material. Today's plumbers definitely use quick-setting cement when connecting plastic pipe to old cast iron, even oldschool ones like my uncle.

@jonathanbuzzard1376 Год назад

Lead joints here in Scotland in my house on all the none vertical joints. The vertical waste joints have all been done in cement.

@Paramount531 Год назад

A few years ago I replaced an old cast iron drain system from under an old house that I inherited, the pipes were rotten. It was an old lead and oakum style, I replaced it all beneath the house with PVC and I thought that was difficult! Thanks for showing me how the old master plumbers did it back in the day!

@williamworth2746 Год назад

We still do led joints in Philadelphia as it’s required doing it in the rain sucks

@hanzgrueber145 Год назад

The editor is too funny glad he’s enjoying himself

@willissellars6304 Год назад

Man.. does this bring back memories! My dad ended his working career as the planning and zoning administrator for my home town, but started off as a pipe fitter and plumber, and worked his way up through the city water department. He was also a mason and when the local lodge got land and enough money to construct their own building, he was asked to do the plumbing. I was less then 10 years old, but I got to go to the site with him several times and got to see him sweat copper and do this type of packing for the sewer pipes. I never saw a horizontal one though. I have one of his smaller ladles hanging in my garage today!

@jonathancatron9377 Год назад

My grandfather was an old school plumber. Loved this video, thank you for doing this justice to build respect for what built this country.

@pitsnipe5559 Год назад

I remember when I was a boy back in the 1950’s watching my dad do that. Later, in the 1960’s, when I was in trade school they were still teaching the plumbing apprentices how to make up lead and oakum joints. So glad I was an apprentice electrician. 😊

@ericnorton4045 Год назад

Great video! I appreciate you showing everybody. This takes me back to 2010 in Nashville. Tennessee went in 2010. The city was flooded and there were some historical buildings downtown that we had to remodel and it was under strict historical code so we had to go back with the original DWV and so they sent us to school to learn how to do leading yoakam and let me tell you we got it made today compared to what they had it but I did learn how to do it anyway. I don't know if I could do it now real well because it's been several years but pretty cool video

@if860 Год назад

My house in Poland had lead soldered plumbing all the way! (Built around 1902). It always took ages to find a plumber who could repair this. It also still features electrical installation in cotton insulation, RCD (GFCI) can't be used because the leakage current to walls is so big that it trips instantly. (Can't change this, city property).

@tphvac87 Год назад

Must’ve taken forever back in the day to rough plumb a house pvc or abs is so much easier great video Rodger

@alejandroc7357 Год назад

Imagine having to make a repair underneath a house like this

@TeslaBoy123 Год назад

Install pvc wasted and vents are faster but not easy I know what's I talking about

@TeslaBoy123 Год назад

@@alejandroc7357 I done many repair in leaking drains very cold winter in Chicago Illinois old building small crawlspace a real nightmare

@alejandroc7357 Год назад

@@TeslaBoy123 🥶

@colinlinfield4068 Год назад

It was always good in the winter the lead pot always kept you warm

@stevelowe9604 Год назад

We used clay for a running rope

@smille12 Год назад

Started plumbing in the late 70s, still doing it, its an honorable profession, when doing a single lead joint Like a closet flange, no need to get the pot out, just melt the lead in the ladle with your torch. Been awhile since I seen the stuff but will never give up my lead caulking tools, ladle, pot ,caulking irons, they will probably be in my estate sale one day, lol

@AlbertOpitz-xi3fg Год назад

In 1979 packing and poring a lead joint was part of the test in Oklahoma for your plumbing license. They had a 2 part CI hub and your lead had to be within and 1/8 inch of the 1" inch bead and your oakum was also measured. I still have my lead joint tools. Thanks for showing the way it used to be. I feel they have taken away some of the craftsmanship out of the plumbing trade. After you passed the test which included the shop portion of copper 45 offset and black pipe offset. You were a plumber, today I don't know. Thanks for this brought back a bunch of memories!

@Emily-lk1mf Год назад

In canada at least its all written exams now. The plumbers are set up very similar to us electricians. Get enough hours working then take your red seal exam and you're good to go. Makes for a lot of book-smart but real-world-stupid people in the trades lol

@raymondpetrovits2336 Год назад

I worked for a subcontractor of a water company tasked with replacing lead jointed cast iron piping. 100 years old and no leaks. I was gifted all the lead as I reload my own ammunition. That one summer netted me gobs of the stuff.

@Skooby_HD Год назад

Really appreciate these types of videos when you do them. Showing how things used to be done, and how to do it. That mixed with sharing new technology in the plumbing industry has been really fun. Keep up the great work.

@RogerWakefield Год назад

Thanks 👍

@SamPanamaOfficial Год назад

Always a joy to watch your videos. I watched several of your videos when I bought my first house in 2019 and started doing a full renovation. I knew a lot from my dad (who is still around and helped extensively with the remodel), but it was sure nice to use your videos as a reference for certain tasks. I've been a fan ever since. Keep up the good work, sir.

@RogerWakefield Год назад

That is awesome! Thanks for sharing

@russellhamner4898 Год назад

I have no idea why this was recommended for me, but I watched every damned second. That rope gasket is pure genius.

@randybarnes8454 Год назад

I remember going to work with my Grandpa in the 60's, Olson &Barnes plumbing was his company name. He got the contract to connect the home's in Raytown, Mo. to city sewer. Lots of Oakum and lead was used. I learned a lot from him. And the breakfasts and lunches at the Copper Kettle were great. I sure miss him and my uncle.

@anonymousbosch9265 Год назад

I’m a splicer for the phone company for the last 23 years and up until about ten years ago I would have to open lead cases and re close them. I’m on a damage as I speak and now we replace the lead sleeves. Plastic is a useful material

@richardsacchetti6967 6 месяцев назад

Those were the good old days Mr. Wakefield!! Rough waste and vents with lead and oakum were my specialties!!!!

@aaronhuffman4852 Год назад

Plumber Steve Lavimoniere still does it old school with lead on his channel.

@GnomicMaster 7 месяцев назад

I am an old school plumber. I just turned 74 and started in the trade in 1976. My dad started in the trade at age 21 when he came home from WWII. He did his last plumbing job for a neighbor at age 91. 70 years as a master plumber, 47 for me to date. 117 years combined. By the time I got into the trade it was No-Hub, ABS, PVC, and eventually PEX and flexible gas pipe. However, my dad taught me the old tech so that when I would run into old bell-and-spigot cast-iron and Durham I'd be able to either repair it or interface it with new tech. I no longer have my lead pot and array of irons but I know how to use them. BTW, do you know what was so unique about tapped Durham fittings? I do but I leave it to you to tell. It's a test for an "old school" plumber.

@stevestalock3200 Год назад

Old school - I attended that school too! Too bad it closed.

@davidcartlich6491 Год назад

in the 60s in UK we called the rope "gaskin and we used it on underground cast iron drainage with molten lead when the joint had cooled we tightened the joint with a caulking iron which was shaped like a chisel but offset so the joint could be tightened down .we also did external soil stacks in cast iron but we generally used lead wool in the joint which was put in cold and consolidated with caulking iron this was safer than using molten lead

@chrismoore9024 Год назад

When I first started my apprenticeship, my job was to crawl back to the waiting plumber while carrying a ladle full of lead in a 24” crawl space ! Man how things have changed.

@johnwright6706 Год назад

Molten lead creates an inhalation hazard. Keep that in mind when using it. If your company uses lead, make sure that you're getting medical screening. The old plumbers learned these lessons for us the hard way, honor them by protecting yourself and your families.

@jpeterd92 Год назад

And this is really cool, I remember when my dad was teaching me how to solder copper when I was a kid and I asked him if you could solder other medals, and he told me that he used to solder drains together with moulting lead from a ladle, I thought he was pulling my leg.

@Subgunman Год назад

Last time I was at a plumbing supply in the states and talking with a counter salesman we happened on to the cast iron drain pipes and how they were sealed with lead. Well at the time he informed me that it was no longer necessary to pour lead into the join over oakum. Instead they had lead wool in packages. You unwind it and place it over the oakum and start hammering down adding more lead wool as you go to fill in the joint with your tools. Back in the late sixties they were using copper drain lines in new construction. The big problem was the drain lines clogged easier than cast iron or pvc and with todays prices of copper, not worth the trouble.

@celestial5236 Месяц назад

Why was the copper clogging easier? Smoother surface vs rough surface? or because of corrosion?

@donaldasayers Год назад

I remember my Dad doing a wiped solder joint on the outside tap for the hosepipe, we had a tin of oakum and plumbers linseed oil putty.

@gunfisher4661 Год назад

I got a set of those irons years back in a tool box always wondered what they were for then I found out recently what they were for ever since I`ve been wondering how do they do the lead on a horizontal pipe ,your video came up at the same time I wondered how. At least the mystery is solved now. Thanks

@marcosrios3932 Год назад

Thank you roger love your videos! There making my apprenticeship much easier.

@scottthompson8166 Год назад

Thanks for showing my Dad was in that era of cast and copper DWV and never grasped the concept how horizontal pours were done Me I started in mid 80’s of true PVC before the cellcore

@virtueofabsolution7641 Год назад

Bro pls tell me you don’t use cellcore on drainpipes.

@2009dudeman Год назад

@@virtueofabsolution7641 It is rated for it in most US building codes. I personally don't see the point, it's only advantages are that it's cheap and slightly more flexible (but really, why are you needing that much flex in the first place). The disadvantages are numerous. I guess I could see using it for vent pipe. But I would never trust running an auger down cellcore, even the baby 2in cutters would scare me.

@TnT_F0X Год назад

They used to seal Railroads with Thermite and a mold. So I totally believe sealing pipes with liquid lead. Actually now that I think of it we still seal pipes the same way. Flux and Solder. Surface tension sucks in the solder and you get a seal. Here it's the same idea, but with more lead than we use now lol

@TheATVboy17 Год назад

Thanks for posting this, I always was curious how these types of connections were made.

@JLange642 Год назад

My father was an electrician and also did general building work, as he built his own home in 1948. We had a white gas fired lead smelter that I saw him use several times. Always wondered why he didn't clean out the pot when he was done-he said the lead he left there was ready to melt the next time. Also remember those "crazy bent chisels" as I called them- I forgot they were the irons for packing the oakum in the joint. Thanks for the reminder of how they used to do it when labor was abundant and cheaper, and people weren't afraid to work for a living! "Do it right, make it look good, and take pride in your work." Words to live by-wish more people did!

@OjStudios Год назад

Hundreds or thousands of meters of old iron piping and all the joints done like this. That's gonna take forever. Glad that this has been improved ALOT.

@effthegop Год назад

I 'm 71 . I have a ladle that belonged to my grandfather and it still has lead in it. It's one of my favorite possessions.

@billlewis8392 Год назад

Chicago here. We still have lead and oakum as mandatory code. It’s what makes us licensed and professional.

@alanm2842 Год назад

do you still use 1.5 or 2 inch lead waste pipes these days

@billlewis8392 Год назад

@@alanm2842 1" chaulked lead joint on the oakum.

@tomearnest198 Год назад

One thing that always work well for me, at least I never had it leaked, was that after the oakum which packed in I used lead wool. Looks just like steel wool. Hammer it in with the offset tool and it works just as well as a poured lead joint.

@19Bmiller Год назад

Thanks. Although I don't plan on ever using this, it was great so see how it was done. You're a good teacher

@erasmodemeo6167 Год назад

My father , retired local 1 plumber… taught me how to do this … spent the summer of 1991 working with him at the Staten Island ferry maintenance depot pouring lead with him doing all the underground waste lines ….

@steveyjay4839 Год назад

I will NEVER need to do this, but somehow watched and enjoyed every minute of the video.

@brucewilliams6292 Год назад

Wow, what a PITA. Thanks for showing how it was done. Glad we have some modern seals to help us out.

@John-ou4rm 2 месяца назад

My grandfather in the 1950s did all the lead flashing and guttering on roofs as well. That was the plumbers job also back then.

@brianpite0893 Год назад

I really enjoyed watching this. I was wondering how you were going to do that horizontally.

@RogerWakefield Год назад

Thanks for watching! Did you see the video I did pouring a vertical joint?

@docsavage4414 Год назад

Great grandpa had some oakum in his shed. Hadn't thought about that in 45 years. Thanks for that. Miss you papaw.

@coldfinger459sub0 Год назад

My grandfather started taking me on plumbing jobs with him back in 1970 when I was five years old. I was his gopher he would send me down to the van. Tell me what to get and I’d run it back up to them along with a Coors beer.. Always like going to work with my grandfather cause. Every time he had another beer. I got to open it up and drink part of it on the way up into the house to deliver and drop off his parts.. My other favorite part was fire, melting lead for packing pipe, and soldering copper . I had paid off 20 years ago when my house that had led sewer pipes had a leak and a sweep from the toilet had to be replaced . I still have my grandfather’s tools he long passed away. And I still do all my sewer pipes in the old houses with lead.. Even though I never became a plumber myself . I spent about 10 years riding in the van after school or weekends, and working during the summer time with my grandfather.. And because of him, I always do all my own plumbing work, and I have pass it along to my three sons . My grandfathers knowledge lives on and now the fourth generation who made me a grandfather. He is turning five years old this year and it’s time for me to start teaching him.. minus drinking beers. 😂

@nicksprung436 Год назад

im probably one of the youngest plumbers who has seen lead and oakum done in the field. we were in an old highrise in denver we were in a very tight spot in a return air plenum, and i watched my first master plumber jeff redo a couple joints. very interesting.

@aaronbiglow6573 Год назад

I remember doing lead and oakum joints years ago in school, and having such respect for the tough as nails plumber's that came before us. That being said.. we're so much better off. 😆

@MuxBox 6 месяцев назад

This really put things into perspective, your content is a joy to watch, I've never seen this done in my 18 years in the field, now I know what a hassle it must have been. This video will be forever in my mind when I'm struggling with a job saying, "It could be worse"... 🤩👌

@andyd2528 Год назад

I live in Manchester , England. A lot of the old terraced brick houses still have cast iron soil pipes that were put together using this method. We take them down regularly and replace them with pvc pipe. The top section carried down the ladder on your shoulder is the apprentices job these days.

@michaelcambi7956 Год назад

I still install lead and oakum till this day for NYC SCA Projects.

@philiptevez3607 Год назад

I always enjoy watching you I just wish you can teach me to be a great plumbing like you sir I really love the plumber job but here in my country no one to teach you like the way you doing over there sir.GOD BLESS YOUR HAND 👌👌 WORK SIR.THANKS FOR ALL THE BEAUTIFUL VIDEOS.

@michaelquillen2679 Год назад

Wow, I (as a DIY homeowner) have not had to deal with lead and oakum since the late 80s. Thanks for the video.

@heroinmom153 Год назад

My house is 70 years old and still has this piping in the main drain. It's been holding perfectly all these years

@alanm2842 Год назад

the old cast iron was a good product, the stuff they were using in the 1970's was cheep junk, i have replaced a lot on that 1970 junk

@ryangrimm9305 Год назад

I've done lead joints, as recently as 1987. I was in a 'new' factory adding drains, and some could be no-hub, but the floor drains themselves were spec'd for packed lead & oakum.

@darylgriffin6917 Год назад

Mr Wakefield I appreciate your time and energy as a RMP 38199. Been independent since 07. Really this comment is to compliment your edit skills. Thank you Plumbers Rule the 🌍

@scottsoto3346 Год назад

I like this video. I've been plumbing for 10 years and never had to do this.

@glitchwrks Год назад

As others have said, still done in some places pretty regularly! Now drill a bunch of 1/8" holes in the lead and dig it out with a small slotted screwdriver to make a repair :P

@rockeydog57100 Год назад

Gotta love still doing it in the Chicago land area

@TheDickPuller Год назад

Lead Run Joints on Cast Iron Pipes; Last time I did this was in 1974 when I started my Apprenticeship. We called it Roping the Joint & used Steel Ropers & hammered it into the joint, the Ropeyarn went round it twice. Packed in tight, we then used an asbestos Running Rope that had a clamp on it, clamped it tightly around the pipe, then poured molten Lead into the joint. Lastly was used Stavers to hammer the lead tightly into the joint. We also repaired Cast Iron Heating Pipes, largely used to heat Greenhouses. The joints on them were Roped with Ropeyarn & finished with Pure Portland Cement. Thanks for sharing & love from Scotland 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧

@felixthecat265 Год назад

Oakum used to be made by breaking down old hemp rope. As a rope works, internal wear breaks down the fibres into shorter and shorter lengths which accumulate in the core of the rope. Eventually the rope would be condemned and replaced. An old sailing ship had literally miles of hemp rope on it which needed constant replacement. The Navy would sell on this rope to people who would break it down and recover the oakum. It was hard, dirty work and was often done in prisons and workhouses as a punishment exercise known as "picking oakum". Oakum was used for all sorts of packing jobs. A major use was to seal the wooden decks of ships, a process known as calking. Oakum was rammed down between the deck planks with a calking iron and the final gap filled with molten pitch or tar.

@jasparramirez9554 6 месяцев назад

I just did one the other day. But I used pro proxy instead of lead. I prefer cast to plastic clamps. But the fittings were hub to hub and I didn't want to change everything out plus the owner wanted to keep it as cheap as possible. Nice job!!

@tkoking420 Год назад

Great video. I have always wanted to know how this type of plumbing connection was made!

@DasBrotkuchen Год назад

very interesting, makes me appreciate the advancement in technology I get get to benefit from as a newly graduated journeyman

@jeffjefferson2676 Год назад

I learned this in an "old" plumbing book. Now i thought it was quite fancy. It sure beats PVC if you have digging going on, you wont dig through a cast iron pipe easily. :) Greetings, Jeff

@jimdegeorge5517 Год назад

I love smell of oakum. Reminds me of hanging out with my Dad @Bruce Wigle P&H @the Grosse Point ,Mi the 50 s . I'm a second generation plumber. Remember when you cut soil pipe with a chisel & hammer on both service weight and extra heavy ,

@thevillageinn Год назад

I worked at a shop for a number of years which made joint runners - they were molded rubber and had cast aluminum fittings so the split runner could be put around the pipe and clamped on. We were on the West Coast and the Chicago area was nearly the only area purchasing.

@patricktehan6097 Месяц назад

Roger, love the videos. As a local 1 plumber here in NYC where we still do lead and oakum undergrounds in public schools I would love to come and make a video with you on how it is properly done!

@moss8448 Год назад

set up a laser level for a plumber for top of drain. hung around and watched him coming out of a stub out in the ground (this was floor level stuff) he did the white oakum (I kept saying Dwight Yokum) using molten lead. Never thought to ask why that way and not just a bolted on or glued deal. Looking back it may have had something to do with the stub out pipe schedule cast iron as opposed to pvc stuff.

@billybop17 Год назад

I always wondered how they did that back then. Thanks for sharing.

@normmcrae1140 Год назад

Oakum feels like oiled rope - because it IS Oiled rope! Of course the rope is picked apart. In England, that's what the Workhouse (famously mentioned by Scrooge in "A Christmas Carol") "inmates" did - pulled apart old ropes to make oakum to to seal up the wooden ships of the Royal Navy. That "Running Rope" is phenomenal! I've seen many old hands use a heat-proof packing to pour Babbitt Bearings on old machines, but Running Rope would be a GREAT and MUCH EASIER alternative. I'm going to recommend it to several other channels - Starting with Kieth Rucker at Vintage Machinery! I bet he'd LOVE IT!

@420JackG Год назад

Thanks for the reference material.

@antonieoostendorp1616 Год назад

I read about this in one of my Drainlaying Modules, except it never talked about using the oakum. I still lead Cork some of our Reinforced concrete water mains. Great demonstration and nice to see what Plumbers had to do before modern and safer techniques.

@chroniccycles9424 Год назад

Seems like your editing has gotten better very entertaining! And this old way is very interesting!

@RogerWakefield Год назад

Glad to hear that!

@southronjr1570 Год назад

My father shot Black Powder competitions in the North-South Skirmishing Assoc beginning in 1968 and getting lead to for casting bullets was always in high demand. He went up to the a range in the early 70's with a friend to a range in Ohio, and the friend found that a local hotel built in the late 1800's was being torn down. His friend borrowed my dad's truck to run over to the site on Sunday afternoon after the match was over to pick up some lead the demo crew was throwing away. His friend had put about 300 pounds of old lead pipe sections in the back of the slide in camper on dad's truck. It had a window between the cab and camper section that was permanently open and couldn't be closed. It turned out, the lead pipe was from the men's bathroom urinals in the bar that was on the first floor of the hotel, my dad said the entire ride home was horrific with the smell of the crystallized urine in the pipes. They get back to Savanah to drop of my dad's friend and as their unloading the pipes, my dad's friends looks funny at my dad when he won't stop unloading it. They had agreed prior to the friend borrowing the truck, that they would split the lead in half. Well my dad graciously told his friend that he really didn't need any lead at the time and made sure ALL of it went into his friends garage. He said the camper didn't stop stinking for month after that.

@petes2feet Год назад

Thank you sharing this knowledge

@oliverclothesoff5397 Год назад

I had no idea this is what plumbers used to have to do. Thats pretty cool! Thank you for sharing!

@RogerWakefield Год назад

Thanks for watching!

@bobbyosborne2375 9 месяцев назад

I've poured a couple lead joints. Had to do it for my journeyman exam years ago. Had to do a 45° copper offset too. You had to bust open the tee so the code committee guys could inspect your work. Got a 99% on mine. Your yarning iron should have a mark ingraved on it about a 1/2" to 3/4" from the tip, if i remember correctly. The oakum i used had a whitish color to it. Cut in 42" lengths its perfect for a 4" lead pour. NO DOUBLE POURS