Update: The old boilermaker in Gary told me to stop trusting my level on every fit-up

Ryan Burns · 2026-10-02T01:45:04.251045+00:00

I was setting a 6 foot spool on a rack at the shop in Gary last Tuesday when a guy named Walt, who has 31 years in the trade, watched me pull out my torpedo level for the fourth time on the same joint. He told me levels lie once a pipe gets hot and that he trusts a plumb bob and his eyes on anything short. I argued with him for 10 minutes, then he had me cut the same piece twice, once by level and once by eye, and the eye fit slipped in clean on the first try. Now I want to know if anyone else has ditched the level on small spools or if Walt is just an outlier.

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Update: The old boilermaker in Gary told me to stop trusting my level on every fit-up | Boilermakers - Opinions Matter