# trig



## Guest (Jul 29, 2006)

Does anyone know why a trig is called a trig? Seems like almost everyone I work with calls it a twig.


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## tkle (Apr 15, 2006)

From the Scandinavian word tryggr meaning true.Besides it makes you sound like you know what you're talking about.


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## 6stringmason (May 20, 2005)

I've never heard it called a twig.


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## Guest (Jul 29, 2006)

Thanks, tkle.:thumbup:


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## lukachuki (Feb 11, 2005)

we call em twigs

"Which comes from the english word twig meaning a small stick."


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## tkle (Apr 15, 2006)

Never used a twig except to start a fire.


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## Teetorbilt (Feb 12, 2004)

Tri this; http://mathforum.org/library/drmath/view/52595.html


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## lukachuki (Feb 11, 2005)

http://www0.epinions.com/Marshalltown_Line_Mason_Twig_16509_Shop_Tools

is this what you are talking about...its what we call twigs

O.E. twigge, from P.Gmc. *twigan (cf. M.Du. twijch, Du. twijg, O.H.G. zwig, Ger. Zweig "branch, twig"), from the root of twi- (see twin), here meaning "forked" (as in O.E. twisel "fork, point of division"). Twiggy "slender" is recorded from 1562.


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## Guest (Jul 30, 2006)

yea, Lukachuki thats what I'm talking about , but I personally think the right term is trig. The guys I work with don't have a large vocabulary.


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## jvcstone (Apr 4, 2005)

Found this definition: 

TRIG. The bricks laid in the middle of the wall that act as a guide to eliminate the sag in the line and to reduce the effect of wind blowing the line out of plumb.

http://www.masonryinstitute.com/guide/glossary/glossary_tuv.html.

Seems like one uses a line twig to hold the line to the top of the trig.:whistling 

JVC


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## lukachuki (Feb 11, 2005)

Now its getting complicated!

Good find JVC.


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## Double-A (Jul 3, 2006)

New math for masons only.

If the side of the building is 17 courses high, and 137 CMU long, how long will your story pole have to be, and on which CMU will you have to set a trig to keep the face of the wall square if you had pie for lunch, and left your house at 5:30, doing 37 MPH?


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## Double-A (Jul 3, 2006)

> d. Using a Trig. When a string line is stretched across a long wall, use a trig to prevent it from sagging. A trig is a short piece of line that loops around the string line at its midpoint and fastens the top edge of a previously laid brick in the middle lead. A piece of broken brick rests on top of the trig to hold it in place (Figure 3-26).


 -- I wish I knew who to credit with this... US Army I think, but who the hell can tell. 

Source


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## tkle (Apr 15, 2006)

Double-A said:


> New math for masons only.
> 
> If the side of the building is 17 courses high, and 137 CMU long, how long will your story pole have to be, and on which CMU will you have to set a trig to keep the face of the wall square if you had pie for lunch, and left your house at 5:30, doing 37 MPH?


What kind of pie?


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## lukachuki (Feb 11, 2005)

tkle said:


> What kind of pie?


u be hungry?


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## stacker (Jan 31, 2006)

*always*

always been called a twig in my part of the world..........until i started working a school project in okc,iand i meet the one we called,TOOTER.we called him that because he was always tooting his own horn,he knew everything about bricklaying,even tho he was only an 85% cub.anyway,after calling a twig a twig all day,he informed me it was called a trig. 
who cares what we call it as long as it works for all of us.
in oklahoma,the art of grabing big flat head catfish out of the river with your hands is called noodlin.in other parts of the us its called grabling.



> If the side of the building is 17 courses high, and 137 CMU long, how long will your story pole have to be, and on which CMU will you have to set a trig to keep the face of the wall square if you had pie for lunch, and left your house at 5:30, doing 37 MPH?


i think i almost have this figured out,but have a couple questions.are these concrete or lw block.and is our laborer related to use by marrage or blood.


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## Bigbricklayer (May 14, 2006)

*twig*

We call them twigs here in Southwest Missouri also. I have had the same 2 twigs for the past 15 years.Plus it is cooler to say twig than trig:thumbup:


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## Tscarborough (Feb 25, 2006)

I call them "twigs", "(line)pins", and "(line)blocks"; "toys" for short, and I give them away by the hundred.


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## stacker (Jan 31, 2006)

> [I have had the same 2 twigs for the past 15 years./QUOTE]
> i lose at least 2 twigs per job.i have a bricklayer who works for me from time to time and i cant get him to stop using his hat bill for a twig holder.all he does is bend the twig out of place and makes them hard to hold a line.:furious:


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## Glasshousebltr (Feb 9, 2004)

We used to call them roach clips.:w00t:

Bob


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## tkle (Apr 15, 2006)

Well I'll be dogged after all these years thinking I knew everything,I come to these forums and learn different.A twig is used to trig your line.Well thanks to these threads,once again I do know everything.I even know what a barbell jointer is.Can't wait to go to work today and share my new found knowledge.


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## Double-A (Jul 3, 2006)

tkle said:


> What kind of pie?


His favorite of course, but without whipped cream or ice cream.



stacker said:


> i think i almost have this figured out,but have a couple questions.are these concrete or lw block.and is our laborer related to use by marrage or blood.


Either one. He's your cousin's baby's mother's sister's nephew. By adoption.


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## tkle (Apr 15, 2006)

stacker said:


> a
> .and is our laborer related to use by marrage or blood.


both


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## stacker (Jan 31, 2006)

:no: well crap,now your saying we are doing the work in ark?


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## tkle (Apr 15, 2006)

So is a twig just a type of trig?Are all twigs,trigs,but not all trigs are twigs?


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## Tscarborough (Feb 25, 2006)

You use a twig in the process of trigging a wall.


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## tkle (Apr 15, 2006)

Double-A said:


> --A trig is a short piece of line that loops around the string line at its midpoint and fastens the top edge of a previously laid brick in the middle lead.
> 
> I wish I knew who to credit with this... US Army I think, but who the hell can tell.
> 
> Source


A trig isn't always a twig.A folded hundred dollar bill is also a trig but isn't a twig,so isn't a twig just another type of trig.Hence both terms are correct.


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## jvcstone (Apr 4, 2005)

tkle,

Refer back to post #10, The trig is a mid wall brick lead, built to twig the line to inorder to A) take up the sag, and B) to prevent wind from blowing the line out of plumb. A trig is a trig, a twig is a twig--even if it is a match book, bent over wall tie, or 100 dollar bill.:thumbsup: 

JVC


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## tkle (Apr 15, 2006)

http://www.sweethaven02.com/BldgConst/en5157a0069.gif

http://www.free-ed.net/sweethaven/BldgConst/Masonry/lessonmain.asp?iNum=fra0307


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