Don't look down. Holy shit, these are legit?
 

I've seen lots of these 1930s photos of guys out on the girders in NYC and they always make me anxious just looking at them. I'm fucking petrified of heights. The dude with the golf club HAS to be Photoshopped, right? Jesus Christ.

http://www.bartcop.com/dont-look-down-130131.jpg

http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/id?79860

http://twistedsifter.files.wordpress...ine-1931-1.jpg

http://twistedsifter.files.wordpress...ine-1931-8.jpg

http://twistedsifter.files.wordpress...ine-1931-9.jpg

Yeah those types of pics always make me feel a little uneasy...

I hear you. I have a physical reaction to them - like a small adrenaline spike or something.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=MiYn9d1CAto

Those were real men.

Today, we have OSHA.

http://media1.santabanta.com/full1/G...-bieber-5a.jpg




what is war ?
i'm not afraid to cry ...

Yep takes a certian type of man to become a Ironworker

super brave buliders

I can honestly say I would be dead after less than a day on the job.

.

i was an iron worker helper back when i was younger, we hung a lot of steel, all at or under 3 stories, which was plenty enough for me. i ended up taking a ladder ride from 3 stories up and decided my hanging iron days are over.

They didn't have photoshop in 1930 you weirdo.

:1orglaugh:1orglaugh

j/k ... welcome back!

amazing pictures

it doesn't look that much different than how i remember it. actually, the most queer construction i ever worked was pipe insulation. those guys were some backwards mother fuckers! :1orglaugh

find the video about the guys that work the antenna towers.

:2 cents:

fucking unions eh? If it weren't for organized workers concerned about safety, we'd have these pictures today!

Thanks for passing this on. Holy shit.

??? :upsidedow

+1 :thumbsup

Bart: "Dad, why did you bring me to a gay steel mill?" :1orglaugh

I know. Fucking safety am I right? Just look what it's done to the porn industry. Tests and condoms. Safety is bad. Unions are bad. People should be allowed to do whatever the fuck their employers want them to do.

/sarcasm

Regardless, most of these pics are a result of good photo cropping and the right angles.

http://depletedcranium.com/were-stee...this-reckless/

Sure they were in some danger. But not as much as these photos would lead you to believe.

The reason these things have so much appeal is because everyone would like to believe that "back in the day America was tougher and" blah blah blah.

That's what I have to believe. Those pics are just whack. It looks like a breeze (and there can be serious gusts up that high) would just send them tumbling.

Thanks for the link.

Back in the day people were not complete wussies like they are now.

neat article but the author should have known they are called iron workers, not steel workers, and sure, photogs use perspective to increase drama in a photo but while most iron workers don't have a death wish, it's was and still is a very dangerous job and the weather was a big part of the danger.

Didn't a lot of Navajo work on those? Can't remember the tribe but I know that they worked up high because they didn't have a natural predisposition to fear of heights or suffer vertigo if they looked down.

the other thing to consider is how unforgiving that fucking steel is. shit weighs more than you realize and when it's swinging, look out. especially lining up 2 beams with a spud wrench, good time to lose a finger or 3.

incredible. just watching that makes me uneasy.

Most dangerous jobs in America
4 of 10
Sturctural steel and iron worker
2008 fatality rate: 46.4 per 100,000 workers.

The romance and lucrative wages of high steel has been chronicled in many paeans to skyscraper and high-rise builders. There's no doubt, though, that it's a dangerous job. The workers often walk four-inch beams of steel: One misstep could be their last.

On-the-job deaths have declined over the years as safety measures, such as heavy nets that can catch falling workers (as well as debris that could hit workers on lower floors) have helped.

But when you're 300 feet above the ground working with swinging cranes and dangling I-beams, there's little room for error.

Lot's of workers died building those structures.

I read somewhere about hundreds of men who died building the Brooklyn Bridge too.

http://voices.yahoo.com/mohawk-india...s-2795802.html

and apparently the pre-disposition was they didn't want to starve