▼
Posts: 6
Threads: 0
Joined: Sep 2021
Hi all,
New to Woodnet but I just retired from residential remodeling/woodworking/finish carpenter this last month. I am stretching into my retirement by getting involved in a forum community.
I taught some woodworking in the past and am interested in getting back into it on a new level. What I am curious about is the mindset of carpentry/woodworking ever a part of the conversation? I recognize it is a kind of 'touchy feely' topic and most carpenters don't like to go there. I have been interested in the topic for a few decades but don't hear much about it.
▼
Posts: 706
Threads: 0
Joined: Dec 2011
I could use a little more detail on what you mean by "mindset".
In education/developmental settings we talk about a fixed or growth mindset. Fixed is the idea that every challenge is a cause to get pissed, and growth is the idea that you meet each challenge with a positive, can-do attitude. Or are you thinking about mindset in terms of production, pleasure, or maybe skill-building?
Posts: 1,674
Threads: 0
Joined: Feb 2003
Ok – I’ll bite.
FWIW – you could say I do a little bit of both. I volunteer at Habit for Humanity one day a week (so basically carpentry), but I am pretty much a furniture builder. So, for me I would say I bring more of the furniture making mindset (aesthetics and precision) to carpentry than the other way around. Some of the H$H superintendents appreciate my precise and meticulous nature, but a few would rather just get the job done.
Then again, that is the beauty of being a carpenter on an H4H project, the labor is free – so no one really complains if it takes an extra day or so to build framing like a piece of furniture!
Posts: 12,477
Threads: 0
Joined: Aug 2003
Location: Wapakoneta, OH
Puzzled, but my stab would be they are 2 separate activities with some overlap in the skills required. Some folks go back and forth (Norm was always labeled as a Master Carpenter) but others are one or the other. Such is the case for me, I'm a woodworker. I've done some carpentry, but not much and always fairly small stuff.
I started with absolutely nothing. Now, thanks to years of hard work, careful planning, and perseverance, I find I still have most of it left.
▼
Posts: 12,197
Threads: 2
Joined: Nov 1999
Location: Nebraska City
(10-01-2021, 05:25 AM)fredhargis Wrote: Puzzled, but my stab would be they are 2 separate activities with some overlap in the skills required. Some folks go back and forth (Norm was always labeled as a Master Carpenter) but others are one or the other. Such is the case for me, I'm a woodworker. I've done some carpentry, but not much and always fairly small stuff.
I can do 'carpentry' as well as building furniture and cabinets. I've always felt like the difference is that a guy working in the cabinet shop may not be able to pull off 'furniture', but a furniture guy could almost certainly build cabinets.
▼
Posts: 3,755
Threads: 0
Joined: Feb 2005
10-01-2021, 08:25 AM
(This post was last modified: 10-01-2021, 08:27 AM by Kudzu.)
(10-01-2021, 06:08 AM)KC Wrote: I can do 'carpentry' as well as building furniture and cabinets. I've always felt like the difference is that a guy working in the cabinet shop may not be able to pull off 'furniture', but a furniture guy could almost certainly build cabinets.
I love this.
Just finishing out a new shop I had built. Had a small office framed in the back corner and I have been sheathing the walls and putting a floor down overhead to use for storage. Being that I prefer making furniture working on this I am reminded very much how sloppy and imprecise carpentry is/can be compared to making furniture. That is not a criticism just an observation.
Just really convinces me there is a big difference in a real woodworking and a carpenter. I don't think now days that the two words are really interchangeable even though they are used that way.
I have found how much a boat is used is inversely related to how much it weighs.
Kudzu Craft Lightweight kayaks
▼
Posts: 13,391
Threads: 4
Joined: Jun 2007
Location: New Jersey
(10-01-2021, 08:25 AM)Kudzu Wrote: I love this.
Just finishing out a new shop I had built. Had a small office framed in the back corner and I have been sheathing the walls and putting a floor down overhead to use for storage. Being that I prefer making furniture working on this I am reminded very much how sloppy and imprecise carpentry is/can be compared to making furniture. That is not a criticism just an observation.
Just really convinces me there is a big difference in a real woodworking and a carpenter. I don't think now days that the two words are really interchangeable even though they are used that way.
ha ha; in the past I volunteered for Habitat, helped with 4 houses or so. Once we were doing framing and I was up on a ladder calling down measurements to the guy on the chop saw, and he was consistently 3/8ths off the measurement. After about a half dozen, I called down and told him he was consistently short, he said "its good enough." While it likely was, my retort was that I build furniture and I work in 64ths! He got better....
Credo Elvem ipsum etiam vivere
Non impediti ratione cogitationis
▼
Posts: 2,378
Threads: 0
Joined: Dec 2011
In my book:
Carpenters and furniture/cabinetmakers are the same.......only to someone who doesn't know enough about fine woodworking.
I never call myself a carpenter, though I don't correct people in any conversation when they say I'm a carpenter or have good carpentry skills.
Master Carpenter? Norm is one of the most humble folks under the sky you can find, despite his achievements. Sam Maloof called himself a woodworker, not a fine craftsman as some modern makers like to label themselves.
Simon
Posts: 6
Threads: 0
Joined: Sep 2021
Thank you all for being here and joining in the conversation.
For me this is a huge topic spanning decades of transitions from one skillset to the next. I spent my first ten years of experience, the 1970's, as a furniture builder. I spent a few years with different types of cabinetry. From there I followed the money into highly custom fine finish carpentry. Then to get off my knees into management of the process.
Some of what I am curious about:
- People who work angry make mistakes. How much of what we are feeling gets translated into our work?
- As a career carpenter/woodworker I am astounded by the fact a simple thought of piece of trim actually finds itself into the world. How does that work? I have been trying to track the path of thought-to-thing for a long time.
- If we understand what we are thinking and feeling while we are measuring and cutting, can we assemble better structures? My answer to this is yes, it makes a difference.
So, when advising someone in the art/craft of woodworking, how much of the conversation is about self-evaluation, patience, and acceptance of where one is at in the process, the stuff that comes along with the years of experience, the subtle advanced techniques?
Posts: 2,018
Threads: 0
Joined: Jan 2003
I just call myself a woodworker. I don't think it implies much other than I make large pieces of wood into smaller ones. I've done some carpentry, but would never consider myself a carpenter-I have too much respect for them. I don't get too hung up on titles. The bar for being called a woodworker can be pretty low, and maybe it should be. Seeing some of a person's work will usually tell the level they are at.
|