You likely have all the tools you need to make accurate copies of crown molding you can't find at the home center.| Fine Homebuilding
This drying rack for long trim pieces assembles quickly and stores flat.| Fine Homebuilding
Like every part of my new home in Southern Oregon, I wanted the garden fence and gates to reflect the architectural style I enjoy the most—the craftsman style that I learned to love while living in California, surrounded by bungalows and Greene and Greene homes. I can’t count how many times I’ve visited the Gamble... Read the full article| THISisCarpentry
Carpentry is more than a job for me, more than just a trade, and more than a profession, too. Carpentry is rooted deep within me, along with my Swedish origin. I know this for a fact because I spend more time appreciating other carpenters’ work, and appreciating architectural ornamentation, than I spend doing anything else... Read the full article| THISisCarpentry
Most contractors and carpenters are familiar with ‘once in a lifetime jobs.’ For some of us, a once-in-a-lifetime job is simply having a client that appreciates your work, and when the job is finished, doesn’t complain about your final invoice (with all the extras!). Instead, they just write you a check and say thank you,... Read the full article| THISisCarpentry
When I bought my little house in southern Oregon, I knew I’d be removing the existing concrete patio and the funky patio cover. The concrete had been mixed in a wheelbarrow and poured in sections, maybe over a decade or two, at least that was the forensic evidence. In some places the finish was smooth... Read the full article| THISisCarpentry
This article might not appeal to all TiC readers, but that’s not the point of THISisCarpentry. Our goal isn’t to reach everyone. Our mission is to provide quality educational material for carpenters, even if it’s only a few of them. Still, I expect that even if you never have to install doors to meet HVHZ... Read the full article| THISisCarpentry
I’ve installed a few sets of floating shelves, but never anything like I was asked to do by one of my favorite customers. They wanted floating shelves in their kitchen, and they live in a straw bale home! Except around the windows and doors, vertical studs were not used anywhere in the walls, but the... Read the full article| THISisCarpentry
JLC magazine recently asked me to answer a reader’s question: What’s the right height for chair rail and wainscoting? Of course, everyone always wants the short answer, so here it is: Somewhere between 26 in. to 32 in. off the floor. Now here’s the same answer I wrote in JLC, and I’ll bet you’ll regret... Read the full article| THISisCarpentry
Lately, my crew and I are installing a lot of flat stock casing in the homes that we trim out—which means I also have to make more and more radius casing to finish the tops of windows and doors that have arched heads. Besides the sizes of the openings always being different, some openings require... Read the full article| THISisCarpentry
In “My Living Room Wall: Part 1,” I documented the design concepts, the firewood box, and the stone mantel-shelf; now we’re onto the cabinets and shelves. Installing the tops and trim, the face frames and doors, as well as the tapered columns, took a lot of thought and a lot of time. Other than baseboard molding,... Read the full article| THISisCarpentry
I’m fortunate not to be a packrat. I know many people who are. My father would never throw away anything! Which is probably one reason I’m so averse to saving stuff. I’ve even thrown away a few things I had to buy again! But there is one thing I’ve always had a problem with—books. My... Read the full article| THISisCarpentry
Back in the mid-1980s, my brother and I were growing tired of installing 1 1/2-in. clamshell casing, and 2 1/2-in. streamline baseboard. As finish contractors, that’s all we did on every job, day after day (after we had installed the doors and windows). By then we’d nailed off miles of small trim in thousands of... Read the full article| THISisCarpentry
Years ago, I visited Rowan Oak—William Faulkner‘s home in Oxford, Mississippi. Rowan Oak is more than just a Pulitzer-prize winning author’s home. It’s an example of Greek Revival architecture, and it was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1968. I figured my visit might make a good article, and so I brought my camera with me.... Read the full article| THISisCarpentry
Developing and Producing Rake Crown with a Shaper and Band Saw The most important part of carpentry is design. If the design isn’t right, if the drawings are mediocre or worse, no amount of joinery skills will save a project from failure. Unfortunately, executing proper drawings prior to cutting wood and creating sawdust isn’t a... Read the full article| THISisCarpentry
Traditional Methods for Developing and Producing Rake Moldings The required joinery for a molding that transitions from level to rake around a corner frequently puzzles many carpenters. At first glance it appears that it should work, but upon experimentation, it can be maddening to find out that it won’t. A Note from the Publisher: NOTE:... Read the full article| THISisCarpentry
Drawing and Developing Rake Crown Profiles A little over a year ago we published an article about Eave Returns. While the focus of that article was about creating a “Poor Man’s Return,” we continue to receive comments and emails asking about how to develop the required molding profiles for a “Classical” eave return and pediment.... Read the full article| THISisCarpentry
At an almost commodity price For almost fifteen years I’ve been meeting a friend of mine, Ken, on Friday mornings. He’s retired, but he still does a few small jobs. Sometimes he gets one that is a little over the top and asks me to help. Recently, he pulled out a picture of a door... Read the full article| THISisCarpentry
While this article won’t teach you everything about crown molding, it will get you started on the right foot! This is the crown molding demonstration we’ve been using at the Katz Roadshow. In fact, you may have seen Mike Sloggatt and Rick Arnold doing the same presentation. If you missed a point or two, or... Read the full article| THISisCarpentry
A head-to-head tool review I’ve used a Kreg pocket hole jig for years. Like a lot of woodworkers and carpenters, pocket holes have changed the way I work and made my job a lot easier. But years ago I grew tired of drilling so many holes by hand, especially when we were doing wainscoting... Read the full article| THISisCarpentry
SawGear has improved their digital miter saw stop system and the improvements are worth knowing about. The system is still expensive—out of the range of most finish carpenters—but for production crews, or for companies that pre-cut a lot of moldings in their shop, the new improvements are a game changer. A few years ago, when... Read the full article| THISisCarpentry
I saw my first pattern book while visiting the Huntington Library Rare Books department in 1992 or 93. The book was Designs by Inigo Jones, written by William Kent and published in 1727. By the time I opened that book, I’d been working as a carpenter for more than fifteen years and specializing in finish... Read the full article| THISisCarpentry
Lately I’ve been surprised at how much I don’t know about stuff I thought I knew a lot about. And I mean some pretty simple stupid stuff—at least, I thought it was simple. That’s one reason you’ll be seeing some new “Tool Tips” articles on TiC, and they’ll be in our Tips department. This is... Read the full article| THISisCarpentry
Endura’s new articulating threshold definitely belongs in TiC’s ‘New & Cool‘ articles. I’ve never seen anything like it before. Interlock thresholds are always the best way to go, if you want a 100% positive seal—a door that never leaks. It’s easy to add a thin strip of silibead to the interlock J-hook, too, so wind... Read the full article| THISisCarpentry
Thirty years ago, if you needed an old house head block with a bullseye or rosette in it, you would have had to buy one pre-made or seek out one of the few rosette cutters on the market. Either way, it would’ve been too small for a typical renovation of an old house. Today, there are some rosette cutters that have interchangeable blades with the ability to have custom knives cut. But they’re too expensive, especially if you only need a few. And rosette cutters are hard to use on a drill p...| THISisCarpentry