Welcome to a blog by an actual carpenter!

Thanks so much for taking the time to check in! It’s a new year, and I’ve got a whole new endeavor to go along with my career as a freelance carpenter. This post officially marks my first entry in an article-style blog I’ll be updating weekly for my readers.

I hope to accomplish a lot of things with this site, and to cover a lot of ground over time. So, I thought it would be best if I started out with a quick look at the sort of material you’re likely to find here.

1.

First and foremost, this is a DIY blog, by an actual carpenter.

Many of my weekly articles are going to focus on specific woodworking projects and home repair projects, with detailed explanations of how to carry out the techniques involved.

That said, I also intend to post a lot of material about even more basic aspects of carpentry: how to cut with particular saws; how to find and handle lumber and materials; how to incorporate tools that you might not have used (or perhaps even heard of) before.

I feel that most of the home improvement shows on television, Youtube channels, and other DIY blogs fail to address these fundamental topics.

My work as a professional carpenter has shown me that not only are these basics absolutely necessary for getting things done quickly and easily—they are also almost completely unknown outside of the construction industry.

So, even if you feel reasonably confident in your DIY skills, give these simple articles a try. You may glean some small, helpful detail to add to your repertoire. I incorporate a lot of pictures in my articles, too, and tend to include illustrated annotations (as seen above), so clarity should never be an issue.

2.

My second intention for this blog is to convey general knowledge about contracting and the construction industry at large. My ultimate goal here is to help you AVOID GETTING RIPPED OFF BY CONTRACTORS.

I hate to say it, but the construction industry is in an abysmal state.

Time and time again, I’ve walked into situations where the tradesmen and contractors who preceded me have lied to, cheated, or merely underserved my clients. It seems that everybody I work for has some horror story about projects gone terribly awry, money stolen, work left unfinished.

This stinks! And it reflects poorly on the tradespeople who work hard to deliver quality service every day.

Knowledge is power in these situations.

Every little thing you learn about your house, construction, and contracting in general will leave you better equipped to hire workers, manage projects, and get things done without being blindsided.

For instance, if a contractor tells you that your “mudsill” needs to be replaced, you’ll be in an immensely better situation if you:

1. Know what a mudsill is
2. Know how a mudsill works
3. Can prove to the contractor that you understand these things

 

Much of the bamboozling that happens these days is simply a bluff job—contractors relying on the fact that their clients have a scarcity of knowledge about the way things are built. You will easily scare these people off when you show that you have at least a groundwork of knowledge in their chosen field.

And this topic leads quite neatly into my third reason for starting this blog…

3.

I want to encourage people to get interested in the trades again, even to pursue trade work as a potential career.

It’s no secret that these crucial skills are vanishing in America.

With the meteoric rise of the tech sector, and a nationwide focus on channeling all young people through four-year academic colleges, physical labor occupations have taken a distant back seat to white-collar jobs. Trade apprenticeships and training programs hardly exist anymore.

The “trade vacuum” that has evolved from this trend is, I believe, singly responsible for the ever-declining standards of the construction industry. Manual labor is viewed as something you do when you’re uneducated, or unqualified to do anything else.

This is total, absolute garbage.

All trade work requires talented hands, and a talented mind. By reducing the pride our nation takes in physical labor, we’ve reduced the pride our laborers take in their work. I desperately want to see this trend reversed.

If we encourage people—especially young people—to see trade work not just as a vocation, but as a valid, respectable profession, I think we will begin to see the standards of the industry improve overall.

Plus, trade work can be fun and extremely rewarding. Especially when your office frequently looks like this…

So, expect an occasional article about appreciating carpenters in general, and the fantastic possibilities that await those who want to try hanging up the necktie for a while, and putting on a tool belt.

4.

Finally, one thing you should not expect to see on THE HONEST CARPENTER is an abundance of advertising.

Websites have become so cluttered with ads that you can’t get through an article without banners, sidebars and pop-ups obliterating your screen. It’s almost impossible to distinguish content from paid promotions anymore.

My intention is to never bring this sort of invasive advertising into this site.

As a carpenter, my posts will be straightforward text-and-photo articles containing nothing but my opinions and content. I’ll also host a small Q&A section where I share answers to particular problems people write in with.

Just easy-to-digest information without the distractions.

 

That’s pretty much it—THE HONEST CARPENTER in a nutshell.

I really am excited to get this blog underway, and I’m already compiling numerous topics for articles. I want this site to be very reader-driven as well, though, so reach out to me through the Contact page and let me know what you want to learn about.

Thanks so much for checking in! I hope to hear from you soon!

 

If you have any questions, or if you have a suggestion for a subject of a future blogpost, please go to our Contact page. Thanks!!