About the Carpenter

First Carpentry Job - This is the story of my first carpentry job - building single-family homes in Central Texas in the early 1980s. Many things have changed since the 1980s - new technologies, better tools, the internet, but carpentry is still the same.

Self-Employed Carpenter - This is the story of my work and life experiences while building apartments as a self-employed carpenter in Central Texas in the early 1980s.

Estimating Construction Costs - Estimating construction costs can be an abstruse phase of a carpentry project. But if you combine your knowledge of construction techniques with on-the-job experience, you can start to estimate your construction projects with confidence.

Carpenter or Millwright - A carpenter, through on-the-job experiences, discovers the similarities between the carpenter and millwright trades. The carpenter, who primarily works on residential projects, and the millwright, who is more oriented toward commercial and industrial construction, share many common skills and methods of building.

Building Decks - This article is about my experiences building decks in central Texas in the mid-80s. Many Texans in the oil and construction businesses struggled to survive after the 1986 Texas oil bust.

Road to Virginia - This story captures the events of my three-day 1500-mile road trip to northern Virginia in my fully loaded Toyota pickup to work as a carpenter after the Texas oil price collapse.

Carpentry in Virginia - Carpentry in Virginia was not unlike that in Texas, but there were subtle differences—the weather, the building materials, the frostline, the roads, the scenery, the food, and the inspiring people.

Carpentry from Texas - I had learned a lot during my first few months studying carpentry in Virginia, but I had developed a few tricks of my own in the years before I arrived, and it was time to give the good folks up north a taste of carpentry from Texas.

Texas Road Trip - is a chapter in a memoir I am writing about my years as a carpenter in the late 1980s. It reflects on a particular road trip that marked a turning point in my carpentry life.

Carpentry Beyond Wood - Occasionally, as a carpentry subcontractor, you might have to work with materials other than wood. My experience involved replacing a bridge over a small creek using Corrugated Galvanized Pipe (CGP) during the coldest December I had ever experienced.

China Coast - As relatively small construction projects go, restaurants can be very challenging because of the framing required for plumbing, electrical, stoves, ovens, walk-in coolers, etc. This restaurant was certainly no exception!