About the Carpenter

First Carpentry Job - This is a memoir 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 - After learning enough about carpentry to frame a simple house, I stumbled across an opportunity to build chimneys, stairs, fireplaces, bay windows, and shed roofs on a new apartment complex as a self-employed carpenter.

Estimating Construction Costs - Estimating construction costs can be an abstruse phase of a carpentry project. I learned the hard way — the costly way — by trusting my customers implicitly, never once considering that they might take advantage of my inexperience and obliviousness.

Carpenter or Millwright - Through on-the-job experiences, I discovered 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 chapter is about my experiences building decks in central Texas in the mid-80s; how three carpenters worked in harmony to produce a deck a day. The subtle differences and challenges of each new deck became an object lesson for future decks.

Road to Virginia - This chapter recaps the events of my three-day, 1500-mile road journey to northern Virginia in my fully loaded Toyota pickup to work as a carpenter after the Texas oil price collapse annihilated the construction industry in Texas.

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

Carpentry from Texas - The carpentry skills I learned while working in Virginia were like nothing I learned in Texas, but not necessarily better. It was time for me to share a few carpentry tricks and techniques I had learned in Texas with my talented counterparts from Virginia.

Texas Road Trip - This chapter reflects on a road trip that marked a turning point in my carpentry and personal life. It was a time to process the events that had occurred since I moved to Virginia six months prior, and how those outcomes might shape my career and personal futures.

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.