Great tips Ross.

How about putting blocks in the corners and make straight cuts!
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Stick to fishing

It’s easy nowadays compared to a hand miter box, lion trimmer and hammer
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I still have a lion trimmer.....

Or a spiral ratchet screwdriver......still use it in the shop once in a while....for nostalgia.

In the 90's I was working as a foreman installing architectural millwork, in banks, libraries, country clubs, airports etc. Most of my crew were usually unskilled guys who could not cope prefinished 5" cherry crown moulding to save their lives. When we landed a job finishing out a five story hotel with crown moulding throughout, I suggested that we buy a machine called a Copemaster.
It will cope any moulding profile in a few seconds. With it we "precoped" left and right ends of crown moulding stock in the shop, making it easier for the installers on the job.


https://youtu.be/LWqF5r6RhyM

That is an interesting machine, some setup time but it should make money.

Yes....if I remember correctly it cost around $500, my company saved more than that on that one job alone. These days I'm back doing residential...still do a lot of crown moulding...but no need for copemaster.
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Now it's $2495 but skill levels have not gone up

When I started in the home building trade, the entire house was built without any nail guns....framing, siding, roofing, trim....all nailed by hand. Todays carpenters use a nail gun like it's an automatic weapon....way too many nails and in all the wrong places.
Also I've noticed that almost none of them have a block plane,sharpening stone, or handsaw:scratch:

And sawzalls were for Plumbers
I had a box with 4 handsaws
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Things ain’t like they yusta wuz.....

Laid flown my floor trim yesterday. I guess that is when you discover how uneven your subfloor is... 😆
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Me too.... my shoulder still hurts from nailing off the ceiling strapping... :jump:

Yeah Gup...that underhanded nailing was a tough job for me as a scrawney 18 yr. old....but I did learn to hammer left handed once my right arm went numb.:rolleyes:.....and driving 16d nails in all day long... with a 22 oz hammer...after the first six months my blisters turned to calluses.

Finished up on two more....The furniture style legs on the island can go either way vertically...customers choice.

So clean. Does the home owner hire you or are you hired by a designer to execute their concept?
I make pendant lighting for kitchens if you ever have a client that wants something very unique.
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I work directly for the developer/ home builder....they refer customers to kitchen design/cabinet provider...then I install with very limited contact with customer....which is just how I like it to be honest...for me.... after 45 years of doing this.... customers are usually a PIA.

Haha! I bet they are a pain in the ass.
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This is the problem I have with pro builders is when you don't get to hover over their shoulder. You see something you think isn't being done right, it's easy to google an expert YouTube video on how to do it on your iPad so you can just show them the right way. They're never very happy about it.

:hidin:

A customer recently told me he had spent 80 grand on his cabinets and appliances and told me my installation had to be perfect. I do good work but not perfect and i told him so. All I can do is my best.
I also told him it wasnt too late to get someone else.
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Good for you
As an old carpenter I knew said: We ain't building a piano, ya know

I am not an entertainer or performer.....so I don't allow anyone to watch me work. The last time a customer took issue with my methods, I said nothing.. packed up my tools....never went back:wavey:

Here is a handy calculator app for finding angles...I use it a lot when doing stair work. I set it to side / angle / side and put in the rise and run of my stairway. It gives me both the level and verticle angles of all the cuts... I can set my saw to the given angles with confidence.
https://www.calculatorsoup.com/calcu...e-theorems.php

I think they tried to teach me all that in high school :deadhorse:

Catholic grammar school had us doing square root, long-hand in fifth grade....not that I remember how...:shocked:
A pitch block is an old school method of getting the angles and has other important uses.... including getting newel post the correct height for any given location.

Bob, you use the sure-tite hardware?

I'm using the ones in this video....when the situation allows. Some of my posts are teneoned down through into the floor framing.
https://youtu.be/uNMy2FdlW-M
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These new houses all have a lot of prefinished hardwood flooring.
No more sand in place for now. Upside for me is we have to hookup and run the AC to keep the humidity low...also dehumidifiers in basement ......otherwise the flooring may absorb too much moisture and start cupping.

#^&#^&#^&#^&stains framing a house across the street wearing hooded sweatshirts..... with temps in the low 90's.:huh:
Co-worker of mine couldn't find his four foot level he was just using after looking everywhere he had been....I said "check with the framers they "borrow stuff" without asking".....Bingo.

Developer I'm working for is going all-out to build as many homes as possible in this booming economy. Demand is incredible for these smaller homes on ridiculously small lots, all pre-sold before construction begins. Current subdivision of 54 lots all sold and finished. Already breaking ground on another large tract of land, with no slowdown in sight. Sales people have told me that their job is easy, largely due to quality of interior finish materials and workmanship in comparison to other builders. Also our homes are Energy Star certified, which means they meet standards beyond the current building codes for energy efficiency.

When my ex hired some guys she had worked with before to build us a nice deck years ago I had to calculate the baluster spacing for them and they still managed to forget to subtract for the top riser so that tread was 3/4 off. And I've never built a set of stairs in my life.

I went to a small Catholic school where we were drilled relentlessly ...while the nun teacher walked the ailes ...slamming a ruler on the desks of students slow to respond.
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Bob, you and I now have the luxury of working with top grade materials and doing the job right the first time. Many clients are looking for the cheap route, which ends up costing more in the end. You are in the build end. I am in the remodeling end, so I get to see a lot of crappy work... and crappy or sometimes incorrect materials they used. (Many of these homes are hundreds of years old. It is the more recent work that is crappy.) Fortunately I am now at a point where I can choose my jobs for the most part and definitely choose who I want to work for, or not. I will not do band aids. Period. Do it right, or call someone else.
I used to charge the same across the board, but when I do get into a situation now, I will tack a difficulty tax into the estimate.... Life is short from this vantage point and there are way too many hacks putting their names on trucks and getting work that they have no business doing....

News reports seem to suggest people don't event want to get into construction jobs these days...I wonder of the finer aspects of the trade will just die off or become so expensive only the wealthy can afford them. It might already be this way now.

My master stairs are almost 160 years old and aside from a few tweaks needed looks as good as new. Neighbor's was made by the same guy a few years earlier and looks even better.

Spence...both of my sons... who are grown men with good jobs, never showed any interest in going into the carpentry or building trades. I remember someone asking my youngest if he wanted to be a carpenter like his dad. His response was "no"and when asked why not? he said "My dad always comes home from work dirty and tired and his back hurts"

Yeah Ross...our industry has no qualifying standards.....nowadays anybody who straps on a tool belt calls themselves a carpenter.
I think you are right to tack on a difficulty tax........some customers you can tell going in that they will be difficult....I use to add money to cover something I call the ashhole quotient.

Kind of like canal fishing :laugha:

Three sons got a hammer in their hands around age 14, it stuck on one...
Best thing I coulda done...
all four of us on the same frame a couple times, I was on cloud nine...

That's great Ray!

Both of my boys chose a profession that will take good care of them and their families. Youngest is a bar manager at a private country club....some weeks makes as much or more than a master carpenter. The other is a land surveyor and cad operator for an established engineering company with opportunity to advance

The construction trade I went into as an 18 year old 45 years ago has changed dramatically. Over time it has become the bastion of illegal immigrants......wages are suppressed......their shoddy work has become acceptable.......they pay no taxes, workmans comp, unemployment insurance, health ins....sick days holidays...etc.

Many days I dont hear or see another english speaking worker

A once proud profession has been ruined...sadly I wont be missing it when I retire in a few years. Glad that my boys dont have to compete on this out of level playing field.

Got to know one of the coyotes who smuggles these workers up here. When they hit the ground here they owe the man $3,000...which means they work for nothing until it's paid off. Then he can fire them or keep them on at less than minimum wage.....and if they get hurt...they are on their own and disappear.

there's a special place in hell for that guy:af::splat:


I have to meet you someday soon, maybe we can go fishing

Slip....c'mon down..... maybe after work sometime.... I'm always happy to show off my homemade boat...hang out in the man cave.. have a cold one...tell some fishing tales...etc.