Carpentry Occupations
– Barrelmaker
– Cabinetmaker
– Framer
– Luthier
– Ships carpenter
Carpenters’ Skills and Materials
– Cutting, shaping, and installing building materials
– Traditionally worked with natural wood
– Rougher work such as framing
– Cabinetmaking and furniture building
– Many other materials used today
Carpentry in Different Countries
– Carpentry in the United States
– 98.5% of carpenters are male
– Fourth most male-dominated occupation in the country
– Approximately 1.5 million carpentry positions in 2006
– Usually the first tradesmen on a job and the last to leave
– Timber framing was common until the end of the 19th century
– Carpentry in the United Kingdom
– Carpentry involves first fixing of timber items
– Construction of roofs, floors, and timber framed buildings
– Second fix work includes skirting boards, architraves, doors, and windows
– Off-site manufacture and pre-finishing is regarded as joinery
– Carpentry is also used in concrete formwork construction
History of Carpentry
– Wood is one of the oldest building materials
– Archaeological evidence of carpentry dates back thousands of years
– Knowledge and skills were passed down through generations
– Printing press in the 15th century led to the publication of guides
– Oldest surviving wooden buildings in the world are temples in China
– Sawmills came into use in the 16th century
– Extraction of wood from the new continent for Europe
– Invention of the steam engine and cut nails in the 18th century
– Development of balloon framing in the 19th century
– Electrical engineering and distribution in the 19th century allowed for power tools and mass production
Education and Training in Carpentry
– Formal training available in seminars, certificate programs, high-school programs, online classes, and in the new construction, restoration, and preservation carpentry fields.
– Programs sometimes called pre-apprenticeship training.
– In the UK, carpenters are trained through apprenticeship schemes, with GCSEs in Mathematics, English, and Technology being preferred but not essential.
– Two main divisions of training: construction-carpentry and cabinetmaking.
– Trainees spend 30 hours a week for 12 weeks in classrooms and workshops learning mathematics, trade terminology, and hand/power tool skills.
– Apprenticeships and journeyperson
– Tradesmen in countries like Germany and Australia fulfill formal apprenticeships to work as professional carpenters.
– Upon graduation, apprentices become journeyperson carpenters.
– Journeypersons used to travel to learn different building styles and techniques, but it is no longer required.
– Union carpenters in the US must pass a skills test to become journeypersons.
– Professional status as a journeyperson can be obtained through formal training or years of experience.
– Master carpenter
– After working as a journeyperson, a carpenter may study or test to become a master carpenter.
– Master certification in countries like Germany, Iceland, and Japan requires extensive knowledge and skill.
– In the US, the term ‘master carpenter’ is loosely used to describe any skilled carpenter.
– Fully trained carpenters may move into related trades such as shop fitting and maintenance.
– Master carpenters may employ and teach apprentices in the craft. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpenter
Carpentry is a skilled trade and a craft in which the primary work performed is the cutting, shaping and installation of building materials during the construction of buildings, ships, timber bridges, concrete formwork, etc. Carpenters traditionally worked with natural wood and did rougher work such as framing, but today many other materials are also used and sometimes the finer trades of cabinetmaking and furniture building are considered carpentry. In the United States, 98.5% of carpenters are male, and it was the fourth most male-dominated occupation in the country in 1999. In 2006 in the United States, there were about 1.5 million carpentry positions. Carpenters are usually the first tradesmen on a job and the last to leave. Carpenters normally framed post-and-beam buildings until the end of the 19th century; now this old-fashioned carpentry is called timber framing. Carpenters learn this trade by being employed through an apprenticeship training—normally four years—and qualify by successfully completing that country's competence test in places such as the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Switzerland, Australia and South Africa. It is also common that the skill can be learned by gaining work experience other than a formal training program, which may be the case in many places.
| Occupation | |
|---|---|
Activity sectors | Construction |
Carpentry covers various services, such as furniture design and construction, door and window installation or repair, flooring installation, trim and molding installation, custom woodworking, stair construction, structural framing, wood structure and furniture repair, and restoration.
