c/carpenters

24

jason958•1d ago

Debated between poplar and oak for a client's built-in shelves

I had this job last week in Evansville where a lady wanted bookshelves. She was torn between poplar for the price or oak for the looks. I pushed for poplar since it paints way better and saves her about $200 on materials. But she went with oak anyway and now I'm stuck sanding out the grain for hours on end. Has anyone else had a customer ignore your advice on wood choice and then complain about the cost later?

12

reese_patel•1d ago

That cheap combination square I swore by turned out to be garbage

I used a $8 square from the hardware store for about 2 years on jobs. Kept wondering why my miters were never quite tight. Finally borrowed a friend's Starrett at a job site near Portland and realized I was off by almost 1/16th on every single cut. Has anyone else had a tool they trusted fail them this bad?

11

alice808•1d ago

Just realized my old chisel sharpening method was way off

I'd been using a cheap oil stone for years and my chisels always felt dull after a few cuts. Last month I tried a diamond stone from a guy at a job site in Portland, and the difference is night and day. That $40 stone gives me a burr in half the time. Has anyone else noticed how much grit matters for edge retention?

13

ryan952•2d ago

Why does nobody talk about how bad cordless nailers are for trim work?

I was on a job last week in a 1920s house near downtown, fixing up some crown molding in a library room. The homeowner handed me his fancy new cordless finish nailer, said it was a game changer. I tried it on the first piece and it left these little dents deeper than any pneumatic gun I've ever used. Then the nail angle was off by like 3 degrees, so I had to fill every single hole with putty. Took me twice as long as if I'd just used my old Senco compressor setup. My buddy Dave swears by his cordless but he mostly does framing where nobody sees the face. Has anyone else noticed this with finish work, or am I just stuck in my ways?

27

the_lucas•2d ago

Got a new track saw last month and realized I've been overpaying for 10 years on cheap circular saws

Picked up a Festool TSC 55 from a guy in Denver who was upgrading and after using it to cut down 20 sheets of 3/4 ply for a kitchen job I finally get why you pay $600 for a saw that doesn't fight you, has anyone else had that moment where one tool makes you hate everything else in your box?

29

wesleybutler•3d ago

Why does nobody talk about how bad those big box store 'custom' countertops are?

I was at a friend's remodel in Denver last weekend and saw the granite they got from one of those home center places. Looked fine at first, but up close the miter joint on the corner was gapped and the backsplash had a chip they tried to hide with wax. I did kitchen counters for 15 years before I retired, and this stuff wouldn't have passed in my crew. Everyone I tell says 'oh but it's cheaper and convenient' but I've seen enough callbacks to know you get what you pay for. Have you guys seen similar issues?

7

nora184•6d ago

Met a guy at a job site who only used hand tools for trim work

Last month I was trimming out a master closet in a house up in Portland, and this older carpenter named Dave showed up to help me with the crown molding. He pulled out a old Stanley block plane and a set of chisels, no power tools at all. Asked him why he didnt just use a miter saw like everyone else, and he said "the saw makes dust, I make shavings." Spent the afternoon watching him cope inside corners by hand, and every joint fit tight as a drum. He told me he learned that way from his grandpa in the 70s and never saw a reason to switch. Made me wonder if I lean on my cordless tools too much for stuff that doesnt need them. Has anyone else run into a tradesperson who sticks to the old school methods?

11

terry1•8d ago

The day a loose nail gun hose nearly took my eye at a job site in Portland

I was framing out a basement last Tuesday over in the Pearl District, and my compressor hose snagged on a stack of studs. When it whipped back, the coupler swung straight toward my face, missed my glasses by maybe an inch. I stood there for a solid minute just shaking, thinking about how close that was. The guy I was working with, Mark, just said "that's why I always zip-tie my hose to my belt loop." Smartest thing I heard all week. I started doing that the next day, and it keeps the line out of the way when I'm moving around. Has anyone else had a near miss with something dumb like air hoses or cords that made you change your setup? What did you do about it?

7

juliagonzalez•22d ago

Ngl I was dead set against track saws until I borrowed one for a kitchen job last week

Been using a circular saw with a straight edge for like 8 years. Thought track saws were overpriced and fussy. But my buddy made me try his Festool on a set of 12 cabinet doors and I cut all of them square in under an hour. No chip out, no adjusting the straight edge every 3 cuts. Now I'm looking at the Wen one for $250. Anyone else switch over and not look back?

10

reese_patel•25d ago

That afternoon I spent $8 on a cheap chisel set changed how I do corner joints

I picked up a 4-pack of Aldi chisels for 8 bucks last Saturday on a whim. Sharpened them up with a 1000 grit stone and used them to pare down some dovetail waste on a red oak table I'm building for my sister in Denver. The difference from my old worn out Stanley set was night and day after just 3 passes. Anyone else find that a fresh edge on a cheap chisel beats a dull premium one every time?

2

taylorb94•27d ago

Lost $150 on a 'pro grade' chisel set from an online ad

Bought a 6-piece chisel set from a brand called Ironwood Tools off Instagram. The steel chipped on my third dovetail joint, and they refused a refund because I used them. Total garbage for any real cabinet work. Anyone else get burned by those flashy tool ads?

3

kellyg14•27d ago

Just realized I was wrong about using a jigsaw for straight cuts

I always thought a jigsaw was fine for straight cuts if you had a steady hand. Then a guy named Dave at the lumber yard last Wednesday watched me struggle with a 8 foot plywood sheet and just said "why don't you borrow my track saw for a second." He showed me how it has a little plastic piece that keeps the blade from wandering. I cut a perfect line in like 30 seconds. Bought a used one on Facebook that weekend for $150. Has anyone else had a random stranger on a site teach them something that seemed obvious after?

21

betty_barnes•28d ago

Old timer at the lumber yard showed me a square trick I still use

Guy must have been 70, he saw me fighting with a framing square and just walked over. He flipped it upside down and used the tongue as a fence against the board edge, made my layout perfect in 10 seconds. Anyone else got a weird old timer tip they still lean on?

11

fiona_johnson82•29d ago

Wasted $300 on a fancy biscuit joiner I never needed

I fell for all the hype about needing a biscuit joiner for every joint. Spent $300 on a Porter-Cable model at Home Depot in Akron last spring. Used it exactly twice before realizing my regular doweling jig does the same thing for a fraction of the cost and setup time. The biscuits never lined up perfect anyway and I had to sand all sorts of divots out. Honestly, a cheap kreg jig and some glue has been way more reliable for my cabinet projects. Has anyone else bought a tool they barely touched that seemed like such a good idea at the time?

25

sethr11•1mo ago

Swapped from a mallet to a dead blow hammer for my framing chisels

I spent like 8 years using a standard wooden mallet for everything from chopping mortises to driving framing chisels. Last month I picked up a 24 ounce dead blow hammer from the hardware store in Spokane for about 18 bucks. The difference is night and day - the dead blow doesn't bounce back at all so my strikes land way more accurate and I don't have to fight the tool. Plus it saves my elbow from that jarring shock you get with a hard mallet on a cold morning. I was skeptical because I figured a mallet is a mallet but now I feel dumb for not switching sooner. Has anyone else made this swap and noticed the same thing? What kind of hammer do you use for heavy chisel work?

18

stellac97•1mo ago

I finally had a chat with a finish carpenter who changed my mind on prefinished flooring

He told me he's been using site-finished floors for 20 years because prefinished never matches after the first repair, and after seeing his work from a kitchen remodel last spring I am starting to wonder if I have been cutting corners for clients.

4

seth_martinez21•1mo ago

Found out my grandfather's old wooden framing square is off by 1/16th of an inch

I was using my grandpa's old framing square for a shed project last weekend and kept getting gaps in my cuts. Checked it against a new square from Home Depot and sure enough, it's bent out of whack by about a 16th over 24 inches. Looked it up online and found out heat or moisture can warp old steel squares over decades. Anyone else run into a family tool that's secretly useless?

3

oscarmurphy•1mo ago

Old timer showed me a square trick on a roofer's house last month

I was framing up a porch addition in Portland when this 70 year old retired carpenter walks by and says "your speed square can do more than you think." He showed me how to lay out a hip rafter angle without any math, just by flipping the square and it saved me 20 minutes of trig. Anyone else have some old school method that blew your mind?

2

ryan952•1mo ago

Pro tip: ditch the speed square for angle transfers on crown molding

I used to fight with crown molding angles for hours using my speed square and guesswork. Last month on a job in Denver I finally tried the coping method with a handsaw instead (just cutting the profile by eye). Has anyone else made the switch and found it saves time on tricky inside corners?

17

cooper.max•1mo ago

Counted up 400 custom crown molding cuts today and that hit different

Been doing trim work for 12 years and somehow never added it up until I was cleaning out my truck cab and found a pile of old job tickets, 400 copes and miters across 8 houses with no two ceilings square, has anyone else stopped to tally a weird number like that?

19

tessa_hill86•1mo ago

Hand cutting dovetails vs. router jig: which actually saves you time in the long run?

I spent the last 3 weekends building a set of drawers for a library job I had. I tried doing the dovetails by hand for the first two drawers, took me about 4 hours each. Then I caved and used my router jig for the last three drawers, got each one done in about 45 minutes. But the hand cut ones are so much cleaner and fit tighter. I'm torn on which approach to stick with for production work. Has anyone else dealt with this trade off and found a good middle ground?

21

zarap14•1mo ago

Serious question: hand-cut dovetails vs router jig - which actually works better for production work?

I built 15 drawers last month for a kitchen in Somerville and tried doing half by hand and half with my Porter-Cable jig. The hand-cut ones look amazing but took me about 45 minutes each, while the router ones took 15 minutes tops and look just as tight. My old boss swears hand-cut is the only way to go, but I'm starting to think the router is better for anything over 5 drawers. Anyone else find the hand-cut pride isn't worth the time?

18

laurar38•1mo ago

Tried a cheap circular saw blade for a fence job and it actually cut clean

I always thought you needed a $50+ blade for smooth cuts on treated lumber, but I grabbed a $12 Irwin blade on a whim last week. It ripped through 20 fence pickets with zero tear-out, and I'm still scratching my head about it. Has anyone else found a budget blade that surprised them?

14

wren217•1mo ago

Hit 10,000 board feet of cedar last month and it hit different

I keep a running tally of every project in my workshop notebook. Last month I added up my total board feet for cedar specifically and it came to exactly 10,240. That number surprised me because I didn't realize I had gone through that much in just 3 years. It matters because cedar prices have doubled since I started and I should have been buying in bulk. Has anyone else kept track of a specific wood type and noticed the cost creeping up on you?

26

blair_lewis85•1mo ago

Rant: People using finish nails for baseboard returns instead of glue

I was on a job in Nashville last month and had to redo a whole room because the last guy nailed every return instead of gluing them. Returns pop loose after a season of humidity changes if you just nail them, every time. I learned that from an old carpenter I worked with back in 2018 who made me glue every single one and it never failed. Has anyone else dealt with this on trim jobs?