TiC Contributing Author Mike Sloggatt is a Long Island resident and national building educator who spent time volunteering in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. Mike reflected on the cleanup and recovery from the devastating storm in a October/November 2013 interview with Fine Homebuilding. Fine Homebuilding granted TiC permission to reprint the interview in its entirety. The original can be accessed on the Fine Homebuilding website. Read the full article…
I’m a GC with a trade background of framing. Here in Southern Oregon, often times the framing crew is also the building wrap, trim, siding, and window/door installation crew. This includes fascia. At least that’s the way the guys that taught me did it. Luckily, I had some good mentors. However, installing prow fascia isn’t an everyday task. In fact, it isn’t even a task that I see more than once every few years. Read the full article…
It’s pretty moist at my new home in Southern Oregon, but no matter where you live, you need to be sure to check the moisture content of your material before you install it, especially if you get a second shipment! Read the full article…
When I started to install the WindsorONE fascia on my shop, I learned that WindsorONE recommends using butt joints. Some of us has probably learned the hard way that manufacturer recommendations typically mean the product won’t be under warranty unless those recommendations are followed! Read the full article…
I first heard of the Tectus line of hinges when bidding a project a year ago. I didn’t get the job, but I learned about a new-to-me hinge that is an ideal replacement for the Soss hinges I occasionally had to deal with. I never liked the Soss hinge—there was no forgiveness and no adjustment; you routed while you kept your fingers crossed. Plus, the setback dimensions on a Soss hinge make them difficult to use in many situations. Read the full article…
(Photos by Kirk Grodske)
I don’t do a lot of trim work. But when I do, it’s often stain-grade or pre-painted, and the miters have to be perfect! I mostly hang doors, so I rarely have a full-size work table set up—usually, I just have a door bench. Most of the casing I work with is small. At first, I thought it was too small to survive a Clam Clamp, but I’ve learned better (more on that later!). Read the full article…
Since I first took the pictures you saw in the first half of my article, Portable Pre-assembly Tables, I was able to figure out an even better way to pre-assemble casing, especially small casing. Now I use a Clam Clamp! Read the full article…
(Photos by Kirk Grodske)
I don’t do a lot of trim work. But when I do, it’s often stain-grade or pre-painted, and the miters have to be perfect! I mostly hang doors, so I rarely have a full-size work table set up—usually, I just have a door bench. Most of the casing I work with is small. At first, I thought it was too small to survive a Clam Clamp, but I’ve learned better (more on that later!). Read the full article…
Co-written by Mike Sloggatt
Around 2,500 years ago, a Greek philosopher we all met in high school named Pythagoras discovered a theorem that can make life easy for carpenters and contractors—if we just knew how to use it, and how to find right angles!
Most of us remember our ABC’s from high school, and we remember the Pythagorean Theorem, too, which applies to any 90-degree triangle. Read the full article…
Step-by-step instructions for drawing an ellipse with the string method—a complimentary Quick Reference Guide to TiC full-length articles, The Elegant Ellipse and Finding the Right Angle. Read the full article…
The standard scarf joint. Every carpenter is expected to make this field splice to join two lengths of molding. How often does the joint match perfectly? Any number of variables can affect the quality of the splice: Imperfections in the millwork, waves in the wall framing, taping compound buildup, inaccurate miter saw setup… Read the full article…
I’ve been hanging doors for over thirty-five years, and writing about it for nearly twenty-five. For many years, I approached door installs differently every time (like most carpenters). After all, there are so many steps, and there is a lot you need to watch for! It’s tough to do it the same way every time. But a door is a door is a door. Which means unless you’re doing exactly the same thing every time you install one, you’re wasting valuable energy and time. Read the full article…
A door is a door is a door. And although doors might differ in construction or design, you should be doing the exact same thing every time you install one. Read the full article…
I could see no better time to write about my latest favorite tool, the RALI “shark” disposable bladed chisels, than after a recent TiC article by Jed Dixon, “Sharpening Secrets.” If you’re anything like me, you hate sharpening. But it’s still one of those things you have to do if you want to do clean and accurate work. Read the full article…