Framing Carpentry

Have you ever built anything with your hands? Maybe a birdhouse? What about a model car or plane? We’ve all built a gingerbread house before; haven’t we? Well, no matter who we are, or where we come from, most of us have built, or helped to build, something with our bare hands. The satisfaction a person gets from completing something with their bare hands is an amazing feeling. Now, have you ever built a house before? Yes, I mean an entire house. Starting from what is basically a pile of sticks. Most people haven’t. Being a framing can give a person satisfaction that is not easily found. But this is not a job for the weak. Being a carpenter may be one of the hardest and most dangerous jobs a person can do on a daily basis. Framing is a job that anybody should be proud to do. Not only does is take a great amount of physical and mental strength, but it takes an artist’s touch as well.
Whether you rent a home, or own your own, somebody put their blood, sweat, and/or tears into building the place you call home. Blood may not be as common as sweat, and tears even less so, but with the amount of physical energy that it takes to build a home, yours took at least one of them; more likely two. I’ve been working as a framing carpenter for a quarter of my life, so I hope you take my word when I say it can be flat out exhausting. An August day spent at the lake can drain a man. That same August day on top of a roof can reach 130+ degrees, and will push even the fittest men to their physical limits. People might say, “I hit the gym every night, I could handle it.” Okay, put on a tool belt and give it a shot. But remember, that tool belt weighs about ten pounds. Now factor in repeatedly, and I mean hundreds of times a day, lifting anywhere from two to one hundred and twenty pounds; and don’t forget the heat. I’ve personally seen this drain a man’s energy so much that in just one moment of exhaustion, he buried a saw (mind you a power saw) in his left thigh almost four inches