Finish Carpentry Archives - Sturdy Wood Works

I talked a bit about why I got into focusing on finish carpentry after working on bridges.

Now let’s look at what it’s like doing fine finish carpentry on older homes, such as the ones in Columbus area towns like Arlington. It’s not that there isn’t any pressure, it’s that the pressure is a different kind. We are striving for excellence in a close-up setting, your home.

Typical houses that I work on are older, built between fifty and seventy years ago. Many of them have finely carved wood details that need some tender loving care.

There are lots of small details in the high-end finishes that need attention as the house owners look to have different types of maintenance or upgrades. Some of the wood is fragile from age.

It’s very. Important to have the details done right, or else the luxurious feeling that features like crown molding add to a room won’t give the desired effect.

We talk about what you want before a single tool comes out, and make a plan that suits your exact specifications.

That’s where the pressure to provide excellence comes in.

For example, getting the precision miter cuts that make the corners feel magical when you look at them takes a high level of skill. I must get it right the first time.

When we do this type of luxury presentation in a home, some of the materials are quite expensive and the pressure to make the exact right but with a properly sharpened saw, with the precision measurements already in place, is very real.

I make sure that I make accurate measurements and consult carefull with my clients to be sure that I am giving them what they truly want for the feeling that a renovation will provide.

My goal is that you will be so happy with the results you get that you will ask for more, and recommend me to the people you love.

For me, that is success.

I’ve been a builder for most of my life. Growing up in Big Sur, I learned the basics early, as my family kept building the ranch where I was raised. We did everything: cement, framing, finish work. I’ve always loved making things with my hands and the details that make things work.

The first time I worked on a bridge, at Rocky Creek in Big Sur, it was for a retrofit. I learned about how a crew works together (or doesn’t), and I got some more basic skills in reinforced concrete. The next time I worked on a bridge, it was another retrofit, on Bixby Creek Bridge, the one you always see in car commercials or for articles about Big Sur in the news.

Bixby Bridge Photo by DAVID ILIFF. License: CC BY-SA 3.0

My last Big Sur bridge was the one you see on this website. This was a “build out of nowhere” job at Rain Rock, an area that had always been prone to massive landslides. The span over the canyon took the place of the previous roadbed, and the rock shed tunnel directed falling rocks over the road and into the ocean so the road could stay open.

I built huge boxes out of plywood and framing wood, that had to withstand 30,000 pounds of pressure from wet concrete during a pour. I’m proud to say that not one of them blew out.

Bridge work is dangerous. My foreman on that job said it was like running through a fire with a can of gasoline. It’s true. It’s good to know that millions of people will drive over that bridge, but I will not know who they are.

After doing that kind of work, getting back into finish work and doing framing on big houses and shopping centers was a lot less nerve-wracking, to say the least. And there’s another side to it: the personal rewards of making people’s dreams come true.

What I love about doing detail work is the way it makes people happy, up close and personal. I get to use my imagination and creativity to improve the lives of the people I work with, and that’s a huge reward.

So that’s why I made the switch. I can still do big jobs, and I know how to make a team work. It’s all a matter of perspective.

Category: Finish Carpentry

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