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Carpentry books?

5K views 22 replies 13 participants last post by  chickaDEE81 
#1 ·
Hi Everyone!

What carpentry books would you consider essential reading for a newbie?
 
#2 ·
Watch Larry Haun's series on you tube.

Read contractor talk daily for four or five years.

Watch you tubers do specialty trades like drywall, painting, framing, flooring.

Code book.

Markup and profit.

That should be enough for you to make a decent living be better at your trade than at least half of all contractors, more likely 75 percent.
 
#3 ·
Hi Metro M & L!

Thank you for the suggestions. I'm almost done with the first section of Larry Haun's book. I'll watch his video's next.

Are there any particular youtubers you like?

I've added a code book and markup and profit to my reading list.
 
#4 ·
YouTube University is fine for some stuff I guess, but the trades have been being trained with professional textbooks for about 100 years now.

If you go to ATP, McGraw-Hill, or Delmar-Cengage, you'll find hundreds of trade textbooks, the ones used by the Unions and Trade Schools.

If you are doing Carpentry, I recommend "Carpentry" by Leonard Koel, and maybe "Concrete Formwork" by the same guy.

If you do other trades, I could recommend books for those as well, but I don't want to overwhelm you.

Books on profit and markup are unnecessary and unfit for a first year apprentice. You need to learn the trade first.

Larry Haun is excellent, and an experienced carpenter can glean a lot of useful information from him. However, his method of building is outdated, as little that he built would meet current code. He was also very production oriented, which is fine, once you know the basics.

You can't get fast till you get good. :thumbsup:

There are even a few non-professional books that I highly recommend, like "Measuring, Marking, and Layout", which is a Taunton Press book. Jon Carroll, however, is a very accomplished builder.
 
#7 ·
If you go to ATP, McGraw-Hill, or Delmar-Cengage, you'll find hundreds of trade textbooks, the ones used by the Unions and Trade Schools.

If you are doing Carpentry, I recommend "Carpentry" by Leonard Koel, and maybe "Concrete Formwork" by the same guy.

If you do other trades, I could recommend books for those as well, but I don't want to overwhelm you.

Having read most of your suggested books but not all, are you willing to overwhelm me?

I found those books very informative.
 
#15 ·
I've always wondered, if you were out here, where all the PT or any other option for framing lumber is crap, how would build decks?
Steel? Specialize in something else?

Our lumber will look good as it comes off the truck, and you can get a nice looking flat deck, but a year later, everything will have dried out so much that the joists have all changed depth and your surfing on trex.
 
#16 ·
Buy KD.

You can also stack it stickered in the shade for a couple weeks.

PT SYP for long rail spans really need to have a chance to cycle through getting wet and drying outside in the shade to see if they'll stay straight. I keep a few 16 footers for that, but I only do decks every few years, I'm more likely to be doing a repair.

You could always go for a consistent moisture content with your framing lumber by testing it, but I never do that. ...
 
#20 ·
some good suggestions above. What are your goals? For me, I'm an information junky and get it from anywhere. However, i really like to get focused on a particular aspect and go deep. If you are already in the trades, my recommendation would be to take one piece of your next job (or maybe something your company does often) and research the heck out of it. If you don't have the professional opportunity, pick something that you think is fairly common (e.g. hanging a door, trimming a window, tiling a floor, finishing drywall)

After you pick the task you want to answer you might ask yourself some of these questions:

  • What is the difference between a quality and not quality job?
  • What are different processes and techniques to achieve that quality? Is there a best standard?
  • What products, tools should be used?
  • Are there pro's/con's of different materials and do they work differently?
  • How should I fine tune my tools to get the desired result?
  • How can I become more efficient and productive?

The above is not a complete list, but should give you a framework. You can also apply the Fynman Technique: https://getpocket.com/explore/item/the-feynman-technique-the-best-way-to-learn-anything

Then you can use some of the books and resources mentioned. Above all, get out there and do it!
 
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