What Do You Know About Becoming a Certified Carpenter?

When hanging a door, a carpenter will fasten it to the door frame using hinges and screws. Most standard doors will only require hinges at the top and bottom of the door to fasten it securely. A heavier door, however, could do with added support in the middle.

A nail set or nail punch helps to sink the head of a nail below the surface of the wood. A hammer will only pound the head into a point flush with the wood. A nail set is then placed against the head, and a hammer can be used to knock it farther into the wood. The hole can then be filled with wood filler for a more professional finish.

A caulking gun is a useful tool to have at your disposal. It holds a cartridge filled with a material that can be used to seal up areas where your wood joins are not great. It can be filled with wood filler or silicone to achieve this.

A multi-tool can come in very handy in many situations. Because it has a variety of tools on it and it fits in your pocket, it is often the first gadget you turn to for easy jobs like tightening a screw or perhaps gripping something with the pliers. Of course, for heavy duty jobs, it just won't cut it.

All wall panels in a wooden structure are made using specific pieces of lumber. These are called studs. They are found in two popular sizes: 2 x 4 and 2 x 8 inches.

This tool is used to measure the distance between two ends of a particular object. They have any number of uses in different working environment, especially where exact measurements are needed. A carpenter will use this from time to time when they can't find a tape measure!

In carpentry, holes need to be made in wood all the time! For example, you may need to place dowels in a piece of wood to make a joint. To do this, you can simply drill a hole the width of each dowel and then glue them in place.

Often, a solid base is needed when making large wooden structures. When your base is concrete, that support takes the form of anchor bolts, which then will hold structural pieces in place.

A multi-purpose screwdriver has a selection of detachable heads with different tips, for example, a flathead or a Phillips head. These are useful to have in a toolbox for light work, but if you want to unfasten a stubborn screw or make sure a screw is fastened really tight, use a normal screwdriver instead, as you can get more leverage.

A "batten" is a small strip of wood that a carpenter will cut to a desired size. It is then used to cover a joint between two pieces of siding. Basically, it is used for aesthetic purposes.

While a carpenter won't be seen without a hammer, chisel and drill, the likelihood of him ever needing a feeler gauge is practically zero. A mechanic, however, will definitely have one in his toolbox! This tool is used to measure the width of a gap or the amount of clearance in pieces of machinery.

A pneumatic nail gun is a perfect replacement for a hammer, especially if you need to drive in a lot of nails. It usually fires through the use of a compressed air canister, but other setups are available. These are often seen in the construction trade or carpentry.

Probably the most recognizable tool of them all, hammers are used in so many different situations, you would be lost without one. The most obvious is for hammering in nails, but stubborn nuts can be loosened with a few taps of a hammer as well.

Chisels can be used to shape wood or even stone. They have beveled edges and can be used for very fine work as well as for taking off larger pieces of whatever you are chiseling. This is usually achieved by striking the rear of the handle with a hammer or mallet.

The overall finish of a piece such as a table or desk is of utmost importance. And where screws will be showing, it is common to use a countersink bit to ensure the head of the screw also sinks away in the wood, providing a flush and neat finish.

Also known as a cat's paw, a nail puller is a handy little tool to have in your carpentry toolbox. Not only can they pull partially driven-in nails in much the same manner as a claw hammer, but they can also pull nails at are deeper, where the larger claw hammer would struggle.

A dovetail joint connects two pieces of wood at a right angle. The two pieces fit together using opposite joints that look like the tail of a dove and that slide together.

When building a wooden structure with a roof, a carpenter will follow the plans for the angle of the roof itself. This can be a number of different angles depending on the architect's design. The angle of the roof is called the "pitch."

Remember when you were shown how to make your first wood joint in woodshop class at school? Well, that would have been a butt joint. This type of joint involves two pieces of wood connected at 90 degrees in a frame. They are in all likelihood kept in place by wood glue. A butt joint is effective in framing but is not very useful anywhere else.

Carpentry drawings or plans, especially when it comes to building a wooden house, are extremely important. These show the exact layout of the building from every possible angle, including the side.

Every good workshop needs a vise, particularly a carpentry workshop. This device is used to hold a piece of wood securely in place, so there's no risk of it sliding out of your control while you're sawing.

It's no good if a piece of wood a carpenter is trying to make a shelf out of is not straight. When hanging a shelf, you want to use a tool called a "level" to determine that it is indeed hung straight. This small tool has a liquid viewer with an air bubble that will line up at a particular marked area of the level when the surface it's sitting on is perfectly parallel to the ground.

Often when working with wood tools, a piece of wood can be torn out of a section of the wood itself. This is especially true when sawing against the grain, for instance. This is known as a tear-out.

A plane is an important tool for a carpenter. It has a blade that can be set to take off large pieces of wood, or smaller pieces for finer work. It is used to shape wood or to remove thin layers -- for example, from the bottom of a door that might be jamming.

And all along you thought a stair was just a stair. Well, no, because the horizontal part of it, the place where you put your foot, is known as the tread. The vertical part of the stair is known as the riser.

The roof construction in a wooden house will involve many unique pieces that all fit together. These parts include rafters and trusses. These are made with extremely solid pieces of wood.

A hand saw is found in most workshops but especially in a carpentry workshop. In fact, there might be a few different sizes. A hand saw has large teeth that easily cut through soft wood. They are sometimes called panel saws.

A band saw has a continuous looped blade that is able to cut large pieces of wood. To do this, the wood must be fed toward the blade as it spins. A band saw is good for creating an even, uniform cut and for cutting more precise curves.

A flashlight is crucial for working in poorly lit spots, such as under the hood of a car. To keep your hands free, you can use a flashlight that straps to your head. Or employ an apprentice to hold a regular one!

In carpentry, you will come across many different nail sizes and types. These are used in a range of scenarios depending on what you are actually constructing. Penny nails got their name from a traditional way of sizing nails for use in carpentry.

Sometimes, a carpenter will choose to "cross cut," which means cutting through the grain of a piece of wood. This effectively rips the wood fibers. Using a saw with finer teeth makes this task a little easier.

A toolbox without a tape measure certainly isn't complete. This tool is perfect for almost any measuring job, from smaller measurements to sizing up a room to determine how much wallpaper you would need. And it can clip onto your belt for easy use!

In carpentry, a piece of wood is considered to be timber if it is four or more inches thick. Of course, wood timber comes in a range of thickness as well as grades that are used in different aspects of carpentry.

Watching a carpentry team build a house is something to behold. Once the foundations have been laid, the team starts to put up the skeleton of the house. This will include all structural pieces that divide the inside of the house into its rooms, all outer walls and even the roof, including trusses and rafters. This is called framing.

Allen keys are used to tighten and loosen a specific type of fastener with a hexagonal head. Such fasteners are often used in carpentry, especially on parts of wood where you want a more neatly finished appearance than you would get with normal screws.