Woodworking Vs. Carpentry...What is the Distinction to You?

[Rich Riddle]

Some folks in the local woodworking club point out that I do more carpentry related tasks than actual woodworking tasks. I sometimes point out to them that they make more trinkets than products. What is the distinction between woodworking and carpentry to you?

[Joe Kieve]

To me, carpentry is using skill saws, portable hand drills, hammers, framing squares, etc. Woodworking is using table saws, band saws, drill presses, combination squares.
Just my $.02.

[Gerry Grzadzinski]

Carpenters don't measure smaller than 1/16".

[Don Sundberg]

Carpentry is the process of building or repairing a structure. Generally dealing with wood.
Woodworking is the process of making things from wood, just not structures.
IE milling the trim for my living room is woodworking. Installing of said trim is finish carpentry.

[Ole Anderson]

Woodworkers make furniture and small hand held fine wood items, carpenters make houses.

[Jason Roehl]

Carpenters don't measure smaller than 1/16".

I think any carpenter worth his salt would take great exception to that. Even though my former trade was painting, I did, on occasion, do some carpentry for hire. I'd have been embarrassed if I were leaving 1/16" gaps in miter joints.

[Mark Wooden]

Carpenters don't measure smaller than 1/16".

All the good ones I know do, repeatedly and with great accuracy.

Carpenters-the real ones- mostly concentrate on the built environment. Fully trained and skilled carpenters are able to take a building from the hole in the ground to finishing the cabinets and woodwork in accordance to plans with accuracy and fidelity. It is- at least, used to be, a trained career trade requiring a wide range of skill sets.

"Woodworking" most often covers making arts and crafts, some furniture, jewel boxes and trunks, and assorted objets d' art. Most often, woodworkers are talented people than are able to visualize an object and make it with little more than sketches; accuracy and fidelity are often not as important as interpretation and execution.

There are the various other trades involved in woodworking, most notably furniture makers and cabinet makers. These are- again, at least used to be- trained professions requiring specialized knowledge and skills.

There are many "specialized' offshoots of the trades these days and a lot of self taught "pros". I don't always agree with a lot of it.


Mark
Trained, career carpenter of forty years and proud of it

[Jerry Bruette]

Like stated above, I always thought of carpentry as the structure and wood working as the stuff you fill the structure with.

Also I don't normally think of carpenters working with exotic woods, not that they can't though.

[Rich Engelhardt]

A carpenter that adheres to the disciplines of a woodworker will go hungry in a hurry.....

They'll do phenomenal work, but, it will take so long there'l be no way to compete with others that build to a "good enough" standard.

Thankfully, I have the luxury of doing carpentry with a woodworking slant.


Carpenters don't measure smaller than 1/16".Each and every crown install I do says different. ;).
Same with door casings...

[Tom M King]

323971323972Carpentry is one of the things included in what I do for a living. Woodworking is a sub-heading included in that. The distinction is not worth arguing over the definition. As far as not measuring smaller than a 1/16, check out pictures below. They are already stored on here. Even if I am framing a house, I use a sharp no. 3 pencil. There are plenty of people willing to pay for Good work in place of Fast and Cheap. I turn down work every week-not going hungry. I did quit building new houses in 2007, when all the other builders outsmarted me. Now I only work on old houses.

The stuff on the window page of my web site may qualify under anyone's definition of "woodworking", but if it doesn't, it doesn't bother me a bit.

[Martin Wasner]

I don't think there is a real distinction other than worthless opinions.

My worthless take is woodworking transpires in a shop, carpentry happens on site or in the field. Those are broad brush strokes though.

[Robert Engel]

To me, carpentry = efficiency > accuracy.

WW'ing = accuracy > efficiency.

Also, ww'ing has more of an artistic component whereas carpentry more engineering.

Either way, the guys who are really good at either one will be pretty good at the other.

I've seen some finish carpenters with skills I envy.

[Prashun Patel]

I don't think there is a real distinction other than worthless opinions.

My worthless take is woodworking transpires in a shop, carpentry happens on site or in the field. Those are broad brush strokes though.

me too. I am not into semantics - or do I mean definitions? I hate irony too ;)

[Wakahisa Shinta]

The people who think of themselves as woodworkers look down on the folks who they labeled as carpenters?

[jack duren]

Some folks in the local woodworking club point out that I do more carpentry related tasks than actual woodworking tasks. I sometimes point out to them that they make more trinkets than products. What is the distinction between woodworking and carpentry to you?

Your question needs to be more defined. No specifics... A woodworker can be anyone that works with wood. A carpenter works with wood as well. Too many gray areas to be specific.
323973

[Erik Loza]

Carpentry is the process of building or repairing a structure. Generally dealing with wood.
Woodworking is the process of making things from wood, just not structures.
IE milling the trim for my living room is woodworking. Installing of said trim is finish carpentry.

This is how I view it as well. The guys who framed and trimmed my house were carpenters. The guy who built a table for us was a woodworker. Neither better, just different.

Erik

[Kevin Woodhead]

"Some folks in the local woodworking club point out that I do more carpentry related tasks than actual woodworking tasks. I sometimes point out to them that they make more trinkets than products. What is the distinction between woodworking and carpentry to you?"

As a young finish carpenter starting an apprenticeship in a cabinet shop, I asked the foreman that very same question. I've never forgotten his answer: "If you took everything that a carpenter knows about woodworking and jammed it up the rear end of a flea, it would bounce around like a BB in a boxcar."

And that was only the first day...

[Kent Adams]

To me, and I'm no expert, but my feeling is that a carpenter is someone that does "wood working" as a job, not as a passion or seeking craftmanship like a woodworker. I think the definition is fluid, in other words, carpenters 50 years ago are wood workers by today's definition.

[Frederick Skelly]

I agree in general that carpentry is the building and outfitting of a structure (to me, outfitting includes hanging cabinets and moldings), where as woodworking is making the cabinets and molding, the furniture and the "trinkets".

But there's definately some blurriness in the line between the two. I don't recall any finish carpenters around here making furniture for customers. But I know many finish carpenters who made kitchen cabinets on site and installed them.

[glenn bradley]

The people who think of themselves as woodworkers look down on the folks who they labeled as carpenters?

Classic :D:D:D. We see this in too many areas and categories. Folks that have to select a sub-group to ridicule to elevate their own standing are pathetic creatures to be pitied. I have worked with house framers who were artists at their craft. I am not fit to hand them a nail. There are good and bad at any activity. Their title, job description or label doesn't mean squat.

[jack duren]

Woodworkers can be anybody. Professionals have to be categorized. Once classified as a professional, only professionals can classify your degree of skill. I really don't see how a guild can classify...

[Michael Moscicki]

Classic :D:D:D. We see this in too many areas and categories. Folks that have to select a sub-group to ridicule to elevate their own standing are pathetic creatures to be pitied. I have worked with house framers who were artists at their craft. I am not fit to hand them a nail. There are good and bad at any activity. Their title, job description or label doesn't mean squat.

I don't think one looks down on the other and vice versa. They both work with tools, but make different things. Carpenters generally make structures, such as buildings and sheds or do home remodeling such as flooring and trim work. Woodworkers make furniture and small trinkets(ornaments, toy trucks, etc.).

It's just like the medical profession where you have your radiologists, pediatricians, neurosurgeons, dentists, eye doctors, etc. They are all medical professionals, yet do different things.

[jack duren]

I don't think one looks down on the other and vice versa. They both work with tools, but make different things. Carpenters generally make structures, such as buildings and sheds or do home remodeling such as flooring and trim work. Woodworkers make furniture and small trinkets(ornaments, toy trucks, etc.).

It's just like the medical profession where you have your radiologists, pediatricians, neurosurgeons, dentists, eye doctors, etc. They are all medical professionals, yet do different things.

Why would a woodworker be classified as a furniture maker? Is this a hobby definition?

[Martin Wasner]

Oh the irony in this statement. (which I think was tongue in cheek)


Folks that have to select a sub-group to ridicule to elevate their own standing are pathetic creatures to be pitied.


Which made me think of this:



There's only two things in this world that I can't stand. Those who are intolerant of other peoples cultures, and the Dutch.


I love the double edge'd sword of Political Correctness. I can look down on you for looking down on something, but it's okay because I believe I hold the moral high ground and can not be held to the same standard.

Life is funny.

[Peter Aeschliman]

Some folks in the local woodworking club point out that I do more carpentry related tasks than actual woodworking tasks. I sometimes point out to them that they make more trinkets than products. What is the distinction between woodworking and carpentry to you?

Rich, reading between the lines, it seems like there's quite a bit of judgment on each side of that discussion.

Assuming that your club is made up of hobbyists, the judgment is counter to the whole point of a hobby. All that matters is that you guys/gals enjoy what you're doing, regardless of whether it's putting up studs, building/hanging cabinets, making an armiore, or making keepsake boxes... and regardless of what category that work fits in. I can't stand the idea of making nick nacks, but somebody else might enjoy it. A million high fives to them!

I'm with Glenn. The desire to categorize people purely for the sake of judging them or creating some arbitrary class system is totally pathetic in its own right, and even more egregious when it comes hobbies that are purely of no consequence to others.

[John T Barker]

There re a lot of ways to look at this question and a lot of ways to answer it, obviously. When saying there are similarities in their work we can see this in the carpenter that makes kitchen or bath cabinets or a built in unit for a house. A "woodworker" could do these as well, perhaps differently, perhaps not. Would a "woodworker" work with tin studs? Does the average woodworkers use tin snips on a regular basis. Does a carpenter find a use for a set of carving or turning tools? On average how many carpenters hand cut dovetails? There are trades/professions that might be analogous to carpenter and woodworker. Nurse and doctor. EMT and emergency room doctor. I'm sure there are others.

To be honest I have a lot of difficulty with people's views on these areas. I've come off years of being in retail furniture (selling what I consider junk made by other people) and in my work and privately I constantly have heard horror stories of carpenters that convinced people "I can build that" simply because it was made of wood. On top of that I have heard from too many customers the statement "I could build this myself if I had the time." Somewhere the belief crept in to society that anyone can do carpentry and woodworking. Yes, it doesn't take much skill to frame a wall but getting it as precise as it needs to be/should be is another story. Everything after that? Another story as well. Much skill to dado and glue some plywood together and call it a cabinet? NO. Build a Chippendale chest of drawers with mortise and tenons and dovetail drawers? Takes a little work. The point? Have to define the terms. Just because someone has gotten paid to do carpentry or woodworking doesn't make them a carpenter or woodworker. It means they did some carpentry or woodworking. There were times that these professions had standards one had to meet before they could hang out a shingle and take pay for doing it.

[Andrew Hughes]

I've worked on jobs that had guys who great a framing or sheathing walls and roofs.So I would call them framers.
I also have been around the guys that were finish carpenters.In my opinion much more stable people.Very good at moldings and stairs,doors,hanging cabinets.
Then there's the woodworkers like us that can make a dinner table or hall table or side table.Turn a bowl.Or make a set of Bi fold doors.

[Bruce Wrenn]

Woodworker- Carpenter with an attitude! Some days, I'm a carpenter, and others I'm a woodworker. Following definitions given here: when in shop building cabinets, I'm a woodworker, and when hanging such cabinets, I'm a carpenter. Both pay the same rate, so I don't care what I'm called as long as it's three times a day for a meal, and once at least once month for a pay check!

[Tom Ewell]

I'm going to cheat, Webster's

Carpentry-
the art of shaping and assembling structural woodwork

Woodworking- ,
the act, process, or occupation of working wood into a useful or desired form

simple huh, no societal stigma or prestige attached to either

[Warren Wilson]

If you look at the curriculum for a red seal carpenter (in Canada anyway) you can get a pretty good idea of the carpentry skill set.

Carpenters are very much concerned with structure. They learn how to design and lay out floors and walls, they use a fair bit of trigonometry to plan complex roof structures. Their second study year is entirely given over to concrete and the associated technologies, curing times and admixtures and formwork: they talk about allowable spans and point loads and moisture movement and they know how to assemble structures with various materials in addition to wood. They use nail guns and hammers and powder-actuated tools and concrete vibrators and build and strip forms. And they study the building code. They carry a framing hammer.

Woodworkers know wood and its characteristics and use that knowledge to shape wood, to design and build furniture and artifacts that live and breathe and last for decades. They think about cross-grain movement and joinery and maximizing long-grain glue surfaces. They work with exotic woods to precise tolerances and struggle to avoid tearout while sharpening tools to a keen edge that would just not last on a carpentry jobsite. They use hand planes and jigs and router tables and never carry a framing hammer.

Then, to confuse the issue, we have finish carpenters: kind of a hybrid breed.

[Rick Potter]

To my simple mind, woodworking items are placed inside buildings built by carpenters. Of course that doesn't preclude a carpenter from being a woodworker, or vice versa.

[Jay Jolliffe]

If you want to see woodworking look at the post in off topic...Grand house for sale.....all woodworking. Every bit of it

[jack duren]

Types and occupations

A finish carpenter (North America), also called a joiner (a traditional name now rare in North America), is one who does finish carpentry, that is, cabinetry, furniture making, fine woodworking, model building, instrument making, parquetry, joinery, or other carpentry where exact joints and minimal margins of error are important. Some large-scale construction may be of an exactitude and artistry that it is classed as finish carpentry.

A carpenter and joiner is one who has a much broader skill ranging from joinery, finishing carpentry, building construction and form work.

A trim carpenter specializes in molding and trim, such as door and window casings, mantels, baseboards, and other types of ornamental work. Cabinet installers may also be referred to as trim carpenters.

A cabinetmaker is a carpenter who does fine and detailed work specializing in the making of cabinets made from wood, wardrobes, dressers, storage chests, and other furniture designed for storage.

A ship's carpenter specializes in shipbuilding, maintenance, repair techniques and carpentry specific to nautical needs in addition to many other on-board tasks; usually the term refers to a carpenter who has a post on a specific ship. Steel warships as well as wooden ones need ship's carpenters, especially for making emergency repairs in the case of battle or storm damage.

A shipwright builds wooden ships on land.

A cooper is someone who makes barrels: wooden staved vessels of a conical form, of greater length than breadth.

A scenic carpenter builds and dismantles temporary scenery and sets in film-making, television, and the theater.

A framer is a carpenter who builds the skeletal structure or wooden framework of buildings, most often in the platform framing method. Historically, balloon framing was used until the 1950s when fire safety concerns made platform framing inherently better. A carpenter who specializes in building with timbers rather than studs is known as a timber framer and does traditional timber framing with wooden joints, including mortise-and-tenon joinery, post and beam work with metal connectors, or pole building framing.

A luthier is someone who makes or repairs stringed instruments. The word luthier comes from the French word for lute, "luth".

A log builder builds structures of stacked, horizontal logs including houses, barns, churches, fortifications, and more.

A formwork carpenter creates the shuttering and falsework used in concrete construction.

In Japanese carpentry, daiku is the simple term for carpenter, a miya-daiku (temple carpenter) performs the work of both architect and builder of shrines and temples, and a sukiya-daiku works on teahouse construction and houses. Sashimono-shi build furniture and tateguya do interior finishing work.[20]

A restoration carpenter is a carpenter who works in historic building restoration, someone who restores a structure to a former state.

A conservation carpenter works in architectural conservation, known in the U.S. as a "preservation carpenter" who works in historic preservation, someone who keeps structures from changing.

Green carpentry is the specialization in the use of environmentally friendly,[21] energy-efficient[22] and sustainable[23] sources of building materials for use in construction projects. They also practice building methods that require using less material and material that has the same structural soundness.[24]

[Curt Harms]

To my simple mind, woodworking items are placed inside buildings built by carpenters. Of course that doesn't preclude a carpenter from being a woodworker, or vice versa.

Pretty much. If the product can be pretty easily moved and has pretty tight tolerances, it's woodworking.

[jack duren]

You will find in this many trades that overlap and have become extinct.

I'm called a furniture maker by trade but as you can read I could be called many things on that list.

[jack duren]

Pretty much. If the product can be pretty easily moved and has pretty tight tolerances, it's woodworking.

Woodworking can be anything

[Roy Harding]

When I was attending trade school to obtain my cabinetmaker (also known as a joiner) certification, it was generally accepted that carpenters built structures, and cabinetmakers filled those structures up with "stuff". Both trades are (generally) "woodworkers" - although those carpenters who specialize in cement forming are an exception in my mind. The two trades intersect when it comes to finish carpentry - some finish carpenters are trades qualified carpenters, and others are trades qualified cabinetmakers (or joiners if you prefer).

Of course, I'm in Canada and I get the iimpression that our system of qualifying tradesmen is somewhat different than the system you have in the U.S.A. - so the above may not make sense to you.

[Lee Schierer]

To me woodworker or woodworking is an all inclusive term. Carpenters build houses (buildings) and do the wood portions of the construction, generally dealing with load bearing and support of structure which may include trim, built in cabinets etc.

Cabinet makers make furniture and cabinets which generally contain more detail and more intricate joinery than what a carpenter would ordinarily use.

There are also artists who create works of art using wood that are neither carpentry nor furniture.

With that said there are individuals with skills in either or all the camps and skill levels that go from extremely rough work to exceptionally fine work they are all still woodworkers.

[Bill Orbine]

Woodworking can be anything

Including members of Rich Riddle's club calling themselves Woodworker who probably only made salt and pepper shakers for family members. Anyway, when people ask me what I do, I never tell them I'm a woodworker. I tell them I'm a carpenter or cabinetmaker who specializes in moldings and millwork.

[jack duren]

To me woodworker or woodworking is an all inclusive term. Carpenters build houses (buildings) and do the wood portions of the construction, generally dealing with load bearing and support of structure which may include trim, built in cabinets etc.

Cabinet makers make furniture and cabinets which generally contain more detail and more intricate joinery than what a carpenter would ordinarily use.

There are also artists who create works of art using wood that are neither carpentry nor furniture.

With that said there are individuals with skills in either or all the camps and skill levels that go from extremely rough work to exceptionally fine work they are all still woodworkers.

I was a residential/commercial cabinet maker for 30yrs. On one hand i could count the amount of actual cabinet makers who could actually make "furniture" pieces. You will find a few cabinet makers on these forums that have broken this mold. There are so many so called cabinet makers out there who can build nothing but a box..

[Martin Wasner]

I was a residential/commercial cabinet maker for 30yrs. On one hand i could count the amount of actual cabinet makers who could actually make "furniture" pieces. You will find a few cabinet makers on these forums that have broken this mold. There are so many so called cabinet makers out there who can build nothing but a box..

We were just talking about this at work the other day. Cabinet guys generally can't do furniture, it ends up looking like cabinets. I know that holds true for me anyways. I'm definitely a cabinet maker, and I'm not capable of building much more than a box.

[Bill Ryall]

I do some of what is considered Carpentry as part of my "real" job (I design, build and maintain radio stations). As a sideline, I do finish carpentry and build furniture, toys, boats and a lot of specialty technical cabinetry. I can't consider myself a carpenter, furniture maker or boat builder, as I have had no formal training in any of those areas. Everything I know has been either self taught, or watching/working alongside true professionals.

When anyone asks, I just refer to myself as "a monkey with a table saw". Simple response.

[jack duren]

We were just talking about this at work the other day. Cabinet guys generally can't do furniture, it ends up looking like cabinets. I know that holds true for me anyways. I'm definitely a cabinet maker, and I'm not capable of building much more than a box.

I often wonder if this because of working with time constraints. I know it took me a while to get past the hurry hurry of making cabinets to slow down to get a better feel and understanding of furniture construction. At work i care about meeting a deadline on a piece but i can't rush a piece because of it. I would rather build it right the first time than explain poor construction...

[Martin Wasner]

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/images/misc/quote_icon.png Originally Posted by Martin Wasner http://www.sawmillcreek.org/images/buttons/viewpost-right.png (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?p=2483015#post2483015)
We were just talking about this at work the other day. Cabinet guys generally can't do furniture, it ends up looking like cabinets. I know that holds true for me anyways. I'm definitely a cabinet maker, and I'm not capable of building much more than a box.






I often wonder if this because of working with time constraints. I know it took me a while to get past the hurry hurry of making cabinets to slow down to get a better feel and understanding of furniture construction. At work i care about meeting a deadline on a piece but i can't rush a piece because of it. I would rather build it right the first time than explain poor construction...

I don't know. I think it's just year after year of doing the same thing and not being able to make small changes to keep a piece of furniture from looking like a kitchen cabinet. The ability to think outside the box gets diminished after a while and you just get locked into doing the one thing that you do well.

Working at a high rate of speed doesn't necessarily mean you are sacrificing quality or craftsmanship. It just means that you know exactly what needs to be done, and how to do it.

[jack duren]

I showed this in another topic. I made this bed 10 years ago and was kinda my first adventure in getting away from typical cabinet design. But it really shows the cabinetry in its design. Looking at the second picture(not mine) you can see were you can go with a piece with a bit of patients and design. It takes desire to extend your skill level from square to round in a piece. You just gotta want it bad enough....

I really enjoy making poker tables and it got me away from cabinetry.

[rudy de haas]

While there are clear occupational definitions in use by schools, unions, and others it seems to me that the practical difference is that carpenters, whether framers or finish guys, are professionals who implement designs originated by someone else where woodworkers are crafters in the old sense of experts who design what they make. Thus the same person can be a carpenter this week and a wood worker the next, but the roles are sufficiently different to justify two designations.

[Jim Dwight]

To me woodworker or woodworking is an all inclusive term. Carpenters build houses (buildings) and do the wood portions of the construction, generally dealing with load bearing and support of structure which may include trim, built in cabinets etc.

Cabinet makers make furniture and cabinets which generally contain more detail and more intricate joinery than what a carpenter would ordinarily use.

There are also artists who create works of art using wood that are neither carpentry nor furniture.

With that said there are individuals with skills in either or all the camps and skill levels that go from extremely rough work to exceptionally fine work they are all still woodworkers.

I agree with this and would have said it if Lee hadn't. Wood working is working with wood. Carpenters work with wood and are therefore woodworkers. I can do carpentry work but I am much slower than the carpenters who frame houses. I am also slower than the finish carpenters who put trim in houses. Not all carpenters who frame houses could make furniture I would want to use, I suspect. But nobody would want to pay me to frame their house (I'd take too long). Carpentry is just a type of woodworking.

[Jason White]

A skilled carpenter who can do everything from framing to finish work and takes a great deal of pride in his or her work is a woodworker. At least in my book. You'd be surprised how much being able to do rough framing and trim work helps you be a better woodworker.

[Brian Hale]

One works with wood, the other works wood

Carpenters have caulk guns :rolleyes:

[Pat Barry]

If its got a lot of nails as structural elements, then its carpentry

[Rod Sheridan]

Woodworkers can be anybody. Professionals have to be categorized. Once classified as a professional, only professionals can classify your degree of skill. I really don't see how a guild can classify...

Guilds were the bodies that determined whether you were qualified to call yourself a cabinet maker and work in the area that they had jurisdiction over. ( as well as other trades of course).

As they were the regulatory body who determined who could practice the trade, their judgment of your skills carried legal authority.

regards, Rod.

[jack duren]

One works with wood, the other works wood

Carpenters have caulk guns :rolleyes:

Woodworkers use wood putty:rolleyes::rolleyes:

Furniture makers use neither;);)

[jack duren]

Guilds were the bodies that determined whether you were qualified to call yourself a cabinet maker and work in the area that they had jurisdiction over. ( as well as other trades of course).

As they were the regulatory body who determined who could practice the trade, their judgment of your skills carried legal authority.

regards, Rod.

You use the word "were" often. I was in the last Cabinet Makers union in Kansas City. Never heard of a "Guild" other than the woodworkers guild which is for hobby woodworking..

[Michael Moscicki]

You use the word "were" often. I was in the last Cabinet Makers union in Kansas City. Never heard of a "Guild" other than the woodworkers guild which is for hobby woodworking..

The term guild stems from the medieval ages. Here is a Wikipedia article with more information:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guild

"A guild is an association of artisans or merchants who control the practice of their craft in a particular town. The earliest types of guild were formed as confraternities of tradesmen. They were organized in a manner something between a professional association, trade union, a cartel, and a secret society. They often depended on grants of letters patent by a monarch or other authority to enforce the flow of trade to their self-employed members, and to retain ownership of tools and the supply of materials. A lasting legacy of traditional guilds are the guildhalls constructed and used as meeting places."

[Rod Sheridan]

You use the word "were" often. I was in the last Cabinet Makers union in Kansas City. Never heard of a "Guild" other than the woodworkers guild which is for hobby woodworking..

Makes sense Jack, you're not old enough and you're in the wrong country :-)

Regards, Rod.

[Michael Dye]

My old pappy had many good sayings that he passed on to me over the years. The best........while working on building a house in Alaska, he hollered at me for taking too long on one particular rafter. "Son, you ain't buildin' a piano". Followed by the fabrication of an elaborate staircase in the same house. "Remember what I said about not building a piano.............forget it". That, to me, summed up the difference between a carpenter and a woodworker. Just my opinion.

[Rich Riddle]

Makes sense Jack, you're not old enough and you're in the wrong country :-)

Regards, Rod.
Wrong country? Our Canadian brothers will be burning inordinate amounts of wood just to stay warm this winter. Rod, some members here don't like to be reminded of their ages. I do recall hearing the word "guild" more often in Europe.

[Charles Palmer]

To me, a carpenter builds and remodels things related to structures (houses, porches, frames rooms, etc...) and a woodworker makes things (tables, sconces, furniture etc...)

I'd almost consider carpentry a trade and woodworking a hobby. I'd love to do both and neither is better - but that's how I'd answer the question...

[Lornie McCullough]

I enjoyed reading this quote from an earlier post:

""As a young finish carpenter starting an apprenticeship in a cabinet shop, I asked the foreman that very same question. I've never forgotten his answer: "If you took everything that a carpenter knows about woodworking and jammed it up the rear end of a flea, it would bounce around like a BB in a boxcar.""

For my part: If I pick up my wormdrive on a job-site I feel like a carpenter. If I pick it up in my cabinet shop, I feel like a woodworker.

Lornie