Fastener for 5/8 MDF baseboard

[Chris Melanson]

Well that is some thing I did not know I guess we both have learned someting today thank you.

CHRIS

[MN Guy]

Chris Melanson: I was told once and still believe this saying "a cabinetmaker will always make a good carpenter but a carpenter will seldom make a good cabinetmaker."

Perhaps only union carpenters.

[Chris Melanson]

That might be the problem LOL

CHRIS

[Tom Watson]

I liked being a cabinetmaker and I tried to be a good one.

I liked being a carpenter and I tried to be a good one.

I've worked in a few environments where I was exposed to good craftsmen of both types.

But I've met framing carpenters who knew more plane geometry, in an applied sense, than any architect or designer, or cabinetmaker, that I've ever met.

I've met pattern makers who made my balls sweat, with watching how precisely they could do their work.

I've met model makers who made parts that were so small that I could barely see them, let alone make them. (they be like nanocarpenters).

Hell, I've seen concrete form carpenters, using old-fashioned whalers and ties, that knew exactly how to place their sticks so that dams could be monopoured.

I was a bench man for a while - and I was a machine man for a while - and I was a cabinetmaker for a while - but I never thought that having any of those specific tasks entitled me to look up or down my nose at anyone.

I once worked with a journeyman who had gone through the cabinetmaker's apprentice system in Germany, supposed to be one of the most difficult trade paths to go through.

He knew a lot and he had good hands - but he was lazy - and that kept him from being "a good mechanic" - and if you are not a good mechanic

- everything else is secondary.

Thomas J. Watson-Cabinetmaker (ret) Real Email is: tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet Website:

[Chris Melanson]

Tom I agree that in each trade you will fine some people that excel in there respective fields and that are capable of carrying there skills into other fields.

I am not trying to look down my nose at any trade. I actually have great respect for qualified trades men in any trade.

What I did try and say was that the accuracy and consistency of a carpenter trying to do a cabinetmaker's (mechanic in the states) job is nine out of ten times not there. (It seems what you call a cabinetmaker in the states is what is referred to a benchman here. In Canada a mechanic is generally referred to as some one that works on cars)

Carpenters from what I have seen are typically used to using some sort of mechanical fastener (IE nails, brads or screws) While cabinetmakers use joinery (IE mortise and tennon, dove tails, spline joints) as a means of joining parts.

I would like to see some one take 5 carpenters and 5 cabinetmakers and have each group do a carpentry job and then a piece of furniture.

I bet that each trades man would be faster at there respective trade than the other. But if you looked at the overall accuracy and consistency of the two jobs from the two trades you probably find that the cabinetmakers would excel beyond the carpenters in this particular area.

I should state that in the millwork trade it is commonly accepted to use hidden mechanical fasteners for reasons of production speed. Before someone jumps down my through about that.

CHRIS

[Daniel]

I picked up a book on Japanese Joinery in my local public library

these home framing joints are absolutely impressive. I believe this is the current edition of the same book: a look at some of the drawings and they will likely make any cabinetmaker/furnituremaker cringe.

[Chris Melanson]

Such joinery is why the "shrine carpenter" (mira daika) is a profession separate from conventional house carpenter. The joinery (sashmono) of fine cabinetry and of furniture are also separate professions. Both are very impresive methods well worth the mention.

CHRIS