Wow, North Bennett Street!

First, what made you do the career change? What were you doing before?

Being a cabinetmaker, I have only taken a few classes; one day, up to one week at local places. I would love to take one of their extended furniture making or other type of classes. What did they teach? Are you from that area? Or did you relocate there for the class?

Are you starting your own business? Where do you go from here (other than physical therapy)?

Congratulations on venturing out and doing something that is has virtually vanished from our society; a well built home, new or old.

Please tell me more when you get a minute. Dave

Beautiful! Really miss the look of that in Texas!

If I was 30 years younger I would have loved to be doing what you're doing. But, I'm also predisposed to skin cancer so I guess even if I could go back in time, that would be a no-go.

Congrats on your career move and accomplishment. Looks great!

I did the two-year preservation carpentry career training program. It was about 65% trade school, 35% art school. We learned everything from working on old tools up through modern power tools, old scribe rule timber framing up through modern platform framing. Doors, windows, stairs, cabinets, moldings, paints, plasters, we touched on a range of carpentry topics. The fine woodworking and furniture making was all kept upstairs away from us knuckle-dragging carpenters! haha

I'm not starting my own business yet. I'm working for a small crew up here in the Lakes Region of central NH. They like to focus on timber framing, but projects could take on a range of carpentry flavors. The common ground is that it's all historic preservation work. So now we're replacing sills and doing an exterior paint job on this home, then there's a 19th century barn that's deconstructed that needs some frame work before being reassembled as a lakeside artist studio. Then there's an old cobbler shop that a local town owns and needs moved to a new foundation on their town green. Stuff like that.

Eventually, I'd like to set out on my own, but there's a ton to learn and it's a team sport. The kinds of stuff I want to do I can't really do as a handyman DIY by myself, so that's a few years off still. Eventually, I have a vision of a company that does total historic roof restorations. So the timber frame repairs, trusses, structural assessments, all the way up to exterior trim and the actual shingles (or slates) themselves. That work would be mostly church and municipal buildings in the small towns up here. There aren't any companies up here focusing on specifically on that niche, so we'll see if I can give it a go or if career plans adjust a little down the road.