80 April 2019 _ PopularMechanics.com
CARPENTERS RANGE FROM being the most specific construction
tradespeople (framers, deck builders, and finish carpenters) to being
generalists that can frame a house, install vinyl siding, and build forms
for concrete. The wide variety of work that they do accounts for why their
pay spread is so large, from $21,500 to $60,000. Their median income is
$45,170.For a more precise example of just how varied this work can be, con-
sider that union carpenters may frame houses, or they may be pile drivers
sinking columns of wood, steel, or concrete into the earth. They may even
do the commercial diving and welding associated with this work.
Despite all that, carpentry remains the most accessible trade.You can
start in a high school woodshop and learn how to run a circular saw, a router,
a cordless drill, maybe even a rotary hammer or a reciprocating saw. From
there, you hire out as a helper. Note: Be prepared to carry and stack ply-
wood and framing lumber.
And if you’re not too tired at the end of such a day, read. Get a subscription
to Fine Homebuilding and The Journal of Light Construction. And watch
everything you can find on YouTube. Years ago, Fine Homebuilding did a
series with the legendary house framer, the late Larry Haun. Another fun
construction-related channel is Essential Craftsman. Watch suspender-
wearing Scott Wadsworth handle a circular saw, review work gear, and
swing a framing hammer. It’s good stuff from a guy who’s been there, and
it’s very entertaining.
This is hard work. Everything is heavy. And carpentry means being
comfortable on ladders, scaffolds, sloping rooftops, and scissors lifts, and
crawling through attics and crawl spaces. If dust and noise and heights and
heavy things aren’t a good fit, look elsewhere for your profession.Getting Started:
If you go the
community-college
route or undertake
a union or nonunion
apprenticeship
program, you’ll end
up with a piece of
paper that says
you’ve completed
training. But, frankly,
most carpenters have
no official piece of
paper. Many good
carpenters learn on
the job. When they
go out on their own,
they either get a
contractor’s license
or they sit for the
state exam. The
states that bother
with this have also
gone to the trouble
of developing exams
that are tough,
involving more than
just knowledge of
rafter-framing angles.
These exams can
get into business law
and liability, workersafety, and a lot of
building code.Things
Carpenters Love:
An empty lot with
good access, plans
prepared by an archi-
tect you know and
like, and a load of
lumber properly bun-
dled and placed right
where you need it.Great Day:
The helpers show upon time, the weather’s
good, the plans are
clear, the foundation
is square, and you
wonder why anybody
would do anything
other than carpentry.Tough Day:
The helpers have
disappeared.Amazing Tool
You’ll Get to Use:
A Swanson Speed
Square.Great Resource:
Swanson’s Little
Blue Book of
Instructions for
Roof and Stairway
Layout, $5.IF YOU WANT to be an auto mechanic, you’ll never
be one without work. We know, that’s a pretty broad
statement. But I’ve never known a good mechanic
who went hungry. The economy will wax and wane;
dealerships will close; others will open. Car sales
will go up; car sales will go down. But it’s also indis-
putable that even electric cars will have parts that
wear out or break. That’s not economics. It’s phys-
ics. It’s the law of entropy. Think of a car as being on
a continuum: Somewhere between the shiny new
car and its place on the scrap pile is (drum roll) you.
So we’ve established that if you want job secu-
rity and decent pay, being a mechanic is a pretty
good thing. Unlike the construction trades, that
can be hampered by everything from the weather
to the stock market, not so with the mechanic,
who works indoors, clocks a regular work day with
overtime when needed, and that’s about it. It’s
good, steady, reliable work with a median wage of
$39,550; federal mean wage data shows $42,660.
So you’ve got job security to look forward to.
That’s a good thing. A s any mechanic w ill tell you,
the trade is tough. You spend a lot of time work-
ing with your hands over your head with a car on
a lift and you spend a lot of time leaning in from
the side or the front of a car. Both are tough on
your lower back. And there’s grease, dirt, and the
noise of air tools. But unlike the building trades,
you work inside under more or less controlled con-
ditions. If you have that inherent desire to fix a
broken thing or make a mechanical thing better,
then being a mechanic is about as good as it gets.Carpenter
Mechanic
Jose Garcia, 20
AUTOMOTIVE