Part IV Why a cabinet maker is not a carpenter and visa versa!

Onward with part IV of my Blog post, “Why a cabinet maker is not a carpenter and visa versa!” Thank you all for the likes and positive feedback we’ve received on this Blog. I do appreciate the shares too! So please if you would, keep sharing and telling your friends!  🙂 Here’s a link to part I of this Blog (http://creativeconceptsnj.com/why-a-cabinet-maker-is-not-a-carpenter-and-visa-versa/)  in case anyone missed it and wants to read it from the beginning.

Alright I’m going to just get right down to it. There is one last professional that I’m going to fill you in on here in relation to a carpenter and cabinet maker. This last professional up for comparison is a Woodworker. A woodworker is a guy or gal who obviously uses or works with wood in their day to day productivity and working with wood . If you check with Wikipedia – Their definition of a woodworker is as follows: “Woodworker – is the activity or skill of making items from wood, and includes cabinet making (Cabinetry and Furniture), wood carving, joinery, and carpentry”. This is a VERY GENERALIZED and rather vague definition of very very different skill sets. So yes, while we all work with wood, our knowledge base and experience are all very different. Now for myself, being that I have a lot of experience in all three fields and then some.. (I’ll elaborate later in this post) I can with total certainty understand why there is such a misunderstanding about who is who and who does what and why some of these folks in all these various professions can get upset in the first place when you call them a carpenter and they aren’t! Or, you unknowingly call a guy to have something done, and they never call you back. Or… comes off with an attitude towards you where he tells you, “Sorry… but I don’t do that! Whereby you reply, “But aren’t you a carpenter??” This is where unfortunately, it all gets fuzzy for you and you may just get frustrated, hold up your hands and just give up.  

If you have a look at the photos (that I’ve randomly gathered from the internet and attached to the my post here) you’ll see Woodworkers actively engaged in all of their various activities of working with wood in order to make some type of product with it.

But wait one darn minute Tom..!! These folks are working with wood! Aren’t these people carpenters? The answer is, no they aren’t. They are woodworkers and many times a woodworker is also a cabinet – furniture maker like myself. Then you have woodworkers who are also carpenters who work in homes doing specialty work. Because we all work with wood in general doesn’t mean that we’re all carpenters, or a cabinet maker or a woodworker. The difference is, is that we all work with different types of wood and different wood grades. Wood can have lots of different purposes ranging from structural lumber to trim to furniture grade and so on. But I have found for myself that, being that I have experience in; carpentry, cabinet making, furniture making, woodworking and luthier work (building custom acoustic guitars) PLUS.. work as a contractor (more on this in another Blog post) I can communicate from an experienced position. The way to differentiate between the trades/professions – (to be able to tell the difference) is to observe what exactly these individuals are working on and gain some experience that way through observation. Look over part I,II and III of this Blog. Look at the photos. You’ll see photos of people working on very many different things. Be it a house, a rocking chair, a birdhouse, fixing a stair railing or building a storage cabinet. That will tell you what they are in terms of a profession or skilled tradesmen. Hopefully this Blog has helped you to understand that there is a difference in our skill sets and in what we do. I do hope that some of you who’ve been frustrated in the past are again in pursuit of your dreams of that new deck or kitchen that you’ve always wanted but didn’t know who to call. That being said, A Cabinet Maker is not a Carpenter and Visa Versa!

Happy Building and Creating. 🙂

Tom