This is Carpentry 01 - Fall 2008
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Transcript of This is Carpentry 01 - Fall 2008
32 58
Copyright 2008. Nothing shown may be reproduced without permission from This Is Carpentry.
Letter from TIC ............................. 6DesignING Class ........................... 10New and COOL .............................. 24Story Pole ..................................... 32Not So Big ..................................... 58Tools in USE.................................. 74Tool BOX ...................................... 82
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T he world of carpentry is changing. Not that long ago, carpenters drove nails
by hand—with hammers—and cord-less screw drivers didn’t have batter-ies—we pushed on them hoping they wouldn’t slip off the screw head and gouge a chunk of meat out of our thumbs. Back then chipboard (OSB) meant inferior quality and swelled like a sponge with even the lightest morning dew. But as tools and ma-terials have changed over the years, so has the process of learning about our craft and our trade. Thirty years ago carpenters only had dusty old books filled with the secrets of bygone craftsmen. But then came Fine Home-building, JLC and a whole generation of excellent specialized magazines.
The new millennium clicked over,
and suddenly mind boggling advances in electronic communication—particu-larly the internet—forever changed the way we access information. While the cost of printing magazines skyrockets, the quality and immediacy of the in-ternet make it the next logical step in conveying information. For advertisers the internet’s instant access to greater space and more readers makes for a more efficient use of marketing dollars that is instantly measurable.
This Is Carpentry marks the first bold foray into the universe of internet magazines for craftsmen. TIC articles go places printed magazine articles can’t go—video, three-dimensional animated drawings, photographs with sound. The only thing missing is the smell of saw-dust—for now! But if you’ve gotten to this page, you already know that TIC is
not just another website. It may live on your computer screen, but it looks like a magazine. Instead of a glut of choices delivered in the conventional scroll-down format, you—the reader—control what you see by turning virtual pages. In place of pop-up ads and distracting stimuli, you’ll find thorough articles that foster education and inspiration.
There are ads in This Is Carpentry, but not advertisers. We prefer to think of these supporters as sponsors. These companies recognize that better- educated and more-respected trades-men translate into loyal customers. With TIC they are assured of reaching readers who are passionate profession-als driven to be the best craftsmen in the world.
While the idea of this magazine began with books, magazines and
live educational events, the internet promises to develop a sense of com-munity for carpenters in ways nothing else can. With forums and immediate feedback; carpenters can show their work and share techniques with thou-sands of others in their trade who are eager to learn more about their craft and to secure the future of quality craftsmanship.
Our dream at TIC is to create a com-munity where carpenters can share not only their work but their lives, as well. If you share this same dream, welcome! This magazine is yours. Take it. It’s free. It’s FUN! The only fee is that you en-ter this family of elite tradesmen with a sense of pride and respect for your craft, and that you share the passion for your work with everyone else here.
Gary, Roe, David, & Tristan—
Still Bumping
Always Trust – Never Ever Adjust
…and B
endin
g?
www.stabila.com
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terminating Versus
supporting Moldings
by Brent Hull
I f I were to say: “Hi are how you? Brent I’m Hull.” You might wonder what I drank for breakfast. I mean,
you’d recognize the words, they’d sound familiar, but the way I used them wouldn’t
make any sense. But if I said: “Hi, how are you? I’m Brent Hull,” you’d respond without a hitch, my words would make perfect sense (depending on what you drank for breakfast!).
Well guess what? There is a language to classical design, too; a vocabulary that’s dependent on moldings for communicating purpose in a room. If you speak the language, all your finish
Quick! Me hand a nails of line!
What???
In the forward to Theory of Mouldings (C. Howlard Walker, reprinted 2007), Richard Sammons provides a great definition and an easy way of determining whether a molding is terminating or supporting. Sammons says that if the final line of the molding curve is pointing out, it is a
work—your, bookcases, mantelpieces, doorways, and ceilings―will commu-nicate fluently with your customers. If you don’t speak the language, your work will look funny and awkward. Put simply: You might be using the right words, but if you put them in the wrong order or upside down, they won’t make sense.
suppOrting MOldings
Centuries ago, the Greeks and Romans worked out a set of rules for moldings. Each profile had its place and purpose. Some shapes were designed merely to embellish an architec-tural detail, while oth-ers served to separate
architectural details. The two pro-files that are most often confused and most often used incorrectly by today’s builders are terminating profiles that finish an architectural detail, and supporting profiles that hold or carry a weight above.
12 13
Cl a s s i C Mi s t a k e s:
This door header illustrates two often seen molding mistakes. The bottom molding is upside down, and the top molding is a supporting molding when it should be a terminating molding.
terminating molding; if the final line of the curve is pointing up, it is a supporting molding. Or put another way, termi-nating moldings have a concave curve at the top, and supporting moldings have a convex curve at the top.
Let’s take a look at supporting moldings first. Supporting moldings have
more meat or muscle on the bone near the top. They don’t look delicate! They look like
a clinched fist on the end of your forearm. A perfect example of a supporting molding is a
corbel, the embodiment of strength in architecture.
Some supporting moldings play a more subtle role. While the cor-bel forms the main support for the mantelpiece, look closely and notice the molding beneath the mantelpiece. You may be quick to label this profile as crown molding, but it’s actually bed
molding. The top of the bed molding profile points up not out, so it adds another layer of visual support to the mantle above.
Band molding or panel moldings, in all their various shapes and sizes (from egg-and-dart molding to lamb’s
14 15
c O n V e x
p O i n t i n g u p
p O i n t i n g O u t
c O n c a V e
te r M i n at i n g p r O f i l es u p p O rt i n g p r O f i l e
The top of crown molding curves out, finishing the top of – or “crown-ing” – any architectural detail it’s attached to, from the mantle piece on the previous page, to the rake of the beautiful open pediment. Most crown moldings used today are called cyma moldings because they com-bine both concave and convex curves to form their profiles. Cyma recta is the classic crown shape with the top concave curve pointing out. On the other hand Cyma reversa, with the convex curve on top pointing up is the proper profile to use as a supporting molding, beneath a mantelpiece or a shelf.
One area that gets really confus-ing is crown molding at the corner of the wall and ceiling. Should crown molding at the ceiling be a support-ing molding or a terminating mold-ing? Actually, the wall in a home is
meant to resemble a classical column – so the uppermost crown should be a terminating molding. But sometimes it’s not. I’ve frequently installed a supporting molding at the ceiling when I’ve used a one-piece crown, but most often when there’s a secondary soffit or light well above, which must also be trimmed with crown.
Terminating moldings help pro-duce dramatic effect at the top or ter-mination of everything we build. As
Marianne Cusato and Ben Pentreath put it in their book Get
Your House Right,
tongue, to ogee chair rail and dado moldings), are another example of supporting moldings. The top curves on band and panel moldings are con-vex, putting muscle where it’s needed most – at the top of the profile.
terMinating MOldingsTerminating moldings are exactly the opposite, they’re much more delicate on the upper top edge, a clear sign
that they’re not meant to support any weight from above. Though they might seem purely decorative, terminating moldings actually served an important purpose on classical structures. Like the brim of a hat, they helped deflect rain away from the wall below. Today, the most common pre-formed rain gutter actually uses a modified shape of crown molding, the most common of the terminating moldings.
16 17
concave curve works well to finish off less ornate architectural details. Many ter-minating crown pat-terns incorporate a deep cove to empha-size the projection of the terminating molding.
fin ish ing upToo often support-ing and terminating moldings are in-stalled backwards, upside down, or they are swapped in position and make no architectural sense. Too often a terminating molding is placed underneath something it can’t carry visually. For example, the ubiquitous 8010 crown should be used to finish off a detail, and
(also co-written by Richard Sam-mons): “The emphasis of a terminat-ing molding, or cyma is outward.” That outward projection works as a lip or an outline to finish off any architectural detail.
cyMa rectaNo discussion of supporting and ter-minating moldings would be com-plete without a look at the two primal shapes that form the foundation for most moldings.
cyMa reVersaThese two opposing profiles follow the same classical rule: if the upper line of the molding points out, it’s a terminating profile. If the upper line of the molding points up, it’s a sup-porting profile. Supporting profiles always have more mass at the top. Terminating profiles always have less material at the top.
Cove molding is another profile that can be used as terminating molding. The delicate lip at the top of a cove’s
Too often supporting and
terminating moldings are
installed backwards,
upside down, or they are
swapped in position and
make no architectural sense.e M p h a s i s p O i n t s O u t
18 19
e M p h a s i s p O i n t s u p
c y M a r e c ta
te r M i n at i n g p r O f i l e s u p p O rt i n g p r O f i l e
c y M a r e V e r s a
rightThis is how a classical cornice should be constructed, with a cyma reversa sup-porting molding beneath the soffit and a cyma recta terminating at the top!
Never ask a terminating molding to visually carry something so large and heavy. And by the same token don’t finish off the top of a detail like a door header or mantle with a supporting molding that visually begs to carry something heavy above it.
Remember, a simple twist or rear-rangement of words, and suddenly your sentences make sense—or they don’t! The proper use of terminating and supporting moldings can make your bookcases, mantels, cornices, and crown feel right and make visual sense. Understanding and applying these ancient rules will improve the value of your craftsmanship, and increase the value of your work in the eyes of your clients, too.
too often we see it installed under-neath something heavy, leaving us to wonder what it is about that detail that we don’t like or that doesn’t feel quite right.
The area in architecture where I see these moldings most often mis-used is mantles and shelves. It is very com-mon to see a terminating molding get capped by a large block or thick piece of wood, which happens frequently with mantel shelves.
WrOng.I see this type of composition all the time! Now that you know better, it’s easy to see that the thin top of that crown molding isn’t strong enough to carry the weight of that heavy shelf. A supporting molding would have made much more sense.
h e aV y M a nte l s h e l fterM inating MOuld ing (cyMa recta)
suppOrting MOuld ing (cyMa reVersa)
e M p h a s i s O ut
te r M i n at i n g M O l d i n g
20 21
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tWO neW tape Measures frOM taj iMa
In New England where I’m from, carpenters wear many hats, from framing to finish and all in be-
tween. I’ve always had an array of hammers depending on which hat I might be wearing on a given job or given day. I have my 22 oz. long-handled hammer with a waffle head for framing, but I pick up a 16 oz. and sometimes even my 12 oz. hammer for finish work. So why is it that I’ve always used the same big, heavy, clunky 30-ft. tape for all my work?
I never considered having a second tape measure on hand until I checked out the new Tajima G-Plus® tapes www.tajimatool.com. The two I have
Send your ideas to: newandcool@
thisiscarpentry.com
are the GP30 and the GP16. Both of these tapes sport 1-in. wide blades with a non-glare white background.
If you use a tape all day long your eyes will be thankful for both these features.
The 1-in. blade doesn’t extend as far as the ‘fat’ 1 1/4-in. blades, but I was able to stretch the GP tapes 7 ft. (plus the length of my extended arm), which is plenty for most of my measuring tasks. The retraction mechanism for both of these tapes is smooth as but-ter. No convulsing springs in the cas-ing if the tape retracts at top speed.
One of the things that disappoints me about most tapes it not being able to pull the blade out to the full adver-tised length. Most 30 footers start to strain at about 29 ft., but the GP30 extends past 30 ft. so effortlessly that
weight and compact for their lengths. If you’re used to wide uncomfortable grip of the fat tapes, even the GP30 will be easier to hold and use. The GP16 is al-most too small in my hand. Both have a thick rubbery covering on the case for positive grip. But best of all the slim-mer tapes slips in and out of the tape holder in my tool belt more easily.
A lot of tape companies sacrifice quality on their shorter tapes, but Taji-ma uses the all of the same professional engineering on the GP 16 as on their longer length tapes. For my finish work from now on, I’ll gladly swap out tapes at the same time I shift to my trust light-weight hammer. My back won’t com-plain when I start adding the weight of my other finish work hand tools.
The Ta-jima GP-30 goes for around $28 on the street, and the GP-16 sells for $17.
they wrote “STOP” on the blade to keep you from pulling any more. And the blade retracts just as quickly and smoothly after full extension.
Most tape companies will warn you to feather the tape to slow it down during retraction. Retracting the typi-cal tape at full speed, lets the tip slam
into the casing. A few of these impacts and suddenly the tape isn’t taking the accurate measurement it did when it came from the factory. Tajima’s GP tapes have a built-in shock absorber, that cushions the tip as it returns.
Like most premium tape measures, the tips are triple riveted. But Ta-
jima adds a stationary back-ing plate for the rivets that anchors to the tape with an extra rivet beyond the slid-ing tip. The extra attachment supposedly adds to the life of
the tip. The cool thing
about both of these tape is that they are very light-
26 27
pieces shoot out the back of your saw and imbed in the newly painted wall behind the saw? The saw hood suc-cessfully corals all those errant pieces before they can do any damage.
Made from wa-ter resistant mate-rial, the folks at the show were touting the ChopShop hood as a way to pro-tect the saw in inclement weather. But I wouldn’t expect the hood to offer any-thing but the most scant protection in inclement weather. In fact, using the saw outside on a windy day could trans-form the hood into an effective spinna-ker, great if you use your boat as a saw stand.
One group that will welcome this product is tilers. Working in reverse of a raincoat, the FastCap hood can contain and collect the spray from a wet saw. You just have to remember to empty the bucket.
The ChopShop Saw hood retails on the street for $129.
chOpshOp saW hOOd by fastcap
Walk around any carpentry trade-show and you’re bound to see a mil-lion gimmicks and gadgets. It’s rare
that one warrants a second look, much less my full attention. But last Spring at JLC Live in Providence I had to stop when I walked by the FastCap booth.
FastCap www.fastcap.com is a company renowned for its innova-tive tools and gadgets designed by the folks that actually use them—there’s a concept!!! They have come up with a hood that mounts to any chopsaw or sliding compound miter saw. Mount-ing brackets are available if you have trouble with yours.
The hood is a dust containment sys-tem, not a dust collection system. The saw dust still flies out of the saw as it al-ways did, but instead of it spewing and covering everything in a 10-ft. diameter of the saw, the dust hits the hood and slides down to the funnel shaped bot-tom where it trickles into a collection bucket or box (not included).
Ever have one of those little trim
28 29
E v e r y t i M e i ’ M a s k e d to bid or to build a set of stairs, I unroll the plans, look at the
details, and shake my head. Architects rarely include and often they don’t even have the basic information I need, the few specifications that allow me to build a staircase that will meet the stringent requirements of building code in my area.
A simple tool takes the guess work and a lot of the brain work out of making safe comfortable stairs.
STory PolES for STaIrS
by Jed dixon
But for most of the stairs I build, I just make a story pole, a crucial tool for preci-sion stair building.
A story pole is basically a full-size el-evation drawing shrunk down into one dimension—a line, in this case a 1x4 stick. I start by making field measurements, the first of which is the floor-to-floor height from where the stair will start—about the middle of the first riser location—to where the stair will end—about the middle of the top riser.
Measuring the flOOr-tO-flOOr distance
Taking an accurate floor-to-floor height measurement is critical. On rare occa-sions, as with a spiral stair, these points might be plumb above each other, but in most cases, there can be 10 or 12 feet of horizontal distance between the starting point and the ending point of a staircase.
Before I can layout a set of stairs, I need to know the exact thickness of the finish floors, including the floors at the top of the stairs, at the bottom of the stairs, as well as on any intermediate landings. I also need to know the run of the stairs—exactly where the archi-
tect wants the stairs to start on the first floor and finish on the sec-ond, third, forth, or fifth. And
finally, I need to know the exact thick-ness of the finish treads. Once I have that information, I can make a story pole that allows me to build a stair with confidence that’s dead accurate, never once stopping to scratch my head over the calculations.
a stOry pOle: eVery MeasureMent On a sticK
Before I describe the layout process, I can’t stress enough the importance for every step of a staircase to be exactly the same height; a 1/4-in. difference between steps can be dangerous if not fatal. And with all the factors that go into a set of stairs, it’s very easy to make a mistake in layout or con-struction, which can throw off the consistency of the rises.
As with all my finish carpentry, I fol-low two rules that make my staircases accurate and right: First, I design and layout the work completely before I build it. Second, I start with the finish and work back to the rough.
For complicated projects, a full-scale drawing or loft always works best. (I never depend on the architects 1/4-in. scale drawing—It’s not nearly accurate enough for stair building).
I can’t stress enough
the importance
for every step of a
staircase to be exactly
the same height…
A story pole is basically a full-size elevation drawing shrunk down into one dimension—a line, in this case a 1x4 stick.
34 35
We all know that floors aren’t level. In 10 or 12 feet, I’ve seen floors rise or fall more than an inch, especially if one end is in the middle of a floor and the other is at a bearing wall.
To measure the floor-to-floor height accurately, most folks use either a long spirit level or a water level, but a laser level is the fastest and most accurate way to find the difference in elevation between two points that are separated by a large horizontal distance. For all my stair work, I use a Stabila Plumb-Bob Line Laser. This single tool emits
Measurements in motion. In the animated drawing above, we zoom in on three trouble areas for stair builders. Stabila Plumb-Bob Line Laser
36 37
hardwood over the subfloor. I add whatever the thickness is to the rough floor-to-floor dimension I found earlier.
Frequently, the stairs I’m asked to build land on a low-er floor that will have a sub-floor for hydronic heat, plus 3/4-in. hardwood, or thick 1 1/4-in. tile, or even 2-in. stone! That total dimen-sion–the thickness of any subfloor plus the finished floor at the bot-tom of the stair_must be subtracted from the floor-to-floor dimension. Adding the thickness of the upper floor and subtracting the thickness of the lower floor from the rough floor-to-floor dimension gives me the total height of the stairs, finished floor to finished floor.
a horizontal line that’s easy to see for making measurements like these. (It’s a pulsing laser as well, so even if I can’t see the line, I can use a receiver to ‘hear’ the line). The laser also has plumb dots which are invaluable for setting newel posts, balusters, etc.
I set up the laser so that the horizontal laser line falls at a conve-nient height between floors, and so
that the laser line passes both over the bottom tread location as well as un-der the top tread location. I measure from the rough floor down to the laser line at the top-riser location, and from the rough floor up to the laser line at the bottom riser location. Adding the two dimensions together gives me the rough floor-to-floor dimension. I mark that number in my ever-present note-book. While the laser is set up, I also mark the laser line on the studs where the stair is going. More on that later.
add the upper fin ished flOOr, subtract the lOWerBefore I can layout the stairs or my story pole, I need to know the thick-ness of the finish floors, especially if the lower floor thickness is different than the upper floor, which is often the case. For example, the second floor might have 3/4-in. tongue-and-groove
Measure up from where the stair begins…
Before I can layout the
stairs or my story pole,
I need to know the thickness
of the finish floors,
especially if the lower
floor thickness is different
than the upper floor,
which is often the case.
38 39
MOdern carpenters use calculatOrs
As you can see, there’s a lot of frac-tional math involved in building stairs, which means lots of room for arithmetic errors—errors that must
be avoided if you want the job to run smoothly and the stair to
come out in the most pleas-ing manner. To minimize math errors, I always use a Construction Master foot/inch calculator for all my stair computations. Not
only does a foot/inch cal-culator make it a lot easier
to add, subtract, multiply and divide fractions of an inch, but it
eliminates cumulative error. More on that in a minute.
For the example we’ll be using in this article, I measured for a stair in my shop, going from the shop floor
up to the loft. The floor thickness and change of direction of a landing adds other layout challenges, so I decided to plan for an intermediate landing with a right angle turn. I also decided that the loft will get 3/4-in. hardwood flooring, (typical for a second floor), and the main shop will have 3/4-in. hardwood installed over 1/2-in. hydronic subfloor.
…And measure down from the top of the stair for the total rise of the stair.
Construction Master foot/inch calculator
40 41
The measurement up to the laser from where the first tread lands on the shop floor is 45 5/16 in. The measure-ment down to the laser line from the loft is 54 3/8 in. By adding the two to-gether in the calculator, we know the rough floor-to-floor measurement is 99 11/16 in.
Next we add 3/4 in. for the finished loft floor, which gives us 100 7/16 in. Finally, we subtract 1 1/4 in. for the finished shop floor. That means the finished floor-to-floor distance is 99 3/16 in. If I were measuring a jobsite, I’d write that number down in my Job Book.
calculating the r isesThe next step is determining the distance in height between the fin-ish treads, also called the net rise. To get this number, I usually divide the finish floor-to-floor dimen-sion by 7-1/2 in., which is a good average rise for a residential stair. Unless the floor-to-floor figure is exactly divisible by 7 1/2_and I’ve never worked on one that has been_there will be a remainder. To get the number of rises for this example, I divide 99 3/16 in. by 7 1/2 in. The result is 13.225. I’m obviously not going to make 13 normal risers with a short one at the top. The point of the initial calculation is finding the precise number of risers need-ed for the stair. In this case, I round 13.225 down to the nearest whole number, 13.
calculator keystrokes
Task:
Measure down to laser line
Keystroke: enter: 45 5 6
Task:
Measure up to line: 54 3/8
Keystroke: 54 3 8 99 11/16
calculator keystrokes
Task:
Add thickness of 3/4-in. upper floor:
Keystroke: 3 4 100 7/16
Task:
Subtract thickness of 1 1/4-in. lower floor:
Keystroke: 1 1 4 99 3/16
calculator keystrokes
Task:
Divide finished floor to floor by 7 1/2 in.
(ideal rise) to find number of rises
Keystroke: 7 1 2 13.225
Task: Multiply by 7 1/2 in. to get back
to finished floor-to-floor
Keystroke: 7 1 2 99 3/16
Task: Divide by the rounded off
number of rises 13
Keystroke: 13 7 5/8 (net rise rounded off to 16th)
Task: Memorize exact net rise per tread
Keystroke:
Result: rough floor-to-floor = 99 11/16
Result: calculator records decimal fraction
Result: finished floor-to-floor = 99 3/16 in.
42 43
Dividing the finished floor-to-floor height, 99 3/16 in. by 13 gives us 7-5/8 in. rounded off by the calcu-lator to the nearest 1/16th. (By press-ing the ‘Inch’ key on the calculator, you can see what I mean. The deci-mal fraction for 7 5/8 is 7.625, but the
decimal fraction for this calculation is really 7.629808. That’s the fraction the calculator will be working with, while giving me the nearest number in a more friendly format).
Press the ‘Inch’ key once more to re-turn to fractional inches. Then press
‘Memory +’ so the calculator remem-bers that fraction.
Anyone who has ever laid out a stair with a framing square and gauge stops, or used a gauge block to layout repeti-tive elements such as dentil blocks or wainscoting stiles, has probably
experienced cumulative error.
If you lay out a stair stringer by
stepping off the risers with a
framing square, no matter how
carefully you set your stops,
you could be off by more than
1/2 in. when you get to the last
rise. That much of a difference
is not acceptable and won’t
pass close inspection or code.
By using the calculator’s
memory function, I avoid cu-
mulative errors that occur
when extremely small frac-
tions, maybe 1/64 or 1/32 in.
add up in a repetitive calculation. By
default, Construction Master Calcu-
lators are programmed to round off
small decimal fractions to the nearest
1/16 in. (You can change the program-
ming if you want to work to 1/32 in.
but it’s not necessary). If the calcula-
tor comes up with a figure that slightly
Start at the bottom. Hit the mem+ button and the calculator gives the series of heights for the finished treads.
44 45
smaller than 3/32, it will round the number displayed down to 1/16 in., while it continues to work with the finer decimal fraction.
MaKing the stOry pOleI like to use a clean, straight 1x2 or 1x4 for making story poles, one that’s a little longer than the floor-to-floor distance. I set the pole on horses or on a bench, and hook my tape at one end. (For the sake of precision and clarity, I always hook my tape measure on the bottom of the story pole). First I mark off the height of the finish floor at the bottom of the stair, which includes hy-dronic heating and the hardwood floor-ing. With the tape
still hooked, I run up to the other end and mark the rough floor-to-floor dis-tance, and then add on the thickness of the upper finish floor.
Next, I mark the tops of the finish treads. I find their locations with the calculator (see sidebar for condensed keystrokes). That means for your first finish tread location, you must add the thickness of the hydronic subfloor and finish flooring. My last keystroke ‘Memory +’ entered the Pay special atention to the detail of the thickness of the finish materials
and subfloor and any intermediate landings
Label every line carefully and accurately.
46 47
decimal fraction into the calculator’s memory. Next I add the thickness of the lower flooring. By using the key-strokes below, the calculator automat-ically adds that amount to the tread height, putting the first tread at 8 7/8 in. That simple sum is a critical first step in laying out the story pole.
Click, watch, learn. In this short video clip the author takes us through story pole layout with a few nifty tips.
calculator keystrokes
Task: Memorize exact net rise
per tread from before)
Keystroke:
Task: Add thickness of finish
floor below
Keystroke: 1 1 4
Task: Dimension to first net rise:
Keystroke: 8 7/8 (finished tread 1)
Result: calculator automatically adds finished floor thickness to tread height
48 49
Locating the tops of all the remaining treads is now extremely easy. We just asked the calculator to add the tread-to-tread rise to the first floor thickness. Now the calculator is ready to give us the rest of the tread heights with the lower flooring already factored in.
As you climb up the story pole, marking the finish top of each tread, you’ll notice that the sixth tread lays
out at 47 in. But the calculator puts the seventh tread at 54 11/16 in., not at 54 5/8 in.! As I explained ear-lier, the calculator isn’t adding 7 5/8 each time, it’s adding the decimal frac-tion, 7.629808. When the “leftover” fraction in the calculator’s memory hits 1/16 in., the calculator automatically adds that amount to the next result.
After marking the tops of every fin-ish tread, I’m ready to work back to the rough dimensions. Remember, always start with the finish and work back to the rough.
I detail each tread down the thickness of the finish tread, and down again the thickness of the sub-treads. The lowest line at each tread is the height of the cut on the stringer for that tread. I pay special attention as I detail the thickness of the finish materials and subfloor at any inter-mediate landings, as well as at the top
and bottom of the stair. These are places where the rough rise can vary because the thickness of the finished flooring might be different than at the finish treads.
For example, the treads might be detailed down 1 1/16 in. for a 5/4 tread. But the in-termediate landing, which gets 3/4-in. hardwood, is detailed down only 3/4 in. The landing will get a rabbeted nosing so that it looks like it’s 1 1/16-in. thick, but the flooring is actu-ally only 3/4-in. thick.
When all finish and rough stair parts are located and la-beled on the story pole, I stand it up on the subfloor at the bot-tom tread location, and mark the location of the laser line. The story pole is then complete.
Stand the story pole up on the subfloor at the bottom tread location, and mark
the location of the laser line.
calculator keystrokes
Task: Repeat addition of net rise
Keystroke: 16 1/2 (finished tread 2)
Task: Repeat until finish string is
complete
Keystroke: etc. 24 1/8, 31 3/4, 39 3/8,
Result: calculator provides exact tread heights based on memorized fraction.
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Now I have a full-scale elevation of the stair layout, all in the compact package of a 1x4. I can take the dimen-sions of the rough common risers, as well as those of the top, bottom and landing risers directly from it. I can also line up the laser line on the story pole with the laser marks I made on the wall studs, and I can transfer the heights of frame elements right from the story pole to the house frame. In the end the story pole will help me get all the finish risers the correct height.
According to the code in my area, the difference between tread heights can’t exceed 3/16 in. If you care about craftsmanship, and want to leave be-hind exemplary work, challenge your-self. Try to build your stairs so that the difference between risers is 1/8 in. or less. And at the same time you’ll avoid unpleasant visits from the building inspector.
Jed Dixon designs, builds, and restores stairs and stair parts in historic New England homes. A sometime-Luddite*, Jed uses power tools in his shop to make everything from treads to turned balusters to hand-carved volutes and railings. And while he orders the occaisional custom part from a local CNC operator, and he’d never part with his Macintosh, I-Phone, or Ipod. Jed and his wife Helen raised their three kids in a 19th century farm house on their rural Rhode Island farm. Kip, their working sheep dog, lets visitors know that stair building may be Jed’s profession, but the farm is his passion.
* A follower of Ned Ludd, whose writings in the early 1900s incited skilled craftstmen to rebel against the mechanized world of
the industrial revolution.
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KeystrOKe suMMary: Keystrokes for s ta ir ca lcu lat ions
Here are the keystrokes on my Construction Master IV for the stair example described in this article:
P R O C E D U R E K E Y S T R O K E R E S U L T ( ? ? ? )
Measure down to laser line: 45 5/16 in. Enter: 45 5 6 Measure up to line: 54 3/8
54 inch 3 8 99 11/16 Rough floor-to-floor = 99 11/16 in.
Add thickness of 3/4-in. upper floor: 3 4 100 7/16
Subtract thickness of 1 1/4-in. lower floor:
1 1 4 99 3/16 Finished floor-to-floor = 99 3/16 in.
Divide by 7 1/2 in. (ideal rise) to find number of rises 7 1 2 13.225
Multiply by 7 1/2 in. to get back to finished floor-to-floor 7 1 2 99 3/16 Divide by the rounded off number of rises 13
13 7 5/8 (net rise rounded off to 16th)
Memorize exact net rise per tread
Add thickness of finish floor below 1 1 4
Dimension to first net rise:
8 7/8 (finished tread 1) Repeat addition of net rise
16 1/2 (finished tread 2) Repeat until finish string is complete
etc. 24 1/8, 31 3/4, 39 3/8,
While I’m at it, I use the calculator to find some other useful information such as a virtual pitch block.
Enter net rise into rise rise (rise 7 5/8)
Enter net run: 10 in. 10
Find stair pitch 37.34 degrees
Find the diagonal of the stair (Distance between points of the stringer) 12 9/16
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Great information and tips. This was my second time seeing Mr. Katz and I will go again and again. • fred burgers, help around the house
I learned more from the Katz Roadshow than anyone I have ever worked with, except my dad! • todd brooks, home remedies, llc.
Informative! Better than expected! The Katz Roadshow makes a guy feel good about his profession! • mike boyts, metzler remodeling
honor your craft
for more information visit: www.katzroadshow.com
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Shopping for equipment to fit size small in an in industry
that caters to XXL.by Kerri Spier
associated abuse (my boots used to have little pictures of Tonka trucks), I’ve discovered that farmers are more open minded to not-so-big market-ing. Agricultural supply companies
such as Gempler’s or Agway sell a good range of women’s bibs, coveralls, boots, gloves, and other professional grade work clothing.
A couple of the things I got from Duluth Trading were right on target. One was a pair of work boots, heavy duty, steel-toed,
triple wide, and in a size 6! The other was the first set of pro-grade
knee pads I’ve ever had that fit.
safety gear: nurses haVe the r ight glasses
I almost always wear safety glasses; a couple of near misses converted me.
You need a bigger head than mine to
wear standard men’s glasses, though. After 15 years of dealing with this problem I discovered that nursing iso-lation specs have the same ANSI spec-ification as carpenters’ safety glasses, and they are sized for the smaller person. They also have the added advantage of coming in a variety of patterns and colors. I usually sport pink or flowered ones, because they rarely get borrowed by my co-workers.
I ’ve been a woman in the construction t r a d e s f o r o v e r t w e n t y y e a r s n o w. I’ve learned to frame, finish and fix along with the
other guys. I can trade job-site humor with the best of them, and I can even deal with patronizing salesmen, with their soft pink hands and spotless work boots. But for me the hardest part of all has been finding professional clothing and equipment that fits a not-so-big carpenter.
clOth ing: Kids’ bOOts With tOnKa trucKs
What prompted this article was a cat-alog I got in the mail one day. It was from a company called Duluth Trading Post, and it promised to supply every-thing a hard-working woman might need. Even though the cover girl had hands like a salesman, I placed an or-der right away. Some of the stuff was
really nice, but I’ve still had to find a lot of what I need elsewhere.
I’ve long known that the companies making clothes for construc-tion workers don’t cater to women. After years of shopping in the little boys’ section, and enduring the
…my boots used to have little
pictures of Tonka trucks
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I’ve been searching for the perfect belt ever since. The average size belt almost goes around me twice. Pockets designed to sit in front end up in back, making them virtually inaccessible.
Standard pouches are too wide for my shortened belt, and too long as well; they almost bang on my knees. The best system I’ve found is using a standard belt that is wide, strong, and
Very early on, I learned a valuable lesson about keep-
ing my long hair tied back. While drilling a hole in
concrete, my hair got caught up in the
chuck. In a split second the drill ripped out of my hands
and smacked me in the head. Since then I’ve tried every solution short of cutting my hair, but a
new product from Duluth Trading just addressed the problem head-on: a headband with a pony-tail exit hole. Very cool,
and great for cold weather too.
the tOOl beltWhen I first started build-
ing I bought a nice tool belt with lots of pockets
and pouches. Before long it was gathering
dust, and
Safety on a small scale. Medical supply houses carry eye protection for smaller faces (facing page). The headband below keeps ears warm and long hair out of the way.
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comfortable but that can be short-ened. I accessorize it with removable pouches, which I stitch in place where I like them (Photo 6 of Kerri with tool-belt on the boat, hopefully). Duluth Trading sells a variety of pouches de-signed for the working woman. They worked well once I stitched them in place, but the smaller clip-on pouches tended to pop off unexpectedly. Most long-time carpenters I know support their belts with a set of suspenders, but alas, these too are designed with a man in mind. I’ve yet to find a set with cross-your-heart comfort.
tOOls tO (OVer)fill the belt
Just because I’m little doesn’t mean I don’t need big tools. By the time I put a 30-ft. tape, speed square, knife, pliers, chisel, catspaw, screwdriver, marker and a few pencils in my pouches, there
isn’t much room left. I keep my boxes of nails close by and refill more often. I shorten my pencils so they don’t puncture my chest when I bend over; on the other hand, I don’t get stuck when I step through a framed wall.
I’ve always carried the same ham-mers as everyone else; after all, I’m hitting the same nails. They’re not too heavy, but they’re often too long; my framing hammer almost drags on the ground and my roofing hammer has been known to dip in the tar bucket when I step over it.
As part of a tool test we did recent-ly, I got to try out a couple of Stiletto titanium hammers. These are small, light, beautifully balanced, and pack a wallop (like me, according to my husband!). Unfortunately, their re-tail price of $250 each, puts them into the jewelry department. Last fall I suggested to my husband that
Framing hammers can equal bruised shins.
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every woman deserves a pair of stilettos in her stocking at least once in her life, but no dice this year.
pOWer tOOls fOr sMall hands
There are so many differ-ent power tools out there, some suited for every size and shape. Here are the ones that I have found easiest to use with my smaller hands:C I R C U L A R S A w S : We’ve tested a lot of saws over the years, and the Milwaukee would be my first pick. The grip is manageable, the guard is easy to use, and I can change the blade efficiently. Many circular saws require that you hold the guard up and lock the blade with one hand, while Saw for bigger hands. Circular saws like this one are hard to operate for
small hands, especially keeping the guard retracted while pulling the trigger.
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C O R D L E S S
D R I L L S : I like the drills (cordless and otherwise) with a smaller handgrip. The two I’m first to grab out of the van are the Panasonic and the Hitachi.
Another design feature to watch with all cordless tools is the battery release. Some tools have a release button on each side of the bat-tery. These are very difficult for me to use because
I can’t reach both release buttons and squeeze at the same time.
JIGSAwS, ROUTERS, PLAN-
ERS, SANDERS, GRINDERS,
AND OTHER TOOLS: The deter-mining factor for these tools is wheth-er or not I can turn the tool on with the same hand that is driving it. Most tools require that I use two hands to turn them on and off. For smaller jobs that require a router, I reach for a laminate trimmer. Sanders often come in my size, but I like to hire big strong laborers to operate them!
operating the wrench with the other. On some saws, this stretch is impos-sible for my hands. The Porter Cable,
Hitachi and Makita saws are all com-fortable, but some of the other popular saws are just sized for bigger hands.
Reach for the switch. You should be able to hit the switch with the hand operating a jigsaw, and only a few cordless drill handles are comfortable enough for small hands.
70 71
Other tools, like jackhammers and Cuisinarts, will always be out of my league.
Two decades in the trades have been pretty good to me. Being self-employed, I get paid the same as a man, and I’ve never hit a glass ceiling (though I did once get to break a big glass window with a backhoe). I enjoy my work, and I’ve learned to be ‘one of the guys’ and still be a lady when I want to be. Cold beers after work come in exactly the right size, too. Now if I could only see over the steering wheel of the truck…
Hands on! Author and her husband raise a gable wall on a Block Island house project.
72 73
Kerri Spier may be slight in stature, but she more
than makes up for that in her personality. Born and
raised on Block Island, Kerri graduated from Brown
University in 1989. After college Kerri returned to the
island, where she and her husband, John have run
Spier Construction for the past 22 years.
Four years ago Kerri, John and their three kids
decided to follow a dream. They packed themselves
up and sailed off on their 45-ft. catamaran, Aldora.
The first year, they explored the East Coast and the
Bahamas. They followed this with a trip down the
eastern Caribbean to Curacao. Next, they took the
boat through the Panama Canal and sailed as far as
Australia with countless stops along the way. Last
winter they worked their way up to Malaysia. Each
year they return to Block Island and keep their hands
in the building business, working for a few months
before heading out again. On board Kerri and John
boat school their kids with the ocean as their class-
room. They hope to complete their circumnavigation
in the next couple years before their oldest graduates
from high school. And for the record, Kerri keeps
her best tool belt on the boat for those rare trips
up the mast.
Emerson, NJTel 201.262.6666
Midland Park, NJTel 201.652.1000
Wantage, NJTel 973.875.5106
Ogdensburg, NJTel 973.827.9110
Succasunna, NJTel 973.584.2444
Roseland, NJTel 973.226.5700
Warwick, NYTel 845.986.2255
Elmwood Supply (Garfield, NJ)Tel 973.772.0044
HEadquaRTERSFair Lawn, NJ6-02 Fair Lawn ave.Fair Lawn, NJ 07410Tel 201.796.2082Office Fax 201.703.9230 [email protected] ■ www.KuikenBrothers.com
al’s sensational step-ladder, extension-cord, work-light, work-bench, tool box on wheels!!!
using impact drivers
a few years ago, other than the noise of saws and nail guns, jobsites were pretty quiet.
But today, on almost every construc-tion site, you’re li-able to hear the clacking of an
By Dan Parish
impact driver. After all, most of us have become completely dependent on them for driving screws: they nev-er strip out a head, even when you’re driving a screw in tough wood; even if you’re standing on a lad-der reaching over your head, you can still drive a long screw without throwing your weight behind the
driver; and you can drive handfuls of screws without tiring.
Tools of the Trade and Fine Home-building (see Fine Homebuilding
issue 196 and this online video: have recently
published two great articles about the newest Lithium Ion models, which are much more powerful than our
old 12v and 14v nicds. Some of the guys on our
But with all that torque, an im-pact driver is often the last thing I want to put in the hands of one of our new finish guys--it's like handing a
hammer to a two-year old. But with a few caveats, these high-powered drills are great for finish work.
crew worked with the impact drivers used in the Tools of the Trade article. The author of the article had to test the
guns using lags instead of screws because the new 18v models drive too many screws on a single charge— they typically drove over a hundred 1/4-in. x 3-in. lags on a single charge, which means hundreds of 3-in. screws, maybe a thousand
1 1/2-in. screws!
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light up darK cOrnersA lot of new tools, like miter saws, circular saws, and routers are showing up with LED lights and I love them, even though it’ll be another twenty or thirty years before I’ll probably have to start wearing glasses. Most new models of impact drivers have lights on them now, too, which makes them
even more useful when you’re working in closets, cabinets or dark corners.
I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn’t tried many of the new drivers, but the lights on each model are totally dif-ferent from each other. Some of them work really well, some of them work okay, and some are plain terrible. Let me show you what I mean.
feathering the triggerImpact drivers don't have clutches, which makes them a bit dangerous in the hands of the uninitiated. The guys on our crew over come that problem by ‘feathering’ the trigger. In other words, rather than squeezing the trig-ger down all the way—pedal to the
metal—we pull the trigger in short spurts, which protects the screw from the full torque of the tool, especially as the head approaches the shoulder of a hole or the surface of the hardware. The tool never reaches full speed so that as soon as the impact action begins, we can stop driving the screw—usually just in time!
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al’s sensational step-ladder, extension-cord, work-light, work-bench, tool box on wheels!!!
al’s amazing tool box
on Wheels
l ong ago I built a version of Gary Katz’s tool box, but I wasn’t too happy with the
way it turned out—too heavy and the wheels were too small. After that I de-cided to build the one I’m using now, and to be honest, this last tool box has won more praise from my clients than my door hanging. I would say that al-most every client that sees it makes a comment about it. One older women went as far as to say that by looking at the tool box she could tell that I was a craftsman. I don’t take com-pliments too easily, so I just tell people that my tool box is a pro-gression of Gary’s tool box, and in fact it is. I’ve been using this tool box for about 2 to 3 years and I have been very happy with it.
changing steps I made the box from 5/8-in. finger-jointed pine screwed and glued to-gether, and for appearance I sealed
the wood with a clear coating after. I cut out a hand hole on the center of the top center to
by Al Constan
Send your Tool Box ideas to: ToolBox@
THISisCarpentry.com
pull the box around, and added two holes on the sides to lift the box when going over a threshold or anything else that I feel it should not take the weight of the tool box as I pass over it.
As a door hanger I always needed a short step ladder, so I added steps
when I built this new box. As a step ladder, it is very steady. I stand on the lower step to check the reveal on top of the door and I step on the higher one when I need to plane the top of the
The top step has a small fluorescent light mounted below. The light comes in handy and the step lifts up if I need even more light, which has been of great help in a few occasions while installing locksets on interior doors late in the evening in poorly lighted homes. The top surface of the top step is recessed to hold hinges and screws while I am installing hinges on the jamb or lockset hardware when in-stalling locks.
tOOls On the MOVeMobility is a must for a working tool box. The old box had heavy duty castors, but on the new box, I used 6-in. diam-eter wheels–good enough to climb curbs, steps and every obstacle
I encoun-ter. I could have gone b i g g e r , but it was
door if the reveal is a little tight. I use the steps as small work tables.
The steps fold up and out of the way The bottom step opens to get to the tool tray. It folds all the way over and becomes a place to hang my hammer.
88 89
is fed by a 16-ft. power cord. The power cord coils up and stores in a space in the back of the box.
The rest of the bot-tom area is for tools or objects that I don’t need quite often or that are too big to be in the upper shelf where all the other tools are. I put magnets under the middle shelf intended to hold chisels temporarily while using them. But I found that I never had any real need to use them–they were unnecessary after all. But all in all the box has turned out very useful and complete for all my needs.
not necessary, 6-in. is good enough. I mounted the wheels on regular 1/2-in. galvanized electrical tubing for an axle.
To move it around, I just tip the box back and wheel it like a hand truck. Even fully loaded, it is very easy to load and un-load from my truck. It is a one man tool box–on the heavy side like most tool boxes–but I have lifted it and carried up and down the stairs many times without problems.
built in ju iceEven with all the cordless tools that I own, I still need electricity for plug in tools. So I turned my tool box into a giant extension cord. I mounted a single receptacle on the back of the box that
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