Hire a Specialist
I never imagined that I would someday be a furniture maker when I started framing houses. Looking back on my life of having more ambition than sense I guess it was really just inevitable. I have never been satisfied with being average and always try to do everything to the best of my ability until I’m not feeling challenged anymore. Naturally that’s when I seek out the next challenge! I learned how to frame houses then I started learning how to install interior trim like baseboards and door/window jambs and casings. It requires a higher level of accuracy in measuring lengths and angles with finish work, and I was constantly frustrated at first when the boards I cut didn’t fit on the first try. There are methods, tricks of the trade as they say, so that a finish carpenter can build accurately and efficiently and I was determined to perfect this new aspect of building.
Lets talk about tools! The quality and accuracy of your tools is a factor in building anything and the deeper I got into finer carpentry this started to become obvious. Expensive tools are only as good as the operator is at cleaning, maintaining, and tuning his/her tools. A miter saw will never cut properly if you don’t know how to tune it to cut square. A cheap miter saw can do it, but they tend to not REMAIN accurate. It is very frustrating to cut a bunch of boards on your miter saw and then realize your saw wasn’t cutting at a perfect 90 degrees! A framer may be able to cut an install trim, but a specialist will most likely be able to do it faster and better. Especially on anything non-standard. Then there are specialized products I learned to use to fill nail holes so that there is no shrink like when using caulk and other products I used in certain situations to solve a unique problem. Something only a professional would know. This is the difference between a “jack of all trades” and a specialist.
Not everybody has standards that require a specialist. Not everybody is willing to pay for a specialist. A Jack of all trades is your man! But, when you want the best, you hire a specialist. A specialist is someone who takes his/her trade very seriously and seeks to always be improving and growing as a tradesman. The skill set becomes more and more refined and specialized. The tools used become more and more specialized. The skills, processes, tools, and techniques are all very different when comparing different aspects of carpentry and it’s not always easy to go from one skill set to another. I tried to be everything to everyone for awhile and ended up frustrated again!
That was when I realized that I need to specialize in one thing and do it better than my direct competition. I was wasting my skill on framing and having a broad focus sometimes caused compromises in my trim work! That was definitely not my goal and that was when I realized why people hire a specialist.
Today I am solely focused on building interior furniture and artistic work because, well, trim work started getting too easy! Once I acquired the specialized tools and skills necessary to support myself building furniture, I realized that my focus had shifted so much that it was time to eliminate framing and basic finish carpentry from my service offerings.
A Jack of all trades often “doesn’t know what he doesn’t know”. A specialist will know his/her trade on a very deep level and understand how every aspect comes together to create a professional level product. Not everybody will appreciate this level of craftsmanship, many may realize there is a difference but not be able to identify exactly what the difference is. Some may only realize the difference after the thrill of a cheap price wears off. That is why you hire a specialist. When you want the best and want to have the piece of mind that in 10, 20, 30 plus years that you will still be satisfied with parting with your hard earned money.