Taunton's for Pros By Pros: Finish Carpentry

Pleasing proportions, clean lines, flawless miters, and other well-crafted details are all measures of excellence for finish carpentry. Finish Carpentry takes you to the job site to see exactly how topnotch trim carpenters get interior detailing done right. A collection of articles from Fine Homebuilding magazine, this book covers the essentials of interior trim and built-in construction, including techniques for constructing hutches, baseboards, windows, crown molding, and paneling.

Written by the pros who actually do the work, these articles will help you to:

• install different types of door, window, baseboard, and cornice trim
• calculate, order, and plan trim installation to minimize waste
• compensate for out-of-square, out-of-plumb conditions
• make cope and miter cuts quickly and accurately
• use scribing techniques to get precise fits against uneven surfaces
• design and install a paneled wainscot
• use a nail gun to speed trim installation

Formerly The Best of Fine Homebuilding: Finish Carpentry, this newly revised edition features 30 percent new content, including the latest tools and techniques and updated photos and illustrations.

About the For Pros by Pros series
To get the best results when building or remodeling, you need advice from the best professionals in the business. For Pros By Pros books bring together the expert designers, builders, and remodeling pros who have written for Fine Homebuilding magazine.

Introduction

Part 1: BASICS
Basic Scribing Techniques
Plate Joinery on the Job Site
10 Rules for Finish Carpentry
Pneumatic Finish Nailing
A Pair of Built-In Hutches

Part 2: BASEBOARDS
Curved Baseboard Corners
Running Baseboard Efficiently
Designing and Installing Baseboards

Part 3: WINDOWS
More Than One Way to Case a Window
Making Curved Casing
Bench-Built Window Trim

Part 4: CROWN MOLDING
Crown Molding Basics
Cutting Crown Molding
Installing Two-Piece Crown
Making Curved Crown Molding
Installing Crown Moldings

Part 5: PANELING
Recycled Redwood Wainscoting
Traditional Cabinetry from a Modern Material
Installing Elegant Wainscot Paneling

Credits

Index

That gap's so big you could throw a cat through it. I had just finished trimming a window, when one of my fellow carpenters assessed the quality of a particular miter joint with that comment. It was job-site hyperbole, of course. You could barely have slipped a matchbook cover into the gap, but his point was clear. The gap was too big.

Finish carpentry is not a game of inches. It's a game of skoshes, hairs, tads, and other increments smaller than any carpenter's tape will measure. The overriding goal of frame carpentry is strength, but with finish carpentry, it's all about looks. And in order to look good, finish carpentry must be executed to very high tolerances.

In the real world, working to high tolerances is hard. Floors are never level, walls are never plumb, and the build-up of joint compound on drywall means that corners are never square. There's never a stud or joist to nail into when you need one. And then there's human nature to contend with. You know, the voice whispering in your ear that you don't really need to drill a pilot hole for that nail, which of course splits the wood as soon as you drive home the nail.

To do good finish work you need four things. First you need to care about doing good work. Then you need patience and good tools. And finally you need every trick in the book . . . which makes this a good place to start. This book is actually a collection of articles orginally published in Fine Homebuilding magazine. Written by builders from all over the country, these articles contain the hard-won lessons from their real-world experience.

-- Kevin Ireton, editor-in-chief, Fine Homebuilding