Mentoring.

It's 8:45 PM on Thursday night. The Carpenter is out in the cabinet shop conducting a "Carpentry 101" class for our Apprentice Tyler. He's been meeting once a week with Tyler for many months. This is after a long day of work for both. They use the Carpenter's old construction text books from his technical school days, and Tyler practices essential construction skills, and even is tested. They tackle mathematics. There is a lot of math in construction. Measure and lay out. …


The Apprenticeship has been a significant investment of time for the Carpenter. But he enjoys mentoring young guys. He's formally trained a few.. years ago his younger brother worked for us and more recently our nephew. And over the years he's bestowed "honorary carpenter" status on some little guys he's met on our jobs. So many stories about the "little carpenters" who are always so excited to see our crew pull up at the start of the day.

I think part of the Carpenter's initiative to train and mentor is his drive for excellence on the job. He has high standards. Exacting standards. He isn't always easy to work for I'm sure. But I think in the end he is respected for his wealth of experience, knowledge and vision. And ultimately he loves what he does. There is no way he could put the long hours in if he didn't have a passion for his craft.

He has talked about doing more mentoring for young guys who need the attention and care, who would enjoy learning the trade. Years ago he was a "Big Brother" so I think it is something that he might actually do down the road when he has more free time. But in the meantime he will continue to teach and train, to pass on his abundance of knowledge to our lucky Apprentice!

~ the Artist