My luck I'd break it

It was at the height of a switch by a door like a switch, so I just assumed it was one

Louisville is unique because we have the largest collection of Victorian homes in the nation that haven't been remodeled. Our historic society is really strict. If you pull the shutters off and don't replace them they fine you until you do. It's absurd, but I love it because "Old" Louisville is beautiful.

It's worth preserving. Nothing modern is comparable.

I see all these pictures of historic buildings on the server and twitter and I'm ok, so great your posting this stuff, but am I the only person who's actually saving them?

Remember when the trades were segregated? Whites, carpenters, electricians, plumbers, masons. Blacks brick layers, not masons. Hispanics dry wall, painting, and metal studs.

Sweet, thanks for identifying them bro

@Lebens around here seems like everyone who swings a hammer calls themselves a carpenter. Low voltage guys calling themselves electricians, nigga you're a cable guy...

@Deleted User wow in the last 15 years I can't tell you how many blacks I've worked with calling themselves carpenters and they can't even read a tape measure.

Haha oh I know. I did cable a few years back to take a break from back breaking labor. And the blacks couldn't handle it. A literal monkey could do it.

And cable is so simple, start at the pole every single time and work your way inside. It's cake

@Deleted User pretty much

He seems to be doing ok. He swears he's coming back to work tomorrow. He's that guy who works 7 days a week and thinks he's freaking superman.

He told me that he never felt a thing until after he left the hospital. That's how you know it was pretty bad cut.

That's what he said. He got lucky. The things I've seen this man do with a circular saw blow my mind, and a fucking ladder took him out.

Haha will do. He'll appreciate it. He has 12 white grandkids!

What problem are you having? @Whitelash

@Placidseven - MO greg is totally right. I'll try to get to a door today if I can to show you how I do it.
Is your old door hollow? Or is it a slab or an old 5 panel?

@Deleted User no sir, we're working every Saturday until who knows when. We picked up a few houses in Lexington.
@Placidseven - MO the advice Greg gave you is best, with that door. And I have to give you props for doing right and not doing some half assed hack job. Way to act your color hahaha

So I broke my favorite chisel on Monday and only had a Lowe's close by to go to and I picked up this thing. It's my new favorite toy.

I know @Jhawk nc wanted to go over sharpening knives and chisels, well Friday I'm going to spend the first part of my day sharpening all my hand tools(knife, chisel, and crosscut saw). I'll put together a little tutorial for you fellas, common sense stuff.

This is my apartment, 1892

I do this type of work as well as windows a lot. Double hung weighted or taped and leaded glass.

This one had pictures of the inside so it had to go back original, early 1900s. Reclaimed wood from an old oak barn, and they painted it white...

@Deleted User I dig that look, but can I ask why everything is so square?

@Deleted User it's for cutting, like a knife. I cut a few cut nails with it today. Worked great. Holds an edge pretty well.

Yeah the few I have hold up pretty well. I can't recommend their lineman pliers, stick with Kline, which I'm sure you know better than I do.

@CJames - TN#6244 oh right on. Now you need one of these.

Hahaha that's awesome

This guy tells me he does stained glass, shows me this...

Little bullshit window decoration. He did sell it to this lady for $375.

So I showed him my leaded glass,

The bottom sash on the double hung was broken out, and I matched the rest damn near perfectly.

I could do a video tutorial one day to show you guys some old school techniques.

It was incredibly hard to find glass.

Working on making 270 feet of dentil block today.

@Deleted User thanks bro, I've only been doing stained glass for about 2 and a half years. It took me the better part of a year to get good at it. But one day it clicked, after probably a thousand hours haha, and I fight for every window job I can get now.
The real hard part is finding glass or finding someone talented enough to make the colored glass. Cutting glass is the easiest part. I wish I had the time and space to teach myself how blow glass.

@Yuma County Are you thinking about driving long haul?

You don't want to bury wood in the ground, it sucks up water and rots. Bury them in concrete.

@Yuma County Right on bro. That'll be a lot of fun and good times.

@Placidseven - MO are you remodeling your home?

Oh haha Well I guess you know some things are done right now.

Do you have roughly a 6'x6' porch, with about 4 or 5 steps?
And that slope is just off one edge of your home and you need to tie all together? Is the other side just grass all the way to the house?
I'm trying to visualize what the front of your home looks like. The land lay out.

Oh ok, you should look into iron hand rails, there's a lot of styles and you can even get custom made ones if you're feeling fancy. But iron will blend in more because they are skinny.
It's weird there's a gravel slope on the right.
If you made the hand rails out of wood I get what you mean it would look hokey. I'll have to think about that. I don't build a lot of things like this regularly so I need to brainstorm.

@Placidseven - MO bro I haven't forgotten about you, I've been talking with some others guys who build decks for a living, trying to get you some sort of classy game plan.

The flower beds on the left, are they like wooden retaining wall. Railroad ties?

Sorry I use the word like a lot, I'm a valley girl!! Haha

@Placidseven - MO I like that flower bed. So you're thinking of doing that flower bed on both sides? That would look really nice.
Do you have to bust some concrete on the driveway to set that post against the house?

I know you're not pulling a permit but you need to check code for railing in your state so if you sell your home you won't have to replace it. In KY rail height is 36in and handrails are 34in, measuring from the nose of the tread.
Sorry I'm scatter brained today, had to work in rain on scaffolding 60ft up, I'm not very happy today haha.
And sorry I ask so many questions, I love this stuff.
@Deleted User suggested something like that anchor for concrete, I totally agree if you plan on living in that house that long. Haha
They say that pressure treated lumber can last for 40 years buried.

@REVNAT/PA yeah I believe @Lebens can help you.

You could get some cedar 1x and do a veneer, dress up the old. If it's solid and not rotted out that could be an option.

You could get fancy and do a dovetail joint to go around the corner, it would look good and you wouldn't have a failure point because of a nail or bolt.
Check out this chart, just throwing out ideas haha

Get a little Japanese with your carpentry haha.

Haha I feel you man, if you don't use those tools a lot they turn into expensive paper weights.
Good luck on your project, are you going to start it soon?

@REVNAT/PA bro general advice from another tradesman, I went to trade school for machine tool and now I'm a carpenter, and I specialize in historic preservation. Try everything in your field, and find what you enjoy then find the guys who will pay you the most haha

@Placidseven - MO damn bro, you have a lot going on.

Need any advice framing that's where I started in carpentry.

@Placidseven - MO there's this thing called a plumb bob, basically a weight on a string. Attach to the header. And it will show you where you need to put the footer.
Level the studs. And you'll be good

Ok sorry for the short answer, busy at work doing some African engineering.
The plumb bob is the best tool for setting rafters, finding a level point and other things. It's an old way of levelling walls.

Tack a nail or put a screw in the side of the header wrap the string around the nail tight against the board, the plumb bob will attached to the end of the string, the plumb bob has a point on the bottom and will show you the outside of the footer. Run a string line or put a mark on the floor and that will line you up.

@Placidseven - MO

OSHA has shown up twice this week to one of my job sites. Make sure everyone is up to date on compliance. This get expensive quick if you're busted. Fall prevention is the big one.

OSHA gets me because I work over 60ft often doing box gutters.
It's hard to fly under the radar when you see that scaffolding mess haha.
I work on time and materials too because doing historic preservation it's the only way to be fair. You have no idea how bad things could be until you open it up.
Historical preservation/restoration can get expensive quick, for example box gutters can break the bank, they run $200 to $250 a linear foot. I've worked on homes that run around $50k to have the gutters replaced on the whole home.
In that pic thats less than 20ft of gutter, it wraps the corner about 3 feet back, we replaced the dentil block too, that ran right around $7k. We made out like bandits, now we're doing the other side, which should go faster, because the "rafter tails" aren't rotten on this side.

Ignore that if you're an OSHA asshole.haha

Yes sir, time and materials. We only work on historic homes. We do add extra to what we charge for each carpenter. We're a 2 man crew no laborers.
Like with box gutters we charge 200 to 250 a linear foot, but if the whole thing doesn't need to be rebuilt it could be cheaper so we come out ahead.

We do get an insurance job every now and then and we bid those.
I don't have a lot of competition because we're specialized in historic work.
Do you do free quotes? We don't, I won't leave the shop or a job site to look at a job unless I make $100. No one else works for free why do people expect us to?

I want to go over how to use a speed/hand square but the best way for me to explain it is by talking rafters. Give me a few days and I'll get on it, I'll have to write a book.

I got you bro @Deleted User. @Deleted User I wish I had a little extra free time on the job site to take some better pictures and do a better walk through.

Hey @Deleted User I have a question for you, in that picture of your tool layout, between your scissors and drywall saw, what is that thing with the gray wire nut on one end? I can't make it out in that picture.

is it a rat tail file?

haha thanks man

oh ok. I couldn't make it out. I thought you had some new tool I hadn't seen yet ahah

not to hard. depends on what you want. I love those "floating" bed frames, and they are cake to make, and you could add storage in the box(frame).

@Whitelash

And you can be sloppy because no one will ever see hahaa. No shame bro

This would be a nice project because if you fuck up a little, like I said no one will see it. And you can learn a lot.

Yes sir.

You can do anything with a circular saw.

It might not always be the easy way but you can do it

I pretty much have access to anything carpentry related. So if you need a little help with cuts, I might be able to show you how to make the cut in pictures. or a video

Probably a radial saw or a compound miter saw. A planer and a router table.

I feel like you could do any drilling with a hand held drill.
Chairs and tables would need legs or spindles, if you're turning them yourself you'd need a lathe or buy premade ones.
@Envian or @Jhawk nc might be able to give some good advice here. I believe they have hobby shops.

Ok I had to see what other guys out there recommended, and the router and planer is a must because almost everything is going to start with an even flat surface.
I saw one guy recommend a band saw but I feel like you could use a crosscut or circular saw. Now I'm thinking about it a table saw would be good because you can do some joinery on it, tenons and box joints, even the tails for dovetail joints. You can rip even parallel edges. It'll give you a good straight cut you might not be able to get with a circular saw.

@Deleted User

@Yuma County#0597 hey bro just curious how's your CDL training going?

It's legal, as long as the lights work. You have to be able to clear a speed bump, all the lights and safety equipment has to be on the car and working. Nothing can be hanging off it.
If the frame isn't bent and that's just body damage, for the price it's a good deal.

Thanks guys. It really means a lot. That guide is a great start into the historic window restoration world. We're working with a couple of other guys to set a standard on historic windows also, so it was nice writing it out.

If anyone wants to see something specific let me know. I have a ton of jobs going, and I can probably pick up some more weekend work to get little walk throughs on new builds and remodeling.

haha get some Conway and you'll have a blast!

I have to have something to take my mind off the boring stuff. Are you putting carpet on them?

haha nice. I love the natural/stained wood look. I don't care for painted trim or stairs. But I get why people do it.
Are you changing the flooring?

Just wanted to thank @Deleted User for picking up the slack! haha

Damn bro you're having fun.

Looks nice

You get what you pay for, here's why you don't call a handyman.

Bondo is NOT made to fill wood.

They wrapped the window in metal and plywood and it turned into a water trap.