Many of the carpenters working in the field do not anything more than a high school diploma and hands on training. It also looks better when becoming a carpenter to have taken some shop or woodworking classes during your high school career. Though some of the carpenters do go to vocational schools to learn their trade; many participate in apprenticeships and employer training programs (School Soup.). It is believed by many that apprenticeships are the best way to learn the skill of carpentry. Apprentices begin by learning the basics of carpentry such as layout, form building, rough framing, etc (School Soup.). They also have to learn how to use the wide array of tools, machines, and equipment that are used by carpenters today. In today’s time apprentices also have to receive some classroom teaching of things such as safety, first aid, blueprint reading, freehand sketching and a few others as well (School …show more content…
Carpentry is thought to be one of the most ancient occupation and trade (Carpenter and Carpentry.). Wood has always been readily available for man to take and do what they needed to with it to survive, even before history was first recorded. Even though throughout the millenniums the tools, methods and materials for carpentry have changed, the reason for this occupation stays mostly the same. The history of carpentry can be traced back all the way to 8000 BC; during this time stone axes were used to chop and shape the lumber (Carpenter and Carpentry.). Carpentry helped form the tools and the weapons used to protect and built ancient societies that we learn about today. Without those weapons and tools many of today’s countries would probably not be what they have become today. The overall advance in technology and mechanology has allowed carpenters to become more productive which has also allowed other workers to become more productive (Carpenter and Carpentry.). The employment of carpenters is actually much higher than most would think with today’s economy the way it is. In 2012 there were approximately 901, 200 carpenters employed in the U.S. alone (McKay). The majority of the the carpentry jobs in the U.S. are some type of construction related jobs. Though there is a lot of self employed carpenters out there as well. Many times the job is a full time job and often requires a person to pull a lot of overtime