What does a carpenter do?

Your tasks as a carpenter at a glance

• Organization and planning: Management of construction projects; Requirements planning of raw materials and materials; Creation and organization of work drawings and dimensional drawings, customer advice.
• Woodworking: calculation of dimensions; Manufacture of wooden structures; Restoration; new construction; Selection of suitable types of wood and other building materials.
• Machine operation: Safe handling of machines, construction equipment and tools; maintenance of machines; Safety precautions before, during and after use.

Your tasks as a carpenter in detail

Organization and planning

A customer comes into the company and wants a custom-made kitchen shelf. You get the most important key data, for example what dimensions are available to you, and now you follow the customer’s wishes in order to develop the idea for the right shelf together with him. You advise the customer on the choice of wood, the structure and the resulting load capacity of the shelf as well as the surface design and appearance of the shelf. You write down all your wishes and make a sketch on the computer. Once the customer has approved your idea and given you the order for the shelf, it’s time to get to work!

Woodworking

The construction plan for the desired piece is ready. Now it is your task to make a beautiful shelf out of the basic material wood. You use tools to cut, plane and sand the wooden panels. Some work steps are carried out by machines, while other steps require manual work. The surfaces are painted or sealed and the individual parts are screwed and glued together. At the end you hold the finished piece of furniture in your hands, a wonderful feeling! Of course, your work is not just limited to building furniture, the manufacture of windows, stairs and doors is also part of your everyday work. As a carpenter tømrer, you also lay parquet floors, mount wall coverings or restore old wooden furniture.

Operation of machines, tools and construction equipment

As already indicated above, the carpenter does not work exclusively with hand tools in everyday life. State-of-the-art machines such as CNC milling machines, circular table saws, presses and drills are also part of your daily work. As you can see, contrary to many assumptions, carpentry is a versatile “high-tech job” that requires a lot of personal skills.

How do you become a carpenter?

There are some skills and qualities that you should have as a prospective carpenter. This includes, for example:

• skilled craftsmanship
• spatial awareness
• creativity
• technical skills in handling machines and tools
• no allergies to the chemicals used in carpentry in wood preservatives etc.

Are you unsure whether your personality type fits the profession of carpenter? In a famous Carpenter company’s tømrerfirma job check, you can find out if these jobs could suit your skills and interests.