My Ladies

Lest I've misled you with all my talk about how being a female carpenter is such an anomaly (I assure you, it truly is), I'd like to relate to you a couple of wonderful "small world" stories about some ladies in my life. 

I’ll start by stating that I have worked with hundreds of carpenters from other companies on various projects.  I can count on both hands the number of women I have seen at the jobsite (not counting designers, homeowners, cleaners, or girlfriends of workers).  Most of the females I have seen – more than half – were painters.  One was a metal worker, one was a plasterer, and one was a carpenter – a framer, to be specific.  While it's possible I may have forgotten one or two people (my memory seems to work in fits and starts), that's the reality of the jobsite situation.  I go months without running into another female at work.  That’s probably why I’m almost always falling into conversations with men at the jobsite about what it's like being a female carpenter and how I got into this career, etc. etc.  They’re curious!  Which in turn led me to realize that perhaps other people may also be curious, hence the blog. But I digress.

Here's what I'm getting at.  I had no female coworkers at the cabinet shop (although a female woodworker did rent shop space in the co-op above our cabinet shop).  When I moved on to finish carpentry, of all the companies I could have applied for, I was naturally drawn to the one I had any familiarity with whatsoever – the one that also rented shop space above our cabinet shop.  I had seen the owner come down to deliver a rent check a couple of times.  I figured, hey at least he’s familiar with the company I work for...perhaps he'll consider giving me a chance?  Indeed, he gave me a chance.  And what's more – he is one owner and his wife is the other.  Not only is she co-owner, but she's a carpenter!  Upon learning this, instead of flipping out with joy (a more appropriate reaction for a confident lady like myself), I was incredibly intimidated and nervous that she was a rock star carpenter with a rock star attitude.  After all, she'd been doing it for several years more than me and for all I knew, she may have had some weird female defense mechanisms at play (some sort of "there's only room for one female carpenter in this company!" kind of bullshit).  As it turned out, nothing could have been further from the truth. 

Monica functioned as a stay-at-home mom for the first several months of my employment, so I only saw her swing by a jobsite occasionally with her two young boys, usually to drop off tools or food.  I had brief chats with her, but mostly I got to know her through her husband.  He assured me she was excited to have another female carpenter on board and she was exactly not the kind of woman who was catty or competitive.  He explained that she was a super laid back Norwegian and her primary passion (aside from being a mom) was for art.  My ears perked.  I have always had wonderful artist friends.  I'm creative in some ways, but have pity on my poor friends who have to pretend to appreciate my paintings or drawings!  So I admire the artists around me, amused (alright annoyed) sometimes by their disorganization but always in awe of their ability to create something that has the potential to move people to tears.  Amazing.

Monica, prepping her floors for finish.  Which is perhaps one of the least impressive things she knows how to do.

Lo and behold, she and I finally got to work together as a team.  And lo and behold, we had great fun.  It is difficult to convey to you how weird it can be for a woman to work around men non-stop for 5 years.  Bear in mind that my coworkers are all guys who I would hang out with voluntarily outside of work.  But having a supportive, empathetic, female coworker around is not to be underestimated.  Our conversations range from storytelling to deeper philosophical discussions, the kind of talks that lead to personal growth and life enrichment.  Not that I didn’t have great conversations with male coworkers, but working with her was different.  I guess it’s the same type of difference between talking with a sister versus a brother (I suppose only the lucky ones can understand that one).  The same difference exists in friendships, though – girl friend vs. boy friend.  And after being surrounded by boy friends for 5 years, I finally got to hang out with my girl friend.  Because I work for (I say this with 98% confidence) the only finish carpentry company in Seattle with a female carpenter, let alone two.

The crazy coincidence doesn't end there, either.  Over the summer, I had the honor of getting to know an amazing female apprentice.  She randomly contacted our company to see if she could shadow one of our carpenters to learn the trade and my boss immediately thought of me, not even knowing at the time that she was a female (she has an unusual name).  I was delighted to discover a like-minded woman interested in carpentry.  Although her motivation was not to switch to a career as a carpenter, she had a "do-it-yourself" attitude about life and was highly motivated to pursue a sustainable lifestyle (okay, what’s all this past tense stuff? – she still is!).  Thus, learning carpentry for her has been a way to learn how to make and fix things.  We get along like old friends (truth be told, she is one of my most favorite people) and I’ve also discovered that I very much like teaching. 

The classic bffs, Laverne and Shirley, worked together (okay, they did everything together...)

So, there’s the real truth.  There are quite wonderful women who I get to work with from time to time.  And I’m extremely grateful for that.  Frankly, I think most people onsite are usually also really happy to see us there.  Women just have the ability to bring a different vibe to the jobsite, and that can be a good thing for everyone. 

Rock, hammer, jackhammer

Okay, I'll have to get back to fashion in another post since I've barely scraped the surface of that topic.  I feel like shifting gears and talking about some fun stuff.  TOOLS! 

Time to get real here, ladies--men generally have more upper body strength than women.  Yeah, I said it--because it's true.  Case in point: how many times have we handed a pickle or peanut butter jar over to a nearby boyfriend/brother/dad with the assumption that the damn thing is about to be shown who's boss?  Half of the time, they get the lid off instantly and hand it back to you casually with that annoying little smirk.  The other half of the time, they ream on it and grunt, giving you those 15 seconds of glorious vindication before vanquishing their stubborn opponent and handing it back to you with a little more humility (if they know what's good for them, that is).  Bottom line is, they always get the jar open!  Sure, yeah, you can tell yourself you loosened it.  But I propose there are several other factors working in their favor, not the least of which is the male ego.  What are they gonna do?  Hand it to a burly next door neighbor?  Put it down in defeat and declare that it is just stuck for good?  HELL NO!  They have something to prove here, and frankly I'll be happy to let them do it (I want my pickle!).  They also have larger hands (the better for gripping with, my dear) and extra strength in their forearms (the better for turning with, my dear).

Art by james@verbotomy.com

So there you have it: in the area of upper body strength (from twisting off lids, to picking up heavy things, to adding pressure to a drill while screwing in a cabinet) there is a distinct male advantage.  And for a long time, it was an arduous physical struggle for a female carpenter to prove herself.  She may have had the brains, the skills, the gumption, and even the thick skin--but, if she just didn't have enough strength to apply to a heavy hand drill (imagine those big old manual beasts your grandfather had hanging on his garage wall), she simply couldn't cut it as a carpenter.  I imagine the men might have "voted her off the island", or she may have left by her own free will, disappointed but convinced that it just wasn't meant to be.

But here's what's changed for the modern female carpenter: now we have power tools!  Those old hand crank drills are history--or at least, they are sequestered to a life of being old-timey decorations.  Welcome to the age of the Lightweight 18 Volt Lithium Ion Battery Impact Driver, ladies.  Simply make sure the bit stays in the screw head and pull the trigger and it practically does the job for you, applying tiny hammers of force to the screw to assure it goes in as deep as you need (deeper if you're not careful).  Seriously--if you have the right type of screws and you do exert a bit of pressure, you can get away with driving a 3" screw through a cabinet, all the way into a 2x4 stud, without pre-drilling, above your head because the thing only weighs like 3 pounds.  And yes, the drill version of this same model will make some nice deep holes in very dense wood.  If you can't tell, I seriously LOVE these tools.

This drill and impact driver are definitely my most beloved power tools.

And it doesn't end there.  Chop saws and table saws are relatively new to the on-site woodworker, and these days they have better motors than ever.  So long as you have sharp blades, you can cut through dense, thick wood with just a little finesse (force will actually work against you in many cases).  One story credits a woman named Tabitha Babbit for inventing the first circular saw after watching two men try to cut through a log with a two handled saw--she noticed that half of their motion was wasted and came up with the idea of a spinning disk, always moving toward the cut and never backwards.  She was a Shaker, so never sought legal credit.

Talk about patience.  Can you imagine sawing through a whole tree with one of these things?

The list goes on and on.  If you are having trouble cutting through a metal rod with a hack saw, consider the mighty porta-band.  If you are having trouble making a cutout in a cabinet with a japanese hand saw, consider a jig saw or a multi-master.  If it's taking forever to cut a 2x4 in half with a manual saw, just use a circular saw.  If you are tired of swinging a hammer, use a pneumatic nail gun and let the compressed air do the work for you.  This is not to say that hand tools are obsolete.  Honestly, if I was given the choice of having either all of my power tools or all of my hand tools with me, I'd probably prefer the hand tools for most jobs.  But, power tools do help level the playing field between me and the men I work with.  I mean, I already come home sore as it is, I can't imagine how it would be if I didn't have access to all that electro-magnetic torque.

For those who are unfamiliar, this is a porta-band.  It cuts through metal like it's butter.  Seriously.

There is no doubt about it.  Power tools have really helped to make carpentry a feasible career for females.  Social change is another "tool" that is certainly on our side.  At this point, I think one of the less obvious things keeping us out of the field is just our own narrow dreaming.  As a young girl, I had really never considered carpentry as a career.  Not because I dismissed it, but because it didn't occur to me.  So I think what's working to our advantage these days are all these new reality shows on cable networks that depict women using power tools to build houses and furniture right before our eyes.  While it's true that they may be cast for sex appeal, the happy side benefit is that they can serve as role models for young women, helping them understand that they really can succeed at some nontraditional roles in society.  But that's a topic for another day...