Carpentry Training in Early America. For the first few hundred years of American history the training of carpenters was pretty formal. Young men would enter apprenticeships in their teenage years, this training would last 4-7 years, generally ending when they were 21. In many cases a contract would be signed between the master craftsmen and the boys parents. Sometimes the parents would have to pay fees in exchange for the training, room, board, clothing, and tools. Other times, if the boy came from a poor family or was a slave, he would serve an indentured apprenticeship. the apprentice would receive hands on and theoretical training on everything from sharpening tools to complex geometry and architectural theory. During this era, there was no real defined architects. Most builders were their own architects. They had to be able to draw plans as well as mill the very materials they required for the project. This required carpenters to have an extremely diverse skill set. They were responsible for every detail of the build process, from planning to execution. In an apprentice’s early years, he would be expected to do the on site grunt work of sharpening tools, hewing and cutting timbers, and generally being a gopher for the journeymen. As his training and experience progressed he would be given more and more responsibility. Throughout the 17 & 1800s there was a significant number of carpenter/architects who wrote guidebooks and treatises on everything from architectural style to suggested pricing of completed work. These books were huge assets to carpenters across the country who now had a source to find plans, tips, and building methods from other builders. Many of these books are still in print today; if you read them you will quickly understand that the builders of this era were quite intellectual and well versed in their trade. We can all agree that publications like @jlclive @thisiscarpentry@finehomebuilding and this Instagram community have been tremendous assets in sharing and learning about our trade. As history shows however, this sharing of knowledge has always occurred. It’s always been Carpenters, teaching other carpenters.