I've been working in the trades for a good long while now, over two decades or half of my life, and for most of that time I worked like most builders, off of the ground. Then around a decade ago I made a small table with a face vice on one side and splayed legs for heavy wood working for the hand tools i favored at that time. It was great, but limited because it had to be dismantled to fit through doorways, and the 2x4 foot top surface was quite limited. Thankfully it had a s

We just rebuilt a set of stairs on a walkway in Bayside down to the beach, and although the builder was obviously an excellent carpenter, good at compound angles and tight joints, the stairs only survived 16-18 years. Upon disassembly the reason was quite clear, no gaps anywhere. Cleats tight to stringers, treads tight to each other and the stringers, When water got into the joints, it stayed there due to capillary action and near total lack of airflow. When rebuilding we use