The art of woodworking has been around for centuries and helped build human civilizations. Humans have used wood to create useful objects such as tools, homes, pieces of furniture, and decorative items throughout ancient civilization until the modern era.
We can see woodworking creations from the ancient Egyptians, Romans, Chinese, Incas, Indians, and many other civilizations. Each culture used its unique design, technique, and styles. Many came up with masterfully crafted and well-designed woodworking masterpieces.
People even used their woodworking skills to built significant structures, ships, temples, furniture, tools for framing, and even weapons for defence & hunting. Archeologists had discovered many of these objects when they were digging ancient sites.
The art of woodworking and carpentry had developed significantly from its beginnings when it was first use to build rudimentary tools and structures. For thousands of years, people have produced and mastered their skills. Now, we have carpenters, joiners, and cabinet makers who specialized in specific skills of woodworking. What is the difference between a cabinet maker and a joiner?
What is a joiner?
A joiner is a skilled artisan who creates different wood fixtures, fittings, and wood construction joints. They are essential in the construction industry since many of the things they make, such as doors and window frames, are used in building homes.
Joiners are similar to carpenters, but joiners have a more specific job and usually work more time in the workshop than the actual construction site. Joiners specialized in connecting wood together to form stairs, window frames, door frames, trusses, and other joints. They do this with greater detail and accuracy compared to a carpenter. Joiners need to make exact measurements to have minimal gaps between the pieces of wood they are connecting.
Joiners usually do their work off-site in a workshop to construct joineries such as door windows and doors. The finished piece will be sent to the construction site and will be installed by the carpenter.
Joiners can also sometimes work on furniture, ships, and other house fittings where precise joints are required.
What is a cabinet maker?
Cabinet makers are artisans or skilled experts in building handmade furniture pieces and creating customize cabinets for the kitchen, rooms, or bathrooms.
Traditionally, cabinet makers can create pieces of furniture from concept, shape, design, and construction. They sometimes share the same work as joiners, but cabinet makers have a more specialized skill for making cabinets. They can create drawings for the client on what the finished cabinet will look like and make sure of the precise measurements. They have to produce cabinets that will fit perfectly, for example, a kitchen cabinet.
Cabinet makers a wide array of tools such as a mitre saw, panel saw, sanders, band saw, dust extraction system, jigsaw, drills, and other equipment use. They also have to make sure that the internal fittings of bookcases, tables, cabinets are precise, including their internal compartments. These exact measurements are necessary since cabinets are usually designed to have multiple rooms and numerous drawers.
If you are looking for skilled experts in creating your cabinets and fixing furniture pieces, it’s better to look for cabinet makers since they have more expertise.