Carpenters and Joiners Crafts

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Carpenters were involved in the construction of castles, courts, churches, bridges, dwellings, and even in making rough furniture or military trebuchets. Although stone buildings were already being constructed in the Middle Ages, residential houses and farm buildings were still made of wood, ensuring that carpenters always had plenty of work.
An experienced carpenter carefully guarded his skills and passed them on only to a chosen colleague, usually his son. He was particularly cautious with his apprentices. Important tasks, such as drawing roof plans, were always performed by the master carpenter himself. Among the most challenging tasks was preparing Gothic roofs or trusses – the individual frames, which could weigh hundreds of kilograms, made the work both difficult and dangerous due to the techniques used.
Joiners worked similarly with wood like carpenters. They mainly focused on furniture production (chests, cabinets, chairs, cradles…). Boards were either laboriously sawn by hand from felled trees or more “modernly” at water-powered sawmills, where a diverted river stream was used to automatically drive the saw blade.

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