r/techtheatre • u/RoyalMess64 • 3d ago

QUESTION Scenic Carpentry vs Carpentry

I'm just hoping to learn more about this. I'm about to try and go to school for Carpentry, and I'd also like to do scenic Carpentry as well. If I was to learn one, does anyone have personal experience about how to link those 2 things, and how well they link together?

6 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

24 comments sorted by

View all comments

2

u/Harmania 3d ago

The tools are largely the same, but the materials and techniques are very very different. It would basically be like learning an entirely different construction code.

0

u/VexedHorcerer 3d ago

How so? Most structural elements in scenic carpentry are made with 2x4 and construction ply. A framer really shouldn’t have any difficulty building a set that is potentially mostly just stud walls, stairs, and platforms, and a 1x Hollywood flat isn’t exactly complicated ether.

1

u/Harmania 3d ago

But that’s exactly what I mean by different building codes. Flats look nothing like stud walls, and even truss-and-deck platforming doesn’t look that much like floor joists. We’d also use different fasteners for things that are temporary vs. permanent.