4 lessons from 30 years of building. Key lessons gained from experience.

Going on 30 years of building has its advantages. Here are 4 key things we have decided are mandatory for us to ensure high-quality millwork. These are things we incorporate into the building of our millwork in order to ensure they last 100 years or longer.
kit.co/brenthull01/my-library This kit library has links to books that will help you with classical and historical concepts and ideas. . This is associated with my Amazon acct. No extra cost to you.
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[@weekendwarrior3420]

You are the only one who says "it'll last 100 years" and I don't start laughing uncontrollably.

[@BrentHull]

Haha, thanks.

[@damianokon6209]

Couldn’t have said it better, “The greenest thing is when something is built to last forever….”

[@BrentHull]

Word!

[@BCHOMEHUNTER]

Forty five years in construction, building, renovations, design and real estate here on Canada’s west coast and we love your entire ‘old school’ is best practices and passion. Well done folks.

[@BrentHull]

Thanks for sharing! I appreciate you watching.

[@BrentHull]

Thanks!

[@alexanderclaylavin]

Your videos are absolutely fantastic Mr Hull

[@BrentHull]

Thank you kindly. I appreciate you watching.

[@kelsey5495]

Amen on promoting building something to last …. Preach it! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[@BrentHull]

Thank you!

[@gcanzano36]

Brent I’m 29 but I’ve been in my dads restoration business since I could walk, in august I take over. I’m shocked by a lot of what I hear on your channel because quite plainly, I just never met anyone who cared about this stuff the way we do. We’re in Princeton, NJ but have done national historic monuments in PA and CT including the William Penn Homestead which was stripped to bear wood, repainted, and all carpentry restored. We do a tremendous amount of stripping and re-glazing windows. We’re on the painting and carpentry side of things and just about everything I hear in your videos rings absolutely true. Glad to see big companies out there who actually care about doing things the right way, the old way.

[@BrentHull]

Awesome. Sounds like your well prepared to take over. Best of luck going forward, let me know if you need anything from me or have ideas for future videos. Thanks!

[@gcanzano36]

Will do Brent. Two products I personally recommend to any restoration contractor are West System 3 part epoxy and aqua glaze. West system is a marine epoxy that a Pratt and Whitney engineer who was restoring his home recommended to us. He had done a draw done comparing all epoxies and it by far took the cake. The second, aqua glaze, is just what it sounds. It’s a water based glazing putty. We strip windows all the time. After setting and pinning the glass, we glaze with aqua glaze and can paint it within 48 hours unlike oil based dap or Sarco. These products are absolutely game changing. I recommend them to you and I think your viewers could benefit from checking them out!

[@markgarland9000]

Great success story. Built on a devotion to quality. Not so common anymore. Thumbs up!

[@BrentHull]

Thank you!!

[@oldskoolwayy]

Brent really do needs a TV show...

[@BrentHull]

LOL. I think KZbin is the TV of the future. Thanks for watching.

[@christophermcdonough1353]

Brent, absolutely love, love, love your videos, and your passion for building I went up and took a class at North Bennett Street School, what a place. Wish I knew about that place in high school! 36 years ago. I have to say, haven't met to many people as passionate as yourself on building practices. Tour a breath of fresh air, who I hope stir the pot for many more to be as passion as yourself. Maybe it's just the love of old homes which is where my passion lies! Keep putting Tutorial videos out, it's like I'm taking master college classes on building with You!!

[@BrentHull]

Wow! Thanks so much. I'll do it.

[@cb4920]

I’ve got you by a handful of years and still learning and eager to learn more. But remember when we were young and we knew absolutely everything that could be known about building. I’ve always said you start learning when you realize you really don’t know much. Listen up all you young guys. Pay attention to the guys with the wrinkles.

[@BrentHull]

Haha, agreed. Thanks.

[@michiganporter]

Mistakes and experience are the teachers. All we gotta do is learn from the mistakes and file the experience as lessons learned. The key is to never give up, you will get better with practice!

[@BrentHull]

Amen!! Don't give up, perseverance is key for a life time in this profession. Thanks!

[@seanpopecoffey1340]

Brent Hull is ahead of his time with the old way of building. Surprised that more folks don’t watch this.

[@BrentHull]

Thanks!!

[@patriciau6277]

Amen!

[@BrentHull]

THx.

[@ericsyvertsen5880]

How about always buttoning your shirt in the morning...LOL...Just having fun with you...Love your channel...Love to learn the Right way to do woodworking.

[@BrentHull]

Love it, I was wondering if any one would catch that! Thanks for watching.

[@rogerposey9655]

Brent I always looked up to you and enjoy working for you ...love your videos there awesome!!!!!

[@BrentHull]

I appreciate that! Thanks Roger for all you do at Hull!!

[@timclemons8719]

Mind blown. I live in the Old Dominion and have always been captivated by the architecture in and around the state…. Mr Hull has taught me more in a single video than a hundred realtors and tour guides will ever know. I’m hooked ❤

[@BrentHull]

Very cool! So glad they are helping. Cheers.

[@TheCdrbaby]

So true learning about different woods makes a huge difference. I personally think every wood worker should get a variety of some very nice hardwood and make a little something. It let's you know how it cuts it last and what the meaning of $ cut is;) you don't do slop work when you paid for Gabon ebony

[@BrentHull]

Great point! You also learn a lot about each wood, its characteristics, open grain vs closed grain, strength, and even smell. We as wood craftsmen should know all about woods!! Thanks for commenting.

[@beverlyboys73]

Well said. Thank you.

[@BrentHull]

Very welcome

[@AMAYERICAN]

Awesome channel, thanks for sharing your knowledge. One of the best channels out there, production is top notch also ! Thanks Sir!

[@BrentHull]

Appreciate that, thanks for the feedback.

[@heartwormskillcats8357]

Brent Hull is such a badass, that he doesn't even need to button the middle button of his shirt in order to project presidential professionalism. 😀

[@BrentHull]

LOL, caught me. 😀

[@can2jmoney]

Awesome video !! Great info !!

[@BrentHull]

Glad you liked it!

[@christinahowe4825]

Loving all of your videos as a hownowner who will be rebuilding after the Marshall Fires. It would help if you could add subtitles with the main vocabulary of terms for newbies like us:) Thank you for raising a new standards for building. Value centered building at its best.

[@BrentHull]

Great suggestion! Thanks for watching.

[@williampoe8658]

Completely on board with sustainability!!

[@BrentHull]

Nice. Thanks.

[@nicksvaik]

My shop is a two car garage, got my fist shaper in here but it's tight on space, hoping to expand soon. Thanks for the video

[@BrentHull]

Good luck! Small shops are cozy. I still remember mine fondly.

[@theofarmmanager267]

Excellent points. I agree entirely that it started with the choice of timber. I would choose sapele (sustainably sourced) over anything else for exterior windows and doors. Maybe teak (hard to get sustainably sourced) for outdoor furniture but sapele as much as possible. Unfortunately, we have local planning authorities who don’t know left from right and will insist on using something like oak for painted windows in a listed (historic house). Each authority has a heritage or conservation manager who is supposed to be the learned one. Whether I have been unlucky or not, but I have yet to meet one who actually knows 10%of what I’ve picked up. I had one saying that the brickwork (running bond) on a barn conversion was not right for the locality: well, he was standing in front of a garage of the neighbouring property and it was running bond. The nearest listed house had its extension in…..running bond. You can learn so much from the past; things that our ancestors learned themselves from experience. I think though that there are a couple of areas where the past methods are no longer needed. Obviously now, we have adhesives of the quality that previous generations could only dream of. We no longer need mechanical joints (eg dovetails or doweled M&T) anywhere as much as we used to. Because our adhesives will last. Take Greene and Greene who were one of the most stylish producers of Prairie or Arts and Crafts furniture. Look at their joints; quite often there is an ebony or ebonite’s square plug. That might make you think it’s a doweled M&T. Actually, it’s usually a M&T joint and the black plug reveals a crew underneath. I have a dedicated Mortimer and I love making M&T joints; there is something so satisfying about getting that piston fit of the tenon. However, if I were running a shop, I would probably go to loose tenons. Make a mortise in both parts - using a Festool domino to produce a long mortise if you have not got a mortiser - and then insert a long tenon into both mortises. I always use a tenon of the same timber so that expansion etc. is the same but I can make a loose tenoned mortised joint in a fraction of time that I can make a traditional M&T joint. I do sometimes plug them but it’s for aesthetic reasons; I have wedged them if they are through Mortices. I’ve not known of one failure - but my output is a fraction of a big shop and, from a large database, you get a much better idea of what has worked or what has not. As I’ve said before, in the UK and particularly the South East, we are in the middle of a new house building boom. Much needed in the sense of people wanting houses. What I do see on these estates is that the front houses - the ones facing the main road and the ones used for marketing- tend to be more vernacular in style; perhaps mimicking a local converted barn or a local converted hop house. But, inside the estate, the houses are same no-personality houses that the big developers have produced for years. The rate of complaints from new owners is phenomenal- but not enough for the developers to think about taking more care in the first place - all the windows, doors, cladding etc. is the lowest possible standard - because, generally, the public don’t know what is good or is bad. One reason why we need a Brent Hull over here to publicise failings. You cannot expect softwood windows, primed but not preserved, when stuck in a new building which is still incredibly damp from brickwork, plastering etc. not to rot. Anyway, enough from me. Please keep up the good work. It may not be 100%relevant to the UK - but it’s in the high 90% and should be viewed and understood by all contractors, architects and home owners who care.

[@BrentHull]

Thanks so much! I always enjoy your feedback.

[@DuncanDonDuken]

Hello, first I'd like to say thank you for your video, it was pretty cool. In 2 weeks I have an interview to get into my local Carpenter Union. I'm going for millwork. I was looking through videos on KZbin and there really aren't that many videos on the basics, on like where to start the basics you should learn. I don't know if you would be interested, but it would be awesome for you to maybe make a couple beginners videos. I looked through your page I didn't see any, but I could have overlooked them. But I feel like there is a market at least for right now for carpentry videos for beginners because there really isn't much 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️ I subscribed, hope to see more helpful stuff for beginners. I know we all got to start somewhere lol Thank you, and have a good one 🙏💕

[@BrentHull]

Good idea. Thanks for sharing. Good luck.

[@DuncanDonDuken]

​@@BrentHullAppreciated 👍 Hope to see some beginners videos in the future 🙏💕

[@dennisdean3925]

Hey Brent, you'll appreciate this saying: Life can only be lived forward, but it can only be understood looking backwards. Obviously, that applies to how things were done and built in the past. Unfortunately, the 'new way' of building is not nearly as good, most of the time, as the way things were built 80 or more years ago!

[@BrentHull]

Agreed. Thanks.

[@TomArrrrr]

Definitely will try out your windows on my sunroom build out. I hate cheap windows

[@BrentHull]

Amen, not only do they look bad, but they don't last long.

[@stevemiller7949]

"IT'S ALL ABOUT EDUCATION"

[@BrentHull]

Agreed! Thanks.

[@rogerhodges7656]

I don't know how you have time to put these vidoes out!

[@BrentHull]

I don't either!! LOL. I've got a really good crew that keeps things moving so I can teach and share. I also love helping others avoid the mistakes I've made. Thanks for watching.

[@tc9148]

I has same experience with Cypress, short life and rot in central Virginia.

[@BrentHull]

I was really surprised. I thought I had the perfect wood...NOT. I should have used an old growth cypress or long leaf pine. I could also have used Sapele or Spanish Cedar, but didn't know about those woods in my early career. Thanks for confirming!

[@tc9148]

I made a porch screen door between a covered porch and uncover deck out of 6/4 cypress and thought it would last 20 years with mortise and tenon joints and three coats of paint.. After 5 years, it was rotted and in bad shape. I learned my lesson that normal cypress is not the wood to use outdoors. I will certainly use sapele in the future. It’s so valuable to learn your experience with exterior wood. I used ipe on the covered porch floor and adjacent uncovered deck and it was still in great shape after 10 years with only application of exterior oil stain every 4 years or so to maintain appearance and minimize checking.

[@jla3772]

Brent, do you stock molding and 100 year windows or is everything you do custom order? How does one buy form you? Also, if you get a chance, and if it's not a secrete do a video on the business aspect of your business such as how you determine how much to charge, how you find the right customers, and how to convince them to pay more for a better product.

[@BrentHull]

Hi, thanks for the question. Everything we do is custom. Yes, I will do a video on the business side of my company. Thanks for the suggestion.

[@gregschoolland5551]

Nice. I like your style. About the rotted out Cyprus you mentioned…that’s disappointing to me, as we don’t use anything remotely as nice as that. 😒 Four years seems extremely fast for anything to rot unless it’s regularly saturated, right? What’s the climate like there in Texas where that’s possible? We use painted spruce and pine regularly out here in central CA, and our rule of thumb for maintenance is ‘wood outside needs paint and maintenance every 6 years or so, depending on exposure’. Any thoughts?

[@BrentHull]

Well, I probably should have pre-primed and back primed the wood. But we have a fairly humid climate here in North Texas and a decent amount of rain. Using Yellow Cypress was my biggest mistake, it's possible that if I had primed properly it could have lasted an extra few years. I was disappointed but it taught me a valuable lesson. I should have pushed for better wood as a first. I think CA has a much drier climate. When we try and use western pines her in North Texas, they rarely last long. Thanks for your feedback.

[@achillesbuchanan2095]

Very inspiring. Would you supply to Australia?

[@BrentHull]

Thanks and of course! I think freight charges would be our biggest challenge. Let us know how we can help.

[@achillesbuchanan2095]

@@BrentHull I think we would literally have to “ship” them by sea mail. I am away off yet from placing any orders, but it is good to know that this is a possibility. Thank you!

[@jackhersca3482]

Brent how are you able to make templates and grind all those knives?. I work in a high end shop that makes profile knives for large mills like yours . Most don't have the skilled machinists or the time..

[@BrentHull]

We are blessed with great craftsmen. Thanks.

[@johnrock5715]

Did you say you use: Sapele wood? AKA Sapelli or sapele mahogany or sapele wood (Botanical name Entandrophragma cylindricum, of the Meliaceae family of plants)?

[@BrentHull]

Yes, Sapele.

[@weekendwarrior3420]

Yep, install it yourself or it's gonna leak and the customer will blame you.. You haven't emphasized that enough, but I've heard it 🙂

[@BrentHull]

Thank you!

[@johnathanphillips683]

Is there a concern for deforestation in sensitive areas like Africa / South America regarding the wood you're using?

[@BrentHull]

It is FSC. Forest sustainable certified. They are a group that makes sure wood is harvested sustainably.

[@johnathanphillips683]

@BrentHull ok got it thanks.

[@jla3772]

Hey, does your cmpany sell molding?

[@BrentHull]

Of course. Let us know what you need. [e-mail] Thx

[@jla3772]

@@BrentHull Excellent! I share your green philosophy; build it well, make it bueatiful and do in once for all time. I'm executing that philosophy in SC.

[@derekt4459]

Shop tour?

[@BrentHull]

I have one out, "shops dirty secret" I'm about to do another one soon. Thanks for the reminder.

[@derekt4459]

What do you use for profile sanding?

[@jworthe]

Great video, right? Right.

[@BrentHull]

Haha

[@jworthe]

All kidding aside, I do appreciate your videos. Keep up the good work.​@@BrentHull

[@ronhayes4329]

I see in the video the man is using a airless sprayer spraying a door or window without a mask or glasses (that is really bad great information by the way

[@BrentHull]

Thanks!

[@countrycat]

Don’t you find it unethical to use Sapele wood?

[@BrentHull]

No.