10/11/2026
There are two or three ways to look at Window Craft as a whole.
First of all, Window Craft deals with the historic wood window that was built at scale between 1870 and 1940. Let get that out of the way.
You can start with an existing window in an historic house, one that’s already been in service, has had a life and in most cases, xan keep in living for quite some time. Most people and businesses I’m familiar with focus on the window sash almost exclusively.
Or you can start with joinery - the art of actually building the window itself. This is actually very rare and in some ways, practically extinct - not entirely though.
The third way is the way I look at it - I use the window that already exists to inform the ones that I build. I blend the art of joinery with restoring the window as it already exists and take it directly to the client.
I look at windows from the inside out. I figure that if I can build one, I can install and tune it. If I can install and tune it, then I better darn sure protect it because nobody knows how anymore. And if I can do all that - then it’s easy to take one that already exists, in whatever condition it’s in, work backward to remove all the stuff that should not be, then put it all back together the way it as intended.
Most of my work is indeed with windows that already exist. And my approach differs than 99% of the people I run into who do it in that I do the work from the inside out. Everyone else seems to do the work from the outside in.
I begin with joinery. Everyone else seems to adopt joinery eventually. As a matter of fact, what I’ve seen is that anyone who takes historic wood windows seriously INEVITABLY takes up the study of joinery, that or they partner with someone who can.
But that said, joinery is romantic and all, and everyone loves it. But the reality is that there isn’t really a need for sash making apart from the existing window.
What that means is that in a way, although joinery is crucial to Window Craft, it’s only part of a bigger picture - the total window package.
And to deal with the total window package - to master it, you have to blend together joinery, carpentry and finishing.
Do that, and you’ll be able to make a dent in the demand for window restoration in our historic neighborhoods.
