This firm makes and restores structural and historic woodwork, wooden roofs and floors, structural or decorative timbers, and joinery such as doors, windows, doorways, gateways, window shutters, balconies, balustrades or latticework, in Renaissance, Gothic, Mudéjar, Nasrid or Art Nouveau styles, designed with strapwork, ornamental boards,… carving or muqarnas vaulting. In short, it does any work within the Spanish carpentry tradition.

The techniques used in such work are to be found in 17th and 18th-century treatises on carpentry and architecture, chiefly those of Diego López de Arenas and Fray Andrés de San Miguel. Also worth noting are studies by authors such as Antonio Prieto y Vives, Manuel Gómez Moreno and, above all, Enrique Nuere Matauco. These texts are a guide to the use of the techniques employed of yore, from the choice of timber to the carving of muqarnas vaulting, along with the manufacture of top plates, montea life-size plans, sizing and cutting of rafters, collar beams, taujel strapwork, etc., and to how to tackle the issues that Mudéjar structural carpenters may face. Here we should also mention the use of squares, allowing one to make all the cuts involved in such assemblies with just six types: three for frameworks and three for strapwork.

Their processes, in order of execution, are as follows:

Initial study of the project, in which the site is visited, data are gathered, and finally a preliminary design is drawn up and a price quoted.

Design. Once the project has been accepted, a more detailed design is produced, including exploded views of components.

Manufacture. In the carpentry shop, the beams are scrubbed down and any metal parts that could harm woodworking tools are removed. The wood is sawn, planed and calibrated with squares as required for the various parts. These are then processed manually or with a CNC router or by both methods, depending on the piece and its requirements. The components are sanded and smoothed and then assembled in the workshop for final adjustment, and finally protective treatments, polychrome and/or varnish are applied.

Onsite assembly. This process takes only a short time, as the methods used allow a precise fit between the wooden elements and the building. For roof frameworks, the top plate is fitted first, on which the structure, divided into just a few parts, is fitted. The assembly is completed with ornamental elements: mouldings, laths, cornice slats, etc.

The material used is mainly wood that is normally processed from heavy timbers sourced from demolitions, of which the most widely used type is old pine known as mobila vieja, though all kinds of wood are used depending on the job and the client’s taste: Swedish pine, cedar, niangon, cherry, beech, walnut, iroko, etc. Metal parts such as nails, screws and pins are needed as fasteners, along with fittings such as regular carpentry hinges, brackets, bolts or plates. A last set of materials would be treatments, varnishes and paints for a final finish.

The tools used fall into three categories:

Traditional tools, such as hammers, handsaws, manual planes, squares, bevels, scratch gauges, chisels, etc. which have changed little over the centuries and remain indispensable for woodwork today.

Modern tools, such as belt saws, thicknessers, routers, sanders, jig saws, clamps, drills, electric screwdrivers, reciprocating saws, electric planers, milling machines, etc., based on traditional tools but substantially improved and allowing processes to be carried out more quickly and precisely.

High-tech tools, including computers, CAD-CAM software and numerical control machinery, which in the past few decades have revolutionised many sectors, naturally including woodwork. These state-of-the-art tools are what brings the greatest novelties, allowing construction periods, manpower and on-site assembly times to be reduced (as 90% of work is carried out in the workshop) and, above all, making the firm more competitive. But given the peculiarity of the work done, we should note that although these tools involve considerable improvements, there remains a need for the traditional tools described above and for highly skilled staff able to fine-tune, assemble and install these out-of-the-ordinary items. These are the firm’s artisan Mudéjar carpenters: carpinteros de lo blanco.