We’ve added a special class and spaces are available now: Learn How to Make Woodcuts with Rudy Everts. The class is Sunday, Nov. 24 and Monday, Nov. 25. Rudy, who is visiting from Munich, will also be filming a video on making a stick chair using nothing but feral green woodworki … | Continue reading
In 1978, Drew Langsner released his book “Country Woodcraft” to the world, and it sparked a movement – still expanding today – of hand-tool woodworkers who make things with mostly green wood. The 304 pages of “Country Woodcraft” showed you how to split wood from the forest and sh … | Continue reading
Alexander Bros. in Timberville, Virginia, is now selling chair kits for stick chairs (and Brian Boggs chairs) in a fair number of species and at very good prices. You can take a look here. Shea Alexander has been picking chair wood for me for the last eight months or so, and I ha … | Continue reading
It’s Labor Day in the United States and Labour Day or Fête du Travail in Canada. A celebration of the creative work accomplished by hand seems appropriate for today. The hands making things and hands made by hand were made by: No. 1 & 8: The right and left hands of “David” by Mic … | Continue reading
One of the difficulties students have when making Irish stick chairs is drilling the mortises for the two back sticks that also pass through each arm (we call these particular back sticks “posts”). For a recent class, I made a jig that makes it easier to drill accurate mortises. … | Continue reading
Our storefront will be open the public from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, November 23. We will be selling our full line of books and tools, of course. But we will be on hand to answer your questions, give demos and talk about woodworking. And to ply you with cookies. And to show … | Continue reading
I recently finished this Irish stick chair in red oak during a chair class and am offering it for sale to readers of the blog. This chair will be sold via a random drawing for $1,600 (that price includes both crating and shipping to your door anywhere in the lower 48). Details on … | Continue reading
We just posted two bonus videos about the Swedish tool chest. These short videos, hosted by me, discuss where this chest comes from historically and also offers a tour of the finished chest with tools in it. If you have purchased the “Make a Swedish Tool Chest” video, you should … | Continue reading
Part I: Moxon to Nicholson By Matt Cianci, the SawWright I started writing “Set & File: A Practical Guide to Saw Sharpening” in 2015, but the background work started long before that in the early 2000s. For me, learning to sharpen saws was trial and error, and there wasn’t much t … | Continue reading
The following is excerpted from “Hands Employed Aright: The Furniture Making of Jonathan Fisher (1768-1847),” by Joshua Klein. In this book, Klein (founder of Mortise & Tenon Magazine), examines what might be the most complete record of the life of an early 19th-century American … | Continue reading
This chair is built using Honduran mahogany that is at least 50 years old that I purchased from a millwork and furniture shop in Norwood that was going out of business. I bought every scrap I could afford, and I used most of my stash to build the projects in “Campaign Furniture.” … | Continue reading
I first met Whitney Miller when she was a reporter at WCPO-TV in Cincinnati, right as the pandemic was cranking up. Whitney worked with my wife, Lucy, and Whitney was really into making anything and everything. She’d made her own dining table with the help of some friends. And sh … | Continue reading
Last November, the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., received a printing press similar to the type used to print Shakespeare’s First Folios. The printing press was to be part of the Folger’s recent expansion of its exhibit space. Although Joseph Moxon’s “Mechanick E … | Continue reading
We’ve had a couple people ask what tools they need to make the cherry tool chest built by Whitney Miller in “Make a Swedish Tool Chest” (available at introductory pricing of $35 until Aug. 26) So, below is a list of every tool Whitney picks up on camera. To those you could add a … | Continue reading
Hey! Two of my chairmaking friends, en and Jim Crammond, are putting on a Gibson chair class in Michigan starting Sept. 30. They are both great people and chairmakers. If you’ve wanted to build a Gibson chair, this is a great opportunity. Details are below. — Christopher Schwarz … | Continue reading
The following is excerpted from “Set & File: A Practical Guide to Saw Sharpening,” by Matt Cianci. In this book, Cianci (aka The Saw Wright) teaches you the fundamentals of maintaining backsaws and handsaws: how to file and joint your saws with the correct rake, fleam and pitch t … | Continue reading
One of the many things I disliked about working for a family newspaper was how fragile the editors were to reader criticism. If one person complained about the tiniest thing in a news story I’d written, I’d be dragged into the city editor’s office and raked over the coals about i … | Continue reading
When I was finishing up the writing of “The Stick Chair Book,” one of my friends suggested we should make a flip book that had four different “layers.” There would be a layer for the undercarriage, one for the seat plus the arm, one for the sticks and one for the comb. Kinda like … | Continue reading
Chris and I are both working on projects in the shop today – but we’ve reserved time in between chairmaking and dovetails (and both – Chris’s current chair features battens secured in sliding dovetails) to answer your burning Open Wire questions. You know the drill: Post your woo … | Continue reading
“Set & File: A Practical Guide to Saw Sharpening” by Matt Cianci is back in stock after we absolutely burned through the first printing. We now have enough copies to begin filling wholesale orders for our international retailers. So stay tuned. Other good news: Classic Hand Tools … | Continue reading
Below is a short excerpt (a sidebar) from “By Hand & Eye,” the first artisan geometry book by George Walker and Jim Tolpin. In “By Hand & Eye,” the authors show how much of the world is governed by simple proportions, noting how ratios such as 1:2; 3:5 and 4:5 were ubiquitous in … | Continue reading
It’s no secret that ensuring a tight joint between arm and mid-arm can be a challenge. We know this first hand and because readers have reached out in the past asking for advice on the matter. Well readers, wait no longer – Chris has spilled the beans on his method! We recently c … | Continue reading
This fall, Megan and I are each teaching scholarship classes for The Chairmaker’s Toolbox, which offers free training for people who have been historically excluded from the trade. I’m teaching a stick chair class Sept. 16-20. And Megan is teaching a Dutch tool chest class Oct. 1 … | Continue reading
The following is excerpted from “The Anarchist’s Design Book,” by Christopher Schwarz. The new, expanded edition of “The Anarchist’s Design Book” is an exploration of furniture forms that have persisted outside of the high styles that dominate every museum exhibit, scholarly text … | Continue reading
Earlier this month a John Brown chair surfaced at auction that was a highly unusual form: a comb-back rocking chair. Commissioned in 1988, the chair was made for a family with a newborn and served as a nursing chair. From the seat up to the comb, the chair resembles JB’s cardigan … | Continue reading
Scholars, translators, transcribers and writers have always needed to have multiple books and other resources within easy reach. Illustrated manuscripts give us a good look at how medieval scribes stored and arranged their often large and hefty books. In the image above, Saint Je … | Continue reading
Note: This video is being offered at the special introductory offer of $35 until Aug. 25. After that, the video will be $69. We’ve long been fascinated with the Swedish tool chest form. Roy Underhill had one at The Woodwright’s Shop, and Chris got a close look at one in Sweden th … | Continue reading
I just returned from two weeks (and then some) in Bavaria. For the most part I was teaching classes put on by Dictum GmbH. It’s been more than five years since I’ve taught there, so it was great to catch up with old friends and make some new ones. Here’s a typical scene at dinner … | Continue reading
The following is excerpted from “The Anarchist’s Workbench,” by Christopher Schwarz. The book is – on the one hand – a detailed plan for a simple workbench that can be built using construction lumber and basic woodworking tools. But it’s also the story of Schwarz’s 20-year journe … | Continue reading
Wally and I are in the shop all day to work on 10 Shaker trays (because someone feels guilty for stepping down from their neighborhood house tour committee and thus agreed to make thank-you gifts as self-imposed penance) and for Open Wire AMAAW&C (Ask Me Anything About Woodworkin … | Continue reading
I woke to a text this morning from Chris: “Found this tip for making our carving vises lower.” (See above.) “Put the base on the underside. Works great. Might be helpful for you.” Even though he’s off teaching in Germany, he’s still looking for ways to improve our shop here in Co … | Continue reading
When Chris Williams was visiting from Wales, he extolled the virtues of “drawing salve” – an ointment that pulls splinters out of one’s hand or what have you. And I’ve heard the same praise from other friends from across the Atlantic – the stuff is certainly more popular there th … | Continue reading
The following is excerpted from Peter Galebert’s “The Chairmaker’s Notebook.” Whether you are an aspiring professional chairmaker, an experienced green woodworker or a home woodworker curious about the craft, “Chairmaker’s Notebook” is an in-depth guide to building your first Win … | Continue reading
Tom Bonamici is the designer behind most of our soft goods (plane and pencil pockets, workshop waist aprons, bandanas, chore coats, vests and more). He’s also a woodworker and educator who has climbed volcanoes, attended New York Fashion Week, built privies and is likely on a bac … | Continue reading
The Catalan variation of the of the post-and-rung chair has been traced back to the late 19th century and is still made today. This native of Catalonia speaks to me; it whispers, “sit back and relax.” As with its straight-backed relatives, these chairs were made with local woods … | Continue reading
Due to a minor “oops” earlier this week when we mentioned we’d have Open Wire this Saturday (and the fact that I’ll be in the “office” anyway) – I decided to hold Open Wire today. But I will not start answering before 9 a.m, and possibly not even before 10 a.m. (Eastern). It’s be … | Continue reading
I have a small flower garden in front of my house, and after years of being annoyed by having to sit down on my porch to don an old pair of running shoes for weeding (and checking them for spiders first, because they lived on the porch), I finally broke down and bought myself som … | Continue reading
Choosing the wood for your first stick chair can feel paralyzing. You might think that the wrong species will doom the chair. Or the boards’ grain orientation will make things split. Or that you need wood that is green or air-dried. I know you won’t believe this, but Rule No. 1 w … | Continue reading
The following is excerpted from “Make a Joint Stool from a Tree,” by Peter Follansbee and Jennie Alexander. When it comes to exploring the shadowy history of how 17th-century furniture was built, few people are as dogged and persistent as Jennie Alexander and Peter Follansbee. Fo … | Continue reading
My latest book, “American Peasant,” is now shipping from our Covington warehouse. The price is $37 plus shipping. All copies purchased from us are autographed. If you can’t afford the book, or aren’t sure it’s for you, the pdf of the complete book is free. You can download it by … | Continue reading
The following is excerpted from “Slöjd in Wood,” by Jögge Sundqvist. The book begins with teaching you how to make a butter knife – a useful object that requires just a knife, boiling water and paint to make it – that will begin to unlock the world of slöjd for you. You will then … | Continue reading
Sometimes we have so much stuff going on at Lost Art Press that I need to condense it all into one brief blog entry. Here we go. ‘American Peasant’ Released Early My latest book, “American Peasant,” shipped from the printer 10 days early and will arrive in our Covington warehouse … | Continue reading
We have finally worked out all of the price increases that will take effect on Sunday, July 7. This blog entry is our final reminder. The price increases will also take effect with our retailers in the U.S. and elsewhere. The price increases for books are the result of increased … | Continue reading
Chris Williams – who worked with John Brown for years and wrote a biography about him – is teaching a Welsh stick chair class in our shop this week. Yesterday, the students saddled their seats. Chris convinced at least a few of them to try his preferred method for rough stock rem … | Continue reading
The following is excerpted from “Backwoods Chairmakers,” by Andrew D. Glenn. Part travelogue, part profile and part how-to, “Backwoods Chairmakers” explores the tradition of the enduring Appalachian ladderback form. Glenn takes you inside the shops of more than 20 makers, with ph … | Continue reading
Christopher Williams, author of “Good Work: The Chairmaking Life of John Brown,” arrived in town on Thursday night to get ready for his Welsh Stick Chair class here next week – so we though we’d give you a look behind the scenes at just some what goes into getting ready for a cla … | Continue reading
Applications are now open for this year’s full-scholarship class here at Lost Art Press. Six spots are available for six aspiring chairmakers to build a comb-back stick chair in beautiful Covington, Kentucky. The class will be held Sept. 16-20, 2024. If you aren’t familiar, The C … | Continue reading
There are still a few spots left in my Dutch Tool Chest class, Oct. 30-Nov. 1 in London, England. In the class, you’ll learn some fundamental hand-tool woodworking skills (planing, sawing and chisel use, as you cut dados, rabbets, dovetails, thumbnail mouldings, chamfers and more … | Continue reading