The below was written by our good friend Mattias Hallin, who lives in Belgium (though he would, I think, want me to let you know he is Swedish). You might recall that he is our non-resident expert in linseed oil paint, from this 2024 post (and he wrote for us about overseas order … | Continue reading
The following is excerpted from “Honest Labour: The Charles H. Hayward Years” – a collection of essays from The Woodworker magazine while the legendary Charles H. Hayward was editor (1936-1966). These columns are like nothing we’ve ever read in a woodworking magazine. They are fi … | Continue reading
“Open Wire” is your bi-monthly opportunity to pose to us any and all woodworking questions, and we’ll do our best to answer (if you ask on other days, we’ll tell you to please wait for Open Wire). It’s simple – we post a blog entry on the scheduled Saturday mornings (usually at a … | Continue reading
My book on Roman workbenches and early workholding is now a free download for everyone. You don’t have to register, or give up your email, or sign up for sausage-making lessons. You can just click here, and the download will begin. If you forget to do this, you can always go to t … | Continue reading
Late this year, we sold out of “Cut & Dried”. Author Richard Jones had some changes he wanted to make in the third edition. This week, we sent the book, with these changes, to press. Some of the changes were small corrections, such as moving an illustration up a bit to better mat … | Continue reading
Good cheer to all! * –Suzanne Ellison *The after party will be in Plate 99. | Continue reading
This year has been a good one – maybe our second or third best since we started in 2007. I won’t have all the numbers for a couple weeks, but to close out the year, here are our top 10 books in terms of unit sales. There are some surprises. We have lots of books... | Continue reading
Aesop’s Fables have long been an inspiration for carvers and “The Fox and the Grapes” can be found carved on furniture, frames and decorative panels. It offers the carver the opportunity to carve round grapes, grape leaves moving in a breeze, knotty trees and a fox with a bushy t … | Continue reading
Well before gaining statehood in 1796, carpenters, cabinetmakers and chairmakers were leaving Eastern Seaboard states to settle in Tennessee. They crossed the mountains using The Great Road (also known as The Great Wagon Road). They advertised their services in local newspapers a … | Continue reading
Our fulfillment center and storefront will be closed from Dec. 25 to Jan. 1. So any online orders placed during that time will not ship until we return from the break. So if you want a book or tool shipped out before the end of the year, please place your order before Dec. 25. Th … | Continue reading
Every year Chris, Lucy and I give what we can to a variety of charities. And we are picky. We do our research. And look at the records that charities file each year (here’s a primer). The following woodworking organizations are ones we have supported with both money and time. If … | Continue reading
The following is an excerpt from “Welsh Stick Chairs” by John Brown. “Life without Industry is guilt, and Industry without Art is brutality” I came back to live in Wales in 1975. I had been made redundant and I was depressed. After years in a job I loved I had been told to go; my … | Continue reading
If access to wood (or lumberyard anxiety) is what’s holding you back from making a stick chair or Dutch tool chest, here’s an excellent solution: Alexander Brothers is now offering full kits for several types of stick chairs (in a selection of species), as well as blanks for legs … | Continue reading
If you have a woodworking question, now is your chance to ask it! Post it in the comments below between now and 5 p.m. Eastern and will do out best to answer everyone (in between working on chairs and a dovetailed blanket chest). – Fitz p.s. We’ll announce 2025 Open Wire dates so … | Continue reading
You may be familiar with “A Glue Story”, a video we posted months ago showing how we make our Piggly No Wiggly Glue. Well, Chris and I decided to create “A Wax Story” in the same vein, a video demonstrating how we make our soft wax. In case you’re curious about making your own wa … | Continue reading
If you are a fan of our digital products (pdfs, videos, plans, etc) then you know that they are sent to you as a link via email after checkout. But did you know that you can also access any of your digital purchases by logging into your Lost Art Press account? This prevents you f … | Continue reading
Order “Dutch Tool Chests” (by me!) by 11:59 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 11, to get a free pdf with your book order. Until then, the book and pdf is $39. At midnight on Wednesday, the pdf will cost $9.75 extra if ordered with the printed book. “Dutch Tool Chests” gives you the in-depth i … | Continue reading
Day 13: Blundstone Original Chelsea Boots The only better (by which I mean long-lasting and uber comfy) boots I’ve ever had were Cole Haans with Nike Air insoles. They were of course discontinued before I could stock up. For the last decade or so, I’ve sworn by the Blundstone 510 … | Continue reading
Day 12: Aqua Net Extra Super Hold This is a must-have if you have socket chisels – especially if you remove the handle from time to time. Once the handle won’t stay in anymore, spray the wood that goes into the socket, pop it in place then whack the handle top upside down on your … | Continue reading
Day 11: Milwaukee 50-piece General Purpose Utility Blades We use utility knives all the time around here, and they get dull quickly. There is little more frustrating than trying to cut with a dull blade – plus it’s dangerous. But it’s a pain to go searching for that pack of blade … | Continue reading
A few years back, we decided we had too many benches in our shop, so I hired movers to transport and get my “Gluebo” into my basement. (Its weight almost killed us moving it from my former workplace to Lost Art Press in 2017.) Then we decided we had too few benches, and that we.. … | Continue reading
Day 10: GRIP 9“ Stainless Steel Pry Bar I can’t tell you how often I grab this thin pry bar from Chris’s tool chest in a panic to remove moulding and other small pieces without damaging them, and I don’t know what else. But I grab it a lot. I have one at home that... | Continue reading
Several weeks ago I came across an illustrated collection of tools held by Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (BAnQ). The approximate date of the collection is 1740, which pre-dates Roubo’s “l’art du Menuisier.” The collection, acquired in 1970, includes 84 illustratio … | Continue reading
Day 9: Infinity Stamps If you want a fantastic logo stamp, contact Infinity Stamps. The company’s designers will create a stamp for you based on a sketch or whatever else you have, or you can send a vector file. Infinity is fast and great to deal with. Chris has three (or it is f … | Continue reading
Day 8: Torrington Brushes: Glue Brushes & Chip Brushes Another big step forward for our shop this year has been switching to Torrington brushes for gluing and for our chip brushes. Torrington is a small Florida company that makes excellent brushes and carries some really good imp … | Continue reading
The following is the preface of “Campaign Furniture,” by Christopher Schwarz. For almost 200 years, simple and sturdy pieces of campaign furniture were used by people all over the globe, yet this remarkable furniture style is now almost unknown to most woodworkers and furniture d … | Continue reading
Day 7: Purified/refined Linseed Oil Finishing has gotten a lot easier here now that we have switched to raw linseed oil that has been purified/refined. These oils are lighter than your hardware store linseed oil, they dry fast and they don’t have any heavy metallic driers. You ca … | Continue reading
It’s been a while since I wrote about our work on the Anthe Building, the old factory where our fulfillment center is located. This fall we’ve been working on the storefront of the building, which faces Madison Avenue in downtown Covington. And on some offices upstairs for the ed … | Continue reading
Day 6: Pica Markers & Mechanical Pencils This year I have completely embraced the Pica marking stuff. It is not perfect (details below). But it is still miles beyond what I was using before. What makes it awesome? Pica’s “Longlife Cap.” This is basically a scabbard that clips ten … | Continue reading
Day 5: Hans Karlsson & Jason Lonon Scorps/Inshaves Good scorps/inshaves are expensive and difficult to come by. Most of the used and discount scorps I’ve seen are not worth messing with. I’ve tried grinding them and even cold-bending their handles in an effort to make them work. … | Continue reading
Dec. 15 is the last day to place an order with Lost Art Press and be assured that it will arrive in time for Christmas. Our storefront will be open during weekdays up until Dec. 24. We are currently setting up the new storefront at 407 Madison Ave. Until that comes on line, we ha … | Continue reading
Day 3: Old Town Utility Jacket (& a Work Jacket) For many years, Old Town has made fantastic custom workwear (chairmaker John Brown was a customer). It now seems that the company is simplifying its operations and not taking on any new customers for custom work. But despair not, f … | Continue reading
Day 2: Origin Work Jeans Made in MaineI’m always looking for good domestic-made workwear, not the stuff peddled for hipsters who wear Carhartt WIP. During the last year I have been wearing Origin Work Jeans, which are made in Maine. I have been unable to wear them out. First, the … | Continue reading
The Anarchist’s Gift Guide – comprised only of stuff we have bought and used in our shop – starts today and runs over the next 13 days. Chris started this “gift guide” years ago (read past recommendations here) after watching a woodworking TV personality’s “gift guide” for one of … | Continue reading
The following is excerpted from “Ingenious Mechanicks,” by Christopher Schwarz. This book is a journey into the past. It takes the reader from Pompeii, which features the oldest image of a Western bench, to a Roman fort in Germany to inspect the oldest surviving workbench, and fi … | Continue reading
Following some questions from a couple of readers, Andy Glenn, author of “Backwoods Chairmakers: In Search of the Appalachian Ladderback Chairmaker,” writes: The post-and-rung chairs found in the final chapters of “Backwoods Chairmakers“ were printed without dimensions. This was … | Continue reading
This is a an excerpt from Megan Fitzpatrick’s new book “Dutch Tool Chests.” I have been looking forward to its release for some time now and have finally had a chance to read through it. It is incredibly beautiful, which may not always be an applicable word for an instructional b … | Continue reading
“American Peasant” is back in stock with a new diestamp on the cover. When I designed the cover for the book, I developed six different images, all of which I liked. So we decided to use a different diestamp for each printing. We sold out the first printing last month, which feat … | Continue reading
If you have a woodworking question, post it in the comments below. Chris and I are holding Open Wire today between now and 5 p.m. Eastern and will do out best to answer everyone (in between finishing a chair and a tool chest – guess who’s doing which…). – Fitz | Continue reading
The following is excerpted from “Woodworking in Estonia.” The author, Ants Viires, devoted his life to recording the hand-tool folkways of his country without a shred of romanticism. Viires combined personal interviews and direct observation of work habits with archaeological evi … | Continue reading
After more than a year of struggling to get our inventory under control, we did a little rearranging of things in our warehouse and figured out that we have enough open floor space to build our storefront, editorial offices and a new tool assembly area. We were shocked that our p … | Continue reading
I love books, photos and drawings, but if you want to quickly learn a lot about making and designing chairs, there is one path: Study the suckers in person every chance you get. Up close and slowly. Last week, Welsh chairmaker Chris Williams arranged for me and some friends to st … | Continue reading
This one has been a long time in coming. On May 31, 2020, I announced here that I was writing a book on Dutch tool chests. Today, November, 8, 2024, “Dutch Tool Chests” is finally in our warehouse and available for order. (Surprise! – the cover is blue.) Inside the book, you’ll f … | Continue reading
The following is excerpted from Nancy R. Hiller’s “Kitchen Think: A guide to design and construction, from refurbishing to renovation.” For two decades, Nancy made a living by turning limitations into creative, lively and livable kitchens for her clients. This, her final how-to b … | Continue reading
The editorial staff is currently on the road to Wales, which is why we haven’t been posting much on the blog this week. Despite our remoteness (physically) we’ve been working on Lost Art Press stuff the whole time. Here are some updates on new things and reprints. “Dutch Tool Che … | Continue reading
The following is an excerpt from “The Stick Chair Book” by Christopher Schwarz. Cutting down the legs of a chair so they rest flat on the floor is another one of the “great mysteries” faced by most beginning chairmakers. If you’ve never done it, it seems impossible. But if you’ve … | Continue reading
by Brian Crawley John Porritt recently gave a stick chair talk in Austerlitz, New York (click here to read about it). With so many of his chairs gathered in one place, I was able to take some quick photos of John’s different approaches to armbows. The joints are all based on thos … | Continue reading
The following is an excerpt from Chris’ newest book, “American Peasant.” The book is an introduction to a style of peasant furniture and decoration that is almost unheard of in the Americas. Built primarily with tongues, grooves and pegs, the furniture is frequently engraved with … | Continue reading