Thankfully, things have calmed around here since the madness of last week’s multi-day move of inventory from storage to Anthe. With all books now on site we’ve been able to focus our energy towards the vision for Anthe (as well as packing and shipping orders, of course). Gabe, Ma … | Continue reading
I have two more classes this year that have open spots. One in Germany, and one in Indiana. I’m teaching people to build the Dutch Tool Chest in Munich July 14-16. You can register and read more about the class here. The class takes place next to Dictum’s lovely Munich showroom a … | Continue reading
The following is excerpted from Vol. II of “The Woodworker: The Charles H. Hayward Years: Techniques.” This book is chock-full of invaluable hand-tool technique instruction and tool knowledge…including finer points about screwdrivers. I didn’t know until I started working with ni … | Continue reading
Wally and I are busy today helping students turn the sticks shown above into sawbenches. But Chris is back this week, eagerly awaiting your Open Wire questions. So, please post your (succinct) woodworking questions in the comments below, and Chris will answer. You can also ask hi … | Continue reading
Tickets are on sale now for the June 2 “Backwoods Chairmakers” Event in beautiful Berea, Ky. The all-day event (9 a.m.-5:30 p.m. EDT) will feature 13 Appalachian chairmakers from Andy Glenn book. We’ve asked each demonstrator to bring some of their chairs so you can see the work … | Continue reading
At 2 p.m. (Eastern time) on Friday we will open up ticket sales for our Backwoods Chairmakers event that will take place on June 2 at Berea College. Tickets will be $33 for the event. This fee covers only the honorariums for the 13 chairmakers who have agreed to attend. Berea Col … | Continue reading
I have been invited back to Germany this summer to teach a four-day introduction to chairmaking course at Dictum’s classroom in Niederalteich, a gorgeous monastery in Bavaria. The class is in English (my German is terrible), and the location is a fantastic place to stay and learn … | Continue reading
Andy Glenn’s new book “Backwoods Chairmakers” has been a runaway hit – we’ve about blown through the first press run after only 3-1/2 months. Recently, Andy had the great idea to gather the chairmakers from his book at Berea College so readers can meet these chairmakers, hear the … | Continue reading
The following is excerpted from Peter Follansbee’s “Joiner’s Work.” Forget what you think about 17th-century New England furniture. It’s neither dark nor boring. Instead, it’s a riot of geometric carvings and bright colors – all built upon simple constructions that use rabbets, n … | Continue reading
House & Garden magazine in the U.K. has a nice feature on vernacular stick chairs and cricket tables in its current issue. You can read the article here. Tim Bowen of Tim Bowen Antiques is quoted throughout. Tim and Betsan Bowen authored “The Welsh Stick Chair,” a lovely book tha … | Continue reading
“The Anarchist’s Tool Chest,” the book that allowed me to quit my corporate job is now available as a free pdf download, now and forever. To download it, you need only click on this link. You don’t have to register, give up your email or do any other smarmy marketing idiocy. We w … | Continue reading
We’ve had a grand week of visitors and video shoots. Roy Underhill made a quick trip to town, then headed a little farther northwest to experience eclipse totality. And Whitney Miller, author of “Henry Boyd’s Freedom Bed,” spent the week recording a video on how to make a Swedish … | Continue reading
Woodworker and musician Joel Paul – you might know him as 13starsfarm (and formerly as punckrockshaker) on Instragram – had a devastating accident while helping a neighbor to fell a tree. Joel’s injuries are severe, and his recovery will be long and expensive. If you can spare a … | Continue reading
Any time a picture or video shows up of Chris or me or a student using the low bench to shave spindles, I get questions about the “planing stop” against which the workpiece is held. That’s the “Hulot Block” or “head” that shows up in 1775 book “L’Art du Tourneur Mécancien.” Chris … | Continue reading
Lee John Phillips, an illustrator from Pembrokeshire, West Wales, is no stranger to Lost Art Press. A while back, Chris Schwarz commissioned Lee for the “Family Tree of Chairs” that was on the end sheets of “The Stick Chair Book” and a poster. As much as we love Lee’s work for “T … | Continue reading
Somehow the stunning mosaics unearthed at the Huqoq synagogue during the last 12 years have escaped my attention. Reader Richard Mahler pointed them out to me, and I have been thinking about them all week. (Why? Roman woodworking is the subject of my book “Ingenious Mechanics.”) … | Continue reading
My Saturday goal is to get the final coat of paint on this chair. I just I assume it’s going to need a third coat after Friday’s second coat, because this chair hates me (this is General Finishes “milk paint” in Westminster Green – no longer available, unfortunately). But my othe … | Continue reading
We have lowered the price on four products that we are discontinuing. The complete list is here. Many of these products have stopped selling for a variety of reasons. With some products, such as the square kit, I overestimated how many we could sell. With other products, I made a … | Continue reading
The following is excerpted from “The Workbench Book,” by Scott Landis. First published in 1987, “The Workbench Book” remains the most complete book on the most important tool in the woodworker’s shop. “The Workbench Book” is a richly illustrated guided tour of the world’s best wo … | Continue reading
On Friday, we raised a celebratory toast to Matt Cianci (theSawWright.com) after sending to press “Set & File: A Practical Guide to Saw Sharpening.” (Chris had a Sierra Nevada pale ale; I had an Aperol spritz.) And though it was nine years in the making, we think it is worth the … | Continue reading
With the addition of Kale Vogt to our staff at Lost Art Press, I have been pondering the meaning and implications of the word “apprenticeship.” For me it is a real thing. Apprenticeship requires papers that lay out an agreement. Something like: I will do this. You will do that. A … | Continue reading
Chris and I are here all day to answer your woodworking questions – in between some work at the bench, of course. You know the drill: post your (succinct) question(s) in the comments field below, and we shall do our best to answer. Comments will close at around 5 p.m. – Fitz | Continue reading
This week we launched two new substacks that you might want to check out. Never SponsoredFor the last 28 years I have been neck-deep in the world of woodworking tools. First as a user and reviewer of tools for Popular Woodworking Magazine. Then as a designer, maker and user of th … | Continue reading
Today I am offering for sale this low-slung armchair in red oak. This chair is completely set up for lounging, and is about as comfortable a chair as I can make (it’s comparable to the Gibson chair). The seat is low – 16-1/4” – off the ground, like old stick chairs. The seat tilt … | Continue reading
The following is excerpted from our reprint of “Woodworker’s Pocket Book,” edited by Charles H. Hayward. I have screwing on the brain (so to speak) because I’ve been teaching Kale about pilot holes and clearance holes. I could have just handed this book to Kale, and it likely wou … | Continue reading
Our sale of “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest” – our bestselling book – ends at midnight March 31. Until then, the book is $34 – 34 percent off – and comes signed by the author and a special bookmark. This sale has helped enormously to clear floor space in our warehouse in downtown Cov … | Continue reading
Sunday thoughts from Charles Hayward (excerpted from “Honest Labour” – a collection of essays from The Woodworker magazine). The mediaeval system of apprenticeship, by which the apprentices helped to sell—in booths which then served as shops before their master’s dwellings—the wa … | Continue reading
The fellow above is here this weekend teaching a class in making traditional sash, so Chris and I are twiddling our thumbs and awaiting your questions about woodworking, cats, LAP books, Shakespeare, the Anthe building restoration (we’re finally on to the stuff that should be don … | Continue reading
I was chatting with Kara Gebhart Uhl about some new “Meet the Author” profiles, and realized that while we have a blog category for Nancy Hiller’s “Little Acorns,” we don’t have an easy way to find the profiles Kara and others have written. So, I’ve added a new category to our dr … | Continue reading
Kale and I had a brief discussion of mouldings and moulding planes last week as she worked on her tool chest, and raised a square panel for one piece using a rabbet plane. And that reminded me of Peter Nicholson’s discussion of moulding profiles, which I love in large part becaus … | Continue reading
Megan is finishing Matt Cianci’s book “Set & File: A Practical Guide to Saw Sharpening,” and I’m polishing “The American Peasant.” Both books will go to the printer within the month, and then we will turn to our next publishing projects. Here’s what is coming up. Megan is (still) … | Continue reading
Andy Glenn is the author of the newly released “Backwoods Chairmakers: In Search of the Appalachian Ladderback Chairmaker.” He found more than 20 of them and earned their trust then, beautifully and authentically through words and photos, told the stories of their lives and their … | Continue reading
Psssst…or pspspspsps… You. Yeah, you! You got a woodworking question? Ask in the comments below, and my amanuenses (Chris and Megan) will do their best to answer. At 5 p.m. Eastern, though, they have to stop. It is then time for treats. | Continue reading
Every single vernacular stick chair I have studied uses cylindrical tenons. None have tapered tenons and mortises. Yet, I teach many first-timers to use the tapered joint. What gives? The tapered joint requires some special tooling, but you get a few chances to dial in the final … | Continue reading
The following is excerpted from “Shaker Inspiration” by Christian Becksvoort. Not too many woodworkers can claim five decades of business success, but Becksvoort is among them. In “Shaker Inspiration,” he shares not only his woodworking knowledge and some of his best professional … | Continue reading
Our fulfillment center at the Anthe (pronounced Ann-thee) Building is now fully operational. The material lift has been repaired, the new roof is on, the skylight has been replaced, the back wall masonry has been rebuilt, and we have dehumidifiers on every floor – plus extra heat … | Continue reading
Kale Vogt grew up just south of Covington, in Burlington, Kentucky, in a close-knit family – mom, dad and an older brother, T.J. A self-proclaimed “art kid,” Kale was athletic, playing soccer through high school, and loved to spend time outdoors. Kale’s mom is a special needs bus … | Continue reading
Megan is teaching a class on building a Shaker silverware tray here at the storefront this weekend, so y’all are stuck with me and Wally the cat for Open Wire. We are happy to answer your woodworking questions here on Open Wire. Simply type your question into the comment box bel … | Continue reading
With Chris out of town this week, Megan and I determined this a perfect time to wreak havoc around the shop. And by “havoc,” us nerds mean finally getting around to finishing my first Dutch tool chest. In this video, Megan demonstrates her dado cutting process using hand tools wh … | Continue reading
The following is excerpted from Robert Wearing’s “The Essential Woodworker” – one of the two of our books I most frequently recommend to those getting started in hand-tool woodworking. (The other is “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest.“) “The Essential Woodworker” is filled with more tha … | Continue reading
The following is by Steve Voigt, whom you might know primarily as a maker of wooden planes. But he’s also passionate about traditional finishes, and has been taking a deep dive into that subject as he works on a book for Lost Art Press. The working title is “Oil, Resin, Solvent & … | Continue reading
Chris is in Florida through next week to teach two classes, and is then taking a few well-earned days of vacation with his wife, Lucy May. (I expect he’ll pop in from time to time to answer, or comment after hours on chair questions and the like.) In the meantime, I’ll be here ed … | Continue reading
One of my pieces from 2018 – Monticello bookcases in walnut and pine – are now up for sale on eBay. These were commissioned by a Michigan customer and came out rather nice. He’s now putting them up for sale, with the starting bid at $1,500. Normally I don’t promote third-party sa … | Continue reading
After much analysis and debate, we have decided to put “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest” – our bestselling book – on sale for the month of March. Until March 31, the book is $34 – that’s 34 percent off the $51 retail. Plus, all copies sold through us are signed by the author and inclu … | Continue reading
If you’ve ever wanted to meet Roy Underhill and toast his vast contributions to the craft, here is your chance. At 6 p.m. Saturday, March 23, we’re holding a happy hour for Roy at Juniper’s Gin Bar, which is a short walk from our Covington storefront. The restaurant has kindly ag … | Continue reading
The following is excerpted from “By Hand & Eye,” by George R, Walker and Jim Tolpin. The book is a deep dive into the world of history, architecture and design. And the authors have emerged with armloads of pearls for readers. Instead of serving up a list of formulas with magical … | Continue reading
We have the Lie-Nielsen folks in this weekend for the first Hand Tool Event in at least three years. So we are not able to answer questions online today. If you are in the area, stop by the storefront and a whole host of people will be happy to answer your woodworking questions. … | Continue reading
I’m always on the lookout for local materials I can use to build stick chairs. Elm is my favorite wood, but it can be difficult to find for purchase. Last month Shea Alexander of Alexander Bros. gave me a couple boards of honey locust to try out for a chair seat. It looks a lot.. … | Continue reading