Shipping: New Saw Sharpening Book & Roman Workbench Video

Special offers for the first 30 days

View this email in your browser Now Shipping: Saw Sharpening Book & Roman Workbench Video After a long dry spell (five months), we finally have two new products in our store that we have been working on for a long time (nine years on the saw sharpening book!). "Set & File: A Practical Guide to Saw Sharpening" by Matt Cianci is in our warehouse and shipping. It is $32. If you buy it before July 1, you will receive a free pdf download of the book at checkout. This book shows you saw teeth like you've never seen them before: up close. Matt Cianci, a long-time saw doctor, has a practical way to teach saw sharpening that anyone can do (I watched teach this last weekend). If you've ever been frustrated by old texts about saw sharpening, this book will set you straight (pun intended). More About the Book "Video: Build a Roman Workbench." This video shows you how to build the most portable, compact, inexpensive and easy-to-use workbenches available. Made from about $45 in dimensional lumber and scraps, these benches allow you to make cabinets, chairs and tables while sitting down. These benches are ideal for apartment woodworkers – or anyone who has limited shop space (the bench can double as a coffee table). It's also ideal for woodworkers who travel, who like to work outside or have mobility issues. The video is now $35 – a special introductory offer. After July 1, it will be $60. The video includes downloadable construction drawings and a packet of additional information on workholding. More new books (and tools) coming soon. — Christopher Schwarz Read More Here Follow Us Copyright (C) 2024 Lost Art Press. All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you subscribed to the Lost Art Press blog. Welcome! We try our best to make this a good experience for both of us... Our mailing address is: Lost Art Press 407 Madison Ave Covington, KY 41011-1519 USA Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe

Free Movie: Where Shellac Comes From

Plus: Hickory Bark, a New Nakashima Book and a Special Announcement not (yet) on the blog

View this email in your browser A Fascinating Shellac Film Plus, Harvesting Hickory Bark & A Great New Nakashima Book Publisher's Note: Hey everyone. Several of you have mentioned that you aren't receiving as many updates to the blog. That is intentional (for now). Our email plan won't let us send out an email every time we post a blog (unless we spend $1,200 a month). So we are aggregating the blog posts in these emails. If you want immediate notification of new blog entries, consider using an RSS reader, such as Feedly. We hope to get things more automated here shortly. Thanks for sticking around through this technical stupidity. — Christopher Schwarz Business Insider recently released a video on India's shellac industry with amazing footage of how it's made. You can watch it here. While we think of shellac as a finish, it's also used to coat candy and pills, preserve fruit, make bangles and more. Learn how the Kerria lacca insect secretes lac and see how it's harvested using methods that originated 3,000 years ago. Follow along as the video highlights careful steps in production and watch as workers use their hands, feet and teeth to stretch large sheets of shellac. This video packs a lot in 10 minutes and is fascinating to watch. Enjoy! — Kara Gebhart Uhl Watch the video Harvesting Hickory Bark Post-and-rung chairs usually have fiber seats. Ash or oak splints are sometimes used. I also remember a beautiful American elm inner bark that Dave Sawyer used. Woven hemp tape is a beautiful natural tan and is long-lasting. Canvas tape, sometimes referred to as Shaker tape, comes in various widths and colors. Rush seats are favored in many cultures. The inner bark of hickory trees makes a very beautiful seat and is my personal favorite. I find it the best seating of all. It is strong, long lasting and attractive. Harvesting it yourself is a challenge. Harvesting Hickory Bark Harvesting your own hickory bark is the ultimate experience in seating this chair. First, this is seasonal work. The cambium layer is slick in the spring and early summer and that's bark season. Then you must find a suitable hickory tree. A tree too large is difficult to manage. I look for something 1′ or less in diameter. Like the logs for our chair, it needs to be straight and clear, and in this case, the longer the better. …more on the blog. Read more here A New Nakashima Book It's a bit difficult to put a label on this book. It's not really a catalog of the pieces produced by Nakashima Woodworkers, but it is filled with drawings and images of the pieces the company makes. It's also a short history of the workshop, a close explanation of how they work and a sometimes-lighthearted look back at George Nakashima's life and work. Called the "Process Book" and written by Mira Nakashima, this 2023 book is unlike any other book I have encountered in my career as a publisher and a woodworker. The book is a deconstruction, showing you its structure like a wedged through-tenon or visible dovetails. When you first unwrap the book, it looks like it has a dust jacket. But when you open the jacket, you find that the jacket comes off and unfolds into a large poster. One one side is a photo of George Nakashima and on the other are construction drawings. The book block has no boards or paper cover. Instead it is like looking at a component from a pressroom. The spine of the book shows the thread running through the signatures. And the glue that reinforces the signatures. You can see clearly the registration marks from the press (usually obscured) that guide the bindery as they assemble the book block. … more photos on our blog Read the rest of the review Last-minute News on 'Set & File' Hey. We just got the news that Matt Cianci's new book on saw sharpening, "Set & File," is complete and is shipping to us now. It will be on sale in the store on Monday. So get your saw vise out…. Follow Us Copyright (C) 2024 Lost Art Press. All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you subscribed to the Lost Art Press blog. Welcome! We try our best to make this a good experience for both of us... Our mailing address is: Lost Art Press 407 Madison Ave Covington, KY 41011-1519 USA Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe

Calling all questions

View this email in your browser LAP Open Wire May 25, 2024 Chris is already hard at work (shocking, I know) on a second LOTR-inspired chair, and I'm belaboring every word in my Dutch tool chest book manuscript. But we're also here to answer your burning hand-tool woodworking questions. Or cat questions. Or late 19th- early 20th-century Russian literature questions (that's Chris, not me; he contains multitudes). So post 'em in the comments below, and we'll answer. Comments will close at around 5 p.m. – Fitz Ask a question Read the comments Follow Us Copyright (C) 2024 Lost Art Press. All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you subscribed to the Lost Art Press blog. Welcome! We try our best to make this a good experience for both of us... Our mailing address is: Lost Art Press 407 Madison Ave Covington, KY 41011-1519 USA Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe

A New Book, a New Chair & Extra Open Hours

"American Peasant" goes to press – finally....

View this email in your browser 'American Peasant' Goes to Press Plus, a New Hobbit-y Chair We just sent the "American Peasant" book to press, but it's a lot like landing in a foreign country (yay!) and having to wait behind 1,000 people at the immigration window (ugh). Normally, our books come out about five or six weeks after we send them to press. But these are not normal times. Thanks to the latest brood of cicadas venture capital ridiculousness, all our books are in a long queue at the printer. Right now, the best they can say is: Maybe it will be done in August or September. Maybe later. Maybe sooner. Can't say. I have no desire to change printing plants. We've worked with this one for 17 years, and I know exactly what their sheet-fed presses are capable of, and how to get the best results out of the different papers they stock. This hard-won knowledge keeps the cost of printing and thus the retail price down. So we will just have to wait. It took two years to write "American Peasant," so waiting a couple months shouldn't be a big deal. Right? See inside the book For Sale: Hobbit-y Chair in Mahogany This chair is based off a couple chairs I built a few years ago, which were based off the chairs I built for my two kids, which were based off a chair that Bilbo Baggins briefly sits in during "The Fellowship of the Ring." I haven't watched the movie in ages, but I remember the arms of Bilbo's chair were different, the short sticks were turned spindles, and the legs were different – maybe a decorative groove. And I can't recall what the undercarriage looked like. But other than those tiny details, this is an exact replica. Read more here Special Open Days in June Because of the Backwoods Chairmakers event in Berea, Ky., on June 2, we have decided to open our storefront doors here in Covington, Ky., on June 1 and June 3. This will allow travelers who are coming from out of town to stop by on their way to or from the event. These days we keep sometimes-scattershot hours because we might be at the lumberyard, packing books at our warehouse or teaching out of town. But on June 1 and June 3, we will be at our storefront (837 Willard Street, Covington, Ky., 41011) from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. to welcome you. We'll have all our books, apparel and tools. Plus some blemished and returned books at half price (cash only on blemished books). On June 2, Kale and I will be at the Backwoods Chairmakers event, documenting this once-in-a-lifetime gathering. We'll also have a small table of chairmaking books for sale there. We will not have our full line of books at the event. Follow Us Copyright (C) 2024 Lost Art Press. All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you subscribed to the Lost Art Press blog. Welcome! We try our best to make this a good experience for both of us... Our mailing address is: Lost Art Press 407 Madison Ave Covington, KY 41011-1519 USA Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe

Simple (Ahem, Better) Sticking Boards

Plus a New Rant on Sharpening Stones

View this email in your browser Our Favorite Sticking Board Plus: Chris Gets Specific About His Favorite Sharpening Stones Read this on the blog The following is excerpted from Matthew Bickford's "Mouldings in Practice." In this book, Bickford shows you how to turn a set of complicated mouldings into a series of predictable rabbets and chamfers that guide your hollow and round planes to make any moulding that has been made in the past or that you can envision for your future projects. The first half of the book is focused on how to make the tools function, including the tools that help the hollow and round planes – such as the plow and the rabbet. Bickford also covers snipes bills and side rounds so you know their role in making mouldings. Once you understand how rabbets and chamfers guide the rounds and chamfers, he shows you how to execute the mouldings for eight very sweet Connecticut River Valley period projects using photos and step-by-step illustrations and instruction. Below is one of the appendices, which shows you how to make a simple sticking board – a must have appliance for the hand-tool shop. A table saw has a fence, a powered jointer has a table, your bench has dogs or a stop. Like any other task in our craft, bracing a piece while working is necessary. The solution is not always obvious. A sticking board is the appliance you will make to hold your work as you create profiles using your planes. A sticking board in its simplest form is a base, a backer board and a stop. I use 1/2″-thick MDF (medium-density fiberboard) with screws set in a few inches from the end for the stops. I add screws on both ends of the sticking board for the times when I need to plane in the opposite direction so the board's grain runs in my favor. I make the sticking board wide enough so that it can be pinched between the dogs on my workbench and puts the work near the front edge of my bench. Most of the force you exert upon the piece with these planes will not simply be downward against your bench. The piece you are working is often angled, so the planes are held at an angle, too. Simply clamping a piece between two bench dogs is not ideal for several reasons. This is one of those reasons. A sticking board gives you a backboard to press against and resists this lateral pressure. The sticking board can be clamped in your bench between dogs and/or held down with holdfasts, screws or numerous other solutions. A firmly held sticking board prevents the workpiece from snapping out of the dogs and you from doing a belly flop across your bench and damaging the plane, iron and the moulding being stuck on your bench. The sticking board will also prevent the clamping pressure of the two dogs from distorting a thin moulding. Because the piece being worked upon is not usually pinned in the sticking board, gauging your progress does not require you to bend down and look for gauge lines, leftover rabbets or flat spots in less-than-ideal light. Simply pick the piece up, rotate it and examine it. Read the Comments & Answers On Our Substack: The 21-year Sharpening Stone Review Our "Never Sponsored" substack is still free for everyone, but that free access will end soon. Some posts will have a paywall. Others will be free. So it's worth getting a free subscription. Today's post delves into Chris' 21-year history with Shapton stones. It could save you hundreds of dollars. Read the full post here About 21 years ago, I was introduced to Shapton sharpening stones. Harrelson Stanley, the owner of JapaneseTools.com, brought the Japanese president of Shapton to the Popular Woodworking office in Cincinnati, Ohio. They had a suitcase filled with Shaptons, which were not yet available in the U.S. Would we like to try them? I spent about 45 minutes working with the different grits, sharpening different steels that I had on hand – high-carbon, A2, M2 and (I think) some odd stainless steel chisels I was testing. That day, the Shaptons blew the doors off any sharpening medium I had tried before. And to this day, the original Shapton stones continue to be my absolute favorite sharpening stones. I love them so much that I have an extra set sealed in plastic and hidden – just in case. Since Shaptons were introduced in the U.S. in 2003, the company has introduced other sharpening stones, including the GlassStones, the RockStar stones, some smaller stones for knives plus a crap ton of accessories. This article is about why you should ignore all other stones out there – even those made by Shapton – and focus all your love on the company's original stones (which are now called the Kuromaku or Ha-No-Kuromaku stones). Read  More Here The Anarchist's Apprentice: Finding a Rhythm On our Anarchist's Apprentice substack: Apprentice Kale Vogt writes about the challenges of finding a way to juggle all the tasks required at Lost Art Press and find the right "rhythm" for creative growth. Plus Megan discusses the tool chest she is building with Kale and tool storage. Read the full story here Follow Us Copyright (C) 2024 Lost Art Press. All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you subscribed to the Lost Art Press blog. Welcome! We try our best to make this a good experience for both of us... Our mailing address is: Lost Art Press 407 Madison Ave Covington, KY 41011-1519 USA Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe