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