A Chair in a Weekend, New Classes & More: LAP Digest

We're prepping for a class next week, trying to get book to press, and trying to get a chair out the door. Busy, busy!

View this email in your browser 2025 Classes, Shaving Mules & More A quick look at all the stuff Lost Art Press published during the last seven days. This week, Chris is prepping for next week's Chairmaker's Toolbox class (last year's is – and I'm desperate to get "Dutch Tool Chests" to prepress on Friday (it all hinges on Roy Underhill's foreword). Plus, we have new classes to announce, a few tool reviews on Never Sponsored, and more. Here's what you might have missed…. Lost Art Press Blog Classes at the Storefront, Jan.-May 2025 We have a handful of new classes – including one from Welshman Chris Williams – scheduled for the first half of 2025. Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Eastern on Sept. 16, 2024. Click here to find out who is teaching what, when – and get ready to register. Livestream Visit to the Jonathan Fisher House Join Joshua Klein, author of "Hands Employed Aright: The Furniture Making of Jonathan Fisher (1768-1847)" and editor of Mortise & Tenon Magazine, for a Sept. 21 tour of the Jonathan Fisher House in Blue Hills, Maine, and a look at the M&T headquarters, and more. Read more about it here. Shaving Mules In the "now" section of his book "Country Woodcraft: Then & Now," Drew Langsner discusses 21st-century developments in shaving mules and shavehorses. The American Peasant Substack 10 Biggest Mistakes Lost Art Press Has Made As Lost Art Press enters its 18th year of operations, Chris is amazed we are still here. We have made so many errors – some of them nearly fatal. Likely the reason we are still operating is that we are too dumb to quit. (Free for everyone) My Undeserved Confidence When it comes to furniture design – and design in general – Chris thinks that confidence is 49 percent of my process. When he has a good idea (or bad one), he lets it run through his brain until it becomes almost real. He can see the thing from all angles. There isn't much murk. Perhaps he'll leave a couple details to resolve during the construction process, but generally he knows what he wants. (For paid subscribers, with a free preview) The Anarchist's Apprentice Substack Selling Out We've been talking about business here in the shop. Chris has been sharing with Kale the prices that he gets for his chairs and how those have changed through the years. When he first sold chairs in the early 2000s, they were $600 to $700 apiece. Now the range is between $1,600 and $5,700. What is the difference between the expensive chairs and cheaper ones? Materials, yes. But also a knowledge of what people like. (For paid subscribers, with a free preview) Never Sponsored Substack Grizzly Remakes the Carver's Vise Last week Chris noticed that Grizzly had changed its carver's vise. The castings looked different. The base looked different. And the vise's wooden jaws were missing the urethane grippy stuff that usually comes on the jaws. (Free for everyone) Collapsible Crates for Furniture Parts Chris loves these restaurant industry standard for holding parts during a project. Sometimes he's juggling many projects at once, so keeping them each in a crate makes sure the parts stay together. The crates also help prevent the "shop rash" that occurs when you try to juggle 20 chair sticks with only two hands and end up dropping half of them on the floor. (Free for everyone) On Instagram This Week Can Chris build a chair in a weekend? (If nothing else "Build a Chair in a Weekend" is a magazine coverline that we'd have used at PW back in the day...) Visit Lost Art Press 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