Lost Art Press

LAP Featured in the Gristmill

Posted on by Lost Art Press
Gotta trim that beard.

The Mid-West Tool Collector’s Association (mwtca.org) printed up a nice profile of us in their March issue of The Gristmill. Editor Jay Whittington drove here for a visit (along with his wife) and we talked for most of a day about the craft, tools and how to get them in the hands of the next generation.

The article is a whopping eight pages long and features some nice photos of our buildings, workshop, storefront and fulfillment center. Plus, my blather!

During the last couple years I’ve returned to the membership rolls of the M-WTCA. I had been a member for more than a decade. Then, during the pandemic, I let my membership lapse (as well as my personal hygiene).

I’m so happy to be back. And during my absence, the M-WTCA has taken on lots of younger members and has upgraded The Gristmill’s paper, design and content. Whittington and a lot of the new members are trying to focus on using old tools as much as collecting them. 

YouTuber James Wright epitomizes the drive of this younger generation. If you want a taste of life in the organization, then you should absolutely follow his Instagram feed. He attends a lot of the meetings and posts mouthwatering videos of the tools on display and for sale at the meetings. 

I’ve missed those meetings. The coffee, the donuts and the tailgating. I hope I can find the time to attend some of the regional meetings near us this year.

If you dislike buying tools on eBay, joining M-WTCA is the best solution. The members of the club sell user tools at extremely fair prices. And you get to pick up 100 or 300 smoothing planes to find the one that speaks to you.

— Christopher Schwarz

2026 Jimmy Possum Chair Class

Posted on by Lost Art Press

My name is Lewis Laskin, and I’m excited to announce a Jimmy Possum chair class in my hometown of Annapolis, Maryland. The class is from June 22 to June 26, 2026, and registration opens February 20 at https://marylandhall.org/studioarts-ws.

Background

Three years ago, I wandered into the Jimmy Possum exhibit at Queen Victoria Museum & Art Gallery in Launceston, Tasmania, and I was captivated. Shortly thereafter, I wrote about the chairs and my experience in Tassie (“Tasmania”), which you can read here.

Building my first two JP chairs scratched the itch, but it didn’t cure it. So I’ve resolved to make JP chairs, too. Some 150 years after the first Jimmy Possum chair was built in Tasmania, students will learn to make their own, unique JPs in Annapolis – about as far away from Tassie as physically possible!

Curriculum

JP chairs are easily identifiable by their unique legs, which pass through the seat and into the arms. Not only are they surprisingly comfortable, but their folk origins allow for broad design flexibility. Students will be encouraged to personalize their chairs, and I will bring a variety of modern and antique stick chairs for inspiration.

We will be using green wood (high moisture content) and a minimal toolset, authentic to the JP folk tradition. Much of the week will be spent sitting on Lefkowitz shavehorses with locally-forged drawknives in hand. Every student will go home with a completed chair, the skills to build another and a good understanding of wood behavior. Historically, JP chairs are not saddled, but you will have the opportunity to carve your seat if you’d like.

  • Schedule: June 22 – 26, 2026, Monday-Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
  • Capacity: Six students
  • Tuition: $1,400
  • Materials Fee: $100 for oak and poplar; +$100 to upgrade to oak and quartersawn walnut
  • Ages: 16+
  • Prerequisites: All experience levels welcome
  • Tools: Provided
  • Tuition Assistance:
    • Through the School: Maryland Hall offers need-based assistance for students under 18 and for students 55+. (The amount of assistance is based upon availability of funds.)
    • Through the Instructor: Financial need-based scholarship can reduce tuition by 60 percent (from $1,400 to $560). Application form accessible through enrollment page.

Location

The class will be hosted by Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts, a non-profit performing arts and education center in Annapolis. This will be the first chairmaking course in Maryland Hall’s history, and it might even be the first public Jimmy Possum chair class in the United States!

The school is less than a mile from Annapolis’s historic downtown, best known for its charming brick buildings, the Naval Academy, Maryland blue crab and its proximity to the Chesapeake Bay. June is a great time to visit; we’ll be in crab season, and– don’t sweat – the school will have just completed installing their brand-new HVAC system.

Please email lewis@avocations.studio with any questions.

— Lewis Laskin

Thanks ‘Fine Woodworking!’

Posted on by fitz

We’re delighted our 24″ Joiner’s Rules got a mention in the April 2026 issue of Fine Woodworking magazine – thank you, FWW editorial staff!

We’re also happy that our brass-bound Joiner’s Rules are now back in stock for the first time since the holidays. All of us have pitched in over the last few days to scribe and ink the lines that help your eyes more easily see quarters and eighths. (And, er, one lucky person will get the special one I stamped yesterday with the Crucible logo between 10″ and 11, instead of our usual spot between 11″ and 12″. It’s sure to be a collector’s item!)

– Fitz

Lie-Nielsen Hand Tool Event, Nashville, Feb. 20-21

Posted on by fitz

Join me and my dovetail saw February 20-21 at the Forge Nashville for a Lie-Nielsen Hand Tool Event. I’ll be working on a stepstool or a Shaker tray…or some other fun, small dovetailed project as time allows. Plus I’ll have a selection of our books available for purchase. (But if I’m away from my post, look for me at the amazing Alf Sharp’s bench!)

At the event, try out all the LN tools and get expert guidance as you learn from the LN staff, talk to guest demonstrators and hang out with a passel of fellow hand tool woodworkers. Plus, you can check out the Forge itself, a non-profit organization with wood and metal shops, a makerspace and gallery, private studios and more. You can find out more about the event here.

The Forge is at 217 Willow Street, Nashville, Tenn., and there is on-site parking. Hours are Friday, Feb. 20, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. and Saturday, Feb. 21, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

– Fitz

‘Jefferson’s Declaration Desk’

Posted on by fitz
One of Ed’s many reproductions of the Declaration Desk.

In December of 2024, I traveled to Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin, to meet Ed Zappen (and his lovely family – thanks again for the cheese curds, Kathy!) and take pictures in his shop for his book, “Jefferson’s Declaration Desk.”

We should, barring catastrophe, have the book to the printer this week or next, so look for it in about two months. In the meantime, I’ll be sharing some glimpses inside.

Below is Zappen’s introduction.

– Fitz

The baize-covered writing surface of the reproduction.

My interest in the events leading to the Colonial separation from Great Britain led me to a little writing box that Thomas Jefferson used to write the Declaration of Independence. I contacted the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., where the desk was located. They put me in contact with senior Curator Harry Rubinstein, who invited me to the museum on two separate occasions to study, measure and photograph the desk. That started me on a 15-year journey to learn more about the desk, its history and how to make the best possible reproduction. I decided I should share this information with other woodworkers and the general public rather than keeping the history and plans for the desk to myself. Hence, this book.

Known as the Declaration Desk, Jefferson’s writing box is typical of writing boxes used among the upper classes in Colonial America and England. These desks were small, portable and often had a sloping area covered with baize, a coarse woolen cloth used for gaming tables, and suitable as a writing surface. Various compartments and drawers in the desk allowed the 18th-century professional to carry correspondence, writing materials and other items similar to those that might be found in a briefcase today. I call this an “18th-century Laptop.”

This is a story about that writing box and its place in American history, and it describes in some detail how to make an accurate reproduction of Jefferson’s Declaration Desk. Failure to place the desk in its historical setting presents this piece as just another vintage writing box that can be purchased in antique stores on the East Coast or eBay for a small price. So that is where I shall begin.