Lost Art Press

Month: December 2011

Just Hang Your Coat Up on th… Oh My Platypus!

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Avert your eyes if you are sensitive, squeamish or have a heart condition. If there are small children in the room, send them outside to play.

Today a reader pointed out a new kind of “tool crafter,” separate from the saw painters, oilcan bow-tiers and moulding plane lamp makers.

It’s the router-plane coat rack makers. They are, of course, on etsy.com.

Yup, they took a perfectly good Stanley No. 71-1/2 with its square cutter still intact and turned it into a wall rack:


“It certainly could use a good scrubbing but the patina it has really adds to the history. Imagine hanging this in your entryway as a coat/purse/scarf holder – it would certainly draw some great attention from your guests!”

If I hung this in my entryway, my woodworking friends would probably gut me with a deer knife and hang me on one of the knobs.

However, that’s not the worst price I’ve ever seen on a Stanley No. 71-1/2 with an extra-wide accessory base…..

— Christopher Schwarz

Ordering in Time for Christmas

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If you are ordering books, DVDs or T-shirts as gifts, here’s a quick update on inventory and shipping times here at Lost Art Press.

We ship via USPS Media Mail in order to keep costs down. During most of the year, Media Mail is as fast as USPS First Class in our experience. However, during the Christmas season, we have found that Media Mail tends to be a tad slower.

So if you want to be certain your package arrives in time for Christmas, my recommendation would be to order by Friday, Dec. 9.

As to inventory, we are well-stocked on everything except “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest.” We are awaiting the third press run, which should be here by Dec. 21 – too late for Christmas. I have about 250 copies of it left in the shed. So if a signed copy is important to you, you might want to order now.

— Christopher Schwarz

The New Phonebooks are Here!

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A pair of reviews of “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest” just showed up in my inbox that made me laugh.

The first one is from the gift guide by Cleveland’s The Plain Dealer newspaper. You can read the whole story here. But here’s the pertinent part of the review, which is right before they start talking about what a great tool the Dremel is:

“And for advanced, hand-tool aficionados, consider Christopher Schwartz’s 2011 book, ‘The Anarchist’s Tool Chest.’ The author’s sometimes-hokey style doesn’t take away his passion — or knowledge — for tools.”

What funny here is that every single time I have been mentioned or quoted in a newspaper, they have misspelled my last name. So much for professional courtesy.

In journalism school it was policy that if you misspelled a proper noun in a piece of writing, you failed the piece. Period. no exceptions. On the first day of the second-year Newswriting class you have to interview the instructor, who is role-playing as a police officer named John Smith, who has information on a drug bust.

The whole class failed because we didn’t ask how to spell his name, which is Jon Smythe.

The second review is from Furniture & Cabinet Making magazine in Great Britain. Vanessa Austin Locke wrote a half-page piece on the book that begins with this lament: “Men and their tools. What’s a girl to say?”

Ha! The review has a happy ending – in my book, at least.

“While I tend to focus mainly on the design-based parts of the trade, this book has really inspired me to get more hands-on and I think that’s because it comes from an aesthetic angle, which is after all the point of fine craftsmanship. This book is a lovely object, would make a wonderful present and is actually a very good read.”

— Christopher Schwarz