One of the biggest benefits of leaving my job at Popular Woodworking Magazine – the best job I’ve ever had – is that I don’t have a 45-minute commute each day to the office.
I have not squandered that dividend of time. I have spent almost every minute of free time during the last 44 weeks in my workshop, building stuff or trying stuff.
Since December, I’ve been focused on finishing this Campaign Secretary for an article in Popular Woodworking. Yes, I see the irony. But the truth is that I couldn’t get much woodworking done while sitting in traffic. So I welcome the trade-off. Heck, I embrace it.
As I shot this short video this evening I couldn’t feel the irony, the fatigue or the loss. All I could feel is gratitude. It sounds sappy, but without the support of the 4,000 Lost Art Press customers I’d be heating up cans of beans by the railroad track.
So to everyone who has bought one of our books since 2007, let me say thanks. You are the ones who have given me an extra 165 hours of time since June 2011. And your dollars have also gone to directly support the craftsmanship of Robert Wearing, Jennie Alexander and Peter Follansbee.
So this video is for you.
— Christopher Schwarz
Chris-
Love the chest. You post a few months ago was the first I had heard about Campaign Furniture (i’m 30 yrs old), and I am really interested in it- i think it is the simplicity, functionality, and clean lines all spun together.
Also, the hardware from Horton Brass is really outstanding.
-John
Chris,
I think it’s the other way around; we should be thanking you for putting those extra hours, along with your “normal” work day, to good use. Most of us don’t know what we spend on books you published, or care. If the value of books purchased can somehow be equated to paying for your efforts and accomplishments, then you are working for each of us at a rate considerably less than minimum wage.
Thank you.
Richard
Wow- and to think I was vexed by having to install two hinges and one lock set today…
The campaign chest looks great. I look forward to buying more publications that come out of Lost Art Press and enjoy the content of your blog weekly. It must feel great to do what you love for a living. Regards.
I’m one of the 4,000.
I don’t buy because I always like the products, but because I support you and what you do. I’d take a class, but you need to come out West. And it can’t be a bench class, because I already own one. Thanks to your inspiration 🙂
Consider me one of your 1000:
http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2008/03/1000_true_fans.php
Nice job on your project. I look forward the article and the follow-on content I’m sure you’ll share here and at PW.
Happy Easter!
Tony
great job Chris, that looks great. Now I want to try one.
Christopher,
The more I see of the Campaign Furniture, the more I look forward to the book.and to trying my hand at it. I too, have had a lot more time available to spend on the craft (for other reasons). I have spent it reading Lost Art Press books (and more) and building my skills in the woodshop. It has been money and time very well spent. Thank you for your contribution.
Chris …..you provide us information and inspiration. Really enjoy your stuff..and especially that while you take the craft very seriously. You do not take yourself very seriously. Congratulations. That kind of wisdom normally hits later in life. Hope to meet you this year at WIA
Ron
Okay, Chris, it’s time for me to ante up. Let’s see. I can either buy a book of yours or mail you a family size can of Heinz beans. So, just when can we expect to see Matt Bickford’s book?
Chris,
The campaign chest looks great. I did not think that I was going to like it; but I think it looks pretty cool!
Now I am looking forward to your book on campaign furniture.
Thanks – Dan
I am curious as too why there are not carry handles on all of the section ends. Wouldn’t you need them in a situation where you would pick them up and re-locate?
There are chest lifts on each section. There’s a close-up of them in the video.
They are very necessary and critical to the piece.
I know that you have said in the past that you are OCD, and I believe you. All of the screws in the hardware are pointed in the same direction. Did you blog about that here or on PW’s blog? And as others have already said, the thanks goes to you. But I’m not turning my screws all the same way.
Duane,
Clocking your screws is an obsession. Resist it for as long as you can.
I’ve been clocking my keys since I first held a screwdriver. Before I learned it had a name. I thought everybody did?
I think you’re starting to get the hang of woodworking…….
I cut 52 tails* and started into the pins this weekend. Maybe I can finish the tool chest by Memorial Day. Then a joint stool? Keep my day job? Please take a vacation! I’m falling behind!
Keep up the good work – your influence is contagious!
*In strict disobedience, I’ve done 13 per corner and may add an arch to the apron in homage to Gustov Stickley. In total rebellion, I positioned the one 2″ knot right where the key would go. We’ll see how that goes.
I just counted the tails in the book. 13. Goodnight.
WOW that is some really intimidating woodworking. Great job. Thank’s for all the information you are putting out there . You have a way of saying and demonstrating things that just seem to click for me. i want to say that you are really an inspiration to many of us still working the day jobs . i know for me the hour or so a day I can steal away to the basement is whats keeping me sane . So keep it up, my sanity is after all in your hands. 🙂 No pressure 😉
Every waking hour when not otherwise occupied by employment, sleep, or hoppy beverages is spent in my shop, I get the obsession, it’s OK, craftsmanship is the hallmark of the OCD artist. We have a Monday session here in C-town if you’re ever interested.
Love to see that thing in person, amazing work!
by the way I buy your books too, just ’cause
Thank You Chris, not only does you’re professionalism show in your outstanding publications. It definately shows in your projects. Besides your great workbench, I am really taken by your work on the campaign secretary. Now that is a family heirloom. Another project you can really be proud of. Thanks for all you give to our craft. See you on the left coast.
Fantastic! I’ve been building cabinetry for a living for many years with a mostly power tool set up. I’ve recently decided that I want to acquire the hand tools and skills to build really fine furniture like your Campaign Secretary. Your work and philosophy behind it inspires me greatly. Thank you.
Matt
Thank you for another inspiring build. I know you’re mostly a builder rather than an Ivory Tower scholar, but when you write you book wiill you talk about the style differences over time? There can be a very great difference between periods… E.g. “these handles didn’t come into use until 1850’s in India…” or will it be a “here’s how to make a modern campaign chest”? From the 1750’s to the 1950’s, what’s your inspiration?
Regards,
Brian Smith
I hope to have a good handle on the timeline of features on the chests for the book. This design is based on a bunch of chests from the second half of the 1800s. As you’ll see in the article coming up in August, all the chests have some similar dimensions (dictated by an Army order, actually). Their variations come in the drawer spacing, the base and the galleries.
So this isn’t a reproduction as it is a synthesis of a piece that would have looked right in 1870s England.
Very nice Chris. I’ll be sending more ‘beans’ your way soon for books. Campaign music, a campaign chest. One of my grandfathers played in the U.S. military band overseas in Europe in the Great War (WW I for the non-history oriented), I’m guessing the music might have sounded like that, but I doubt his furniture looked that nice. So realistic, there was even a tank rumbling by at the end of the video.
Nice work. In fact, I may purchase my first issue of PW in years!
Out of curiosity, where are its stubby little legs, or don’t they appear until the article proper?
regards,
Burbidge.
The feet are on there. There are 7/8″ x 5″ x 5″ and are at each corner. They just don’t show very well in the video because of foreshortening.
Absolutely beautiful.
Time saved in commuting seems to have been spent on filing screw heads.
Gorgeous piece of Furniture, how do you manage to get the corner pieces of Brass to fit so well with such slinky curves?
Have I missed something or are you hoping to do a Book on campaign furniture?
Regards
Michael Redmond.
Gorgeous piece of furniture, how do you manage to cut the corner pieces of Brass in with those slinky curves?
Are you planning a book on Campaign Furniture?
Regards
Michael redmond
Michael,
The ogee recess was shaped with a firmer gouge. Then a router to remove the waste.
Outstanding craftsmanship, Chris! Can’t express my gratitude adequately for your posting your work on this campaign secretary. Your attention to detail, precision execution and integrity with hand tools is exactly what I’ve been looking for from you. I have known you are a great communicator and that you are a purpose driven individual but this piece defines your value to me. Even more so than the ATC. I’m proud to be one of the 4,000 because the products I’ve received were ‘good buys’… so THIS is a bonus.
Thank you sir
As an English customer, I’d like to add my thanks and gratitude for the help and guidance your publications have given me. They have been a real inspiration, both in their content and the story of how they came to be published.
Now, if you could get that joint stool book out over here, that’d be great… no pressure, but hurry up!
Best wishes
El.
El,
Classic Hand Tools received their shipment of the joint stool book last week. You might give them a call.
Thanks for that, I just caught the post in the main blog. An order’s on the way!
Time is the most valuable resource anyone has. On a parallel but unrelated note: A couple years ago we considered moving to a house about 2 miles from my shop. It was a virtually identical house, but a substantial amount more expensive (due to the town). We eventually decided to stay where we were, but to me it was a gain of 1 hour per day 250 days per year. I looked at it as though I was spending x $ to purchase 250 hours. I thought I was the only person who looked at it this way.
And the chest looks fantastic.
-Orion
Horton Brasses
Orion,
I couldn’t have done it without you and the employees at Horton.
The reason for the success of the books are many, including – Make a Joint Stool From A Tree – Unique subject matter that the authors spent 20 plus years studing/expermenting to re-invent a Lost Art. Made In U.S.A.. Great Marketing, including daily inputs on wood working/quotes and providing understanding of the relevant nature of the new books to the Lost Art. Thanks Chris!
I can’t believe not a single person has commented on the enormous router gouge in the piece. (https://blog.lostartpress.com/2012/03/14/on-forcing-yourself/).
It only took three of us 20 minutes, numerous light sources, several hints, and eventually a finger point to find it. But not a single person mentioned it here. What a bunch of sycophants.
Having touched it, I can testify that the piece is even more beautiful in person. I’m looking forward to the book and article – I suspect campaign furniture is about to undergo a radical jump in popularity with woodworkers.
And for the record, the hardware was worth every penny. Spectacular.
Crisp, clean work: Outstanding.
Awesome, splendid, superb! Clocking the screw heads present the epitome of craftsmanship.
Your post is a reminder that we aren’t in a zero sum game. Everyone wins in this arrangement. You get the financial support to follow your heart; I learn and am inspired. You provide me with another example to share with others about a different way of living; they are given the chance to open their eyes.
Beautiful and inspiring as usual, Chris!
As I looked at the historical examples you shared in previous posts (and some others around the interwebs), it seems — at least from the some photos — that some chests have a glossy finish. Was that part of the finish, or a suggestion of the photographs?
I too look forward to this book, and any book from Lost Art Press. With your passion for the craft and thorough study of history and technique, I trust that every book will be a treasure trove of knowledge. And even if the subject matter isn’t something that I was into before, I come through the read intrigued by (if not infatuated with) the subject matter.
You, Jennie, and Peter even have me eyeing my father-in-law’s oak tree.
Thank you for sharing your passion, knowledge, and continuing journey through the wonderful world of hand tool woodworking!
Happy to support your efforts. I own a LOT of woodworking books. I used to work in a store that sold them. They were my responsibility… I organized them, shelved them, inventoried them, flipped through hundreds of them. Yours are my favorites.
I hope Lost Art Press continues to be successful, because you deserve it.
Sorry, as I’m sure I already missed a comment on this – when is the rough timing for your book covering this topic. It’s something I knew nothing about and am already fascinated by this concept of packable furniture.
Hey Chris, you may have ignited a very big fire with this intro of Campaign Designed furniture. I have 53 rental units. Do you realize what this does to the “pick up and move” concept? And the quality of solid wood containment makes Ikea tremble! When can we get plans and instructions on the fundamentals like how the pieces lock together?
It’s beautiful, but looks far too crisp. I think you need to get a horse drawn wagon, load it on, take it down some bumpy dirt roads, maybe on some camping trips where you set it up in fields and in dirt floor tents – maybe shoot a few bullets into it … . It needs some patina. It need to be taken on a campaign or two to earn some scuffs and dings.
I’m with Burbidge (he suggested I chime in)… where are the turned feet! Is your chest based on an original? Perhaps the original’s feet were missing (tell-tale threaded Ø 1 inch holes in the corner blocks).
Did you paint the chest or what finish have you used?
Will you be making the matching transport cases for the chest to foil careless removalists in the future?
Not all of the campaign chests had turned feet. Some had these flat pads. Some of the chests I’ve measured have a plinth base, and yes some plinth bases are original according to the catalogs.
The goal was to get the chest off the floor and be able to put the feet in four small bowls filled with water or oil in case of wood-eating bugs.
The finish is semi-non-traditional. Gel stain with garnet shellac. The design is based off of about 50 or so secretary chests I’ve measured or have photographs of. So it’s not really a reproduction, per se. But it is not a modern interpretation either.
I won’t be making the transport cases (which are very cool looking). I don’t plan on moving to India this week.
Transport cases? I don’t recall mention of those! This is a beautiful piece, Chris; or is it pieces? Hmmmm…. I remember your post on clocking screws, and this is a great example of why that’s a good idea. Stop resisting! Get in touch with the Force and clock those screws! That reminds me, I still need a great (old) set of quality screwdrivers.
This type of transportable furniture was hauled around the empire by military officers and explorers etc. to remote areas and theatres of war on the backs of pack animals. The furniture needed to be of easily man-handlable proportions, hence large case pieces were broken down into two or more pieces.
The brass corners on case furniture offered a degree of protection from the frequent moves encountered on campaigns and the brass straps provided some additional rigidity to the pieces. To prevent the furniture being scratched, broken and saturated while in transit, it was packed in dedicated lined cases… http://pegsandtails.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/19c_campaign_chest__cases_01a.jpg
The flush-fitting handles allowed the chests to slide into their respective cases without the handles being ripped off by clumsy native servants and removable feet reduced the space required to pack the bottom of the chest. The feet were normally stored inside the bottom drawer; often in a rack (to stop them rolling around) which then served as a bottle rack when camp was set up.