Since June, I’ve been working on a book-publishing project that has ripped up my insides. I can’t talk about it yet – maybe in the next week or so – but the fallout has been odd. Each day, after 10 to 12 hours of editing, processing photos and designing book pages, I have been coming home to write like a madman until I fall asleep on the couch.
As a result, I’ve finished two chapters for the expansion of “The Anarchist’s Design Book” and have just three more to go. Today I finished designing the pages for the short chapter on the Staked High Stool and now offer it up for a free download for people who already own the “The Anarchist’s Design Book.”
You can download the chapter via this link:
At this stage, I’m operating on the honor system. If you own the book, please download the chapter. If you don’t own the book, know that I have instructed a hedgehog with Comic-Con breath to gnaw your danglies at some point in the future.
You can order the book via this link and save yourself an embarrassing trip to the ER.
Note that this chapter is not polished. There are typos. The construction drawing is not the crazy beautiful copperplate etching from Briony Morrow-Cribbs. It’s just my working drawing. But the information is there. I hope you like it.
— Christopher Schwarz
I’ve been to Comic Con. Can verify the existence of both the hedgehog and it’s breath.
Thanks Chris! I might even be able to build one or two of these!
Thank you for this! I’m looking forward to seeing what’s next.
Quick editorial note: It’s always “enamored of” something, not “enamored with”.
Holding out for the the expanded edition, but I must admit the temptation to click the link is strong!
The amount of useful information on this and you and your associates’ other blogs – available for free – is just silly. So at this point, I’d be more worried karma itself would manifest as a full swarm of those Comic-Con-breathed hedgehogs intent on following me around, pointing out my deepest insecurities, for the rest of my days.
Great chapter and this is super generous Chris. If you are doing as many as five additional chapter for ADB you might want to sell owners of the first edition these chapters in a format for a three ring binder. I’d happily pay for them and keep the binder next to my marked up shop copy of ADB. That copy becomes more valuable every year as it is becoming the book about which I aspire to be able to say: “I learned to be a furniture maker from that book.” It is the single best woodworking book I own.
Thanks putting for the Staked High Stool chapter in advance of the new edition of ADB. I have purchased 3 copies of the ADB already, and looking forward to a fourth when it is available in Canada. I’ll ask the hedgehog for due consideration if she comes gnawing.
Your work and all at LAP and its ecosystem is very much appreciated, thank you.
Hi Chris,
For the new chapters in the new edition, will you be maintaining continuity with the rest of the book’s illustrations by hiring Briony Morrow-Cribbs again?
Yes. Briony will make new etchings for the additional projects.
So tempting…
Domestic source on the wax?
Not that I know of. I get mine from SwedePaint in Canada. They get it to you quickly and reasonably.
Not sure how it compares, but shared a recipe a while back for mixing beeswax and stand oil to make a simple, matte finish. I made some 18 – 24 months ago, and it’s a great thing just to have on hand. I have used it a number of times on old tool handles that needed cleaning and a quick touch up.
Could you do me a favour? If you really have the super powers to remote-control hedgehogs could you instruct one of them to come to our garden? The one who lived here for 3 years probably got run over by a car and we miss him 🙁
(Since I own the book I’m not applicable for automatic hedgehog delivery)
Chris, you are such an honorable guy, providing this for free to people who bought the book. Know, though, that in my case at least, the book alone was more than worth the money you charged for it, and I’ll have no hesitation buying the new version when you complete it. I’m just glad you’re continuing along your design journey. This stool is so simple, yet beautiful.
Indeed truly thank you for sharing ! LAP really stands out . Cheers
Thanks for this, Chris. I think I’ll print it out, fold it, and tuck it in the back of my original edition copy of the book.
I am in need of a couple of sawbenches, and on Saturday afternoon I got out the ADB as a loose guide to start making some with the wood I had on hand. In about 90 minutes I got half-way done. Which is an endorsement of the skills this book helps you build and the confidence it inspires.
Thanks for the new chapter, enjoyable reading. However you New Worlders have no idea just how fortunate you are to have shaken off the shackles of England and possibly Europe. 2×12 8ft southern yellow pine for $10! You can’t even buy a sheet of chipboard for £10 in the UK and I doubt you could find a 2×12 of anything in a UK DIY store, for a start they’re all metric, but no sign of anything aproaching 50mm x 300mm x 2.4m. Real timber merchants are few and far between. Nails, if you want anything like traditional nails order them from Germany!
So you may have a president with an orange complexion and strangely bouffant hair, (we on the other hand have a prime minister who seems to have had all emotions bred out of her) but your day to day standard of living seems othere worldly in comparison.
Look out for older (pre 70s) houses due for demolition to make way for “development”. I liberated a lot of very dry 8×2, 6×2, 4×2 and even some 9×3 purlins. Most of it over 3 metres and some over 4m. Needed some nails pulling but great old growth dense growth ring timber all the same. Most of this would have been burnt or chipped if the salvage guys had been left on the case…
Why burn the surface *before* assembly? Seems like a lot of trouble to protect the joints. Maybe it makes access easier for burning and brushing?
In my experience, torching an assembled piece increases the chances of the joints delaminating. Finishing a piece before assembly (no matter what the finish) usually results in a better job overall.
Enjoyed the draft chapter (and happy not to be on the hedgehog’s list) but was surprised a bit by the decision of your editing software’s hyphenation algorithm to put one at “but-tless”. Having had to implement one of those (the algorithm, not…well) a long time ago, I know that we knew better then, my surprise is that modern systems don’t know better now…
It’s like bad kerning; once seen, hard to unsee…
Question: if you are expanding the design book will it be reprinted with these new chapters in the near future? When will the new addition be published?
Hi Stephen,
When all the chapters are finished, we will issue a revised edition with these five additional chapters. Everyone who bought the first edition will be able to download the additional chapters for free.
We don’t have a timeline.
Hope this helps clear things up.
Chris
Does this mean that the revised edition will only be available in digital format?
Nope. There will be a revised print edition with the additional five chapters.
For those who own the first edition, they will be able to download the additional chapters for free.
Oh, I see. Thanks for clearing that up. Looking forward to both download and printed format then!
Please let the mystery project be the long awaited new edition of “Make A Chair From A Tree”. I just got interested in green woodworking, but the used pricing on that book has gone crazy. Everyone references it, but it’s at least $150 to get a used paperback.
I second that. Amazon offers it for around $750.
Nope.
Bummer! I would love to have a copy of this text.
Huh, well there was one for sale for around USD 700 when I posted my comment. However, now there´s a couple for around 300. Or this one for USD 3053…..
https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0918804019/ref=tmm_pap_new_olp_0?ie=UTF8&condition=new&qid=&sr=
I downloaded the chapter and liked it—- THEN I bought the book PDF and another….. Like them. No hedgehog for me….
That IS a dag gum good drawing though…
In the section about the stretchers, you mention the use of a 5/8″ straight tenon cutter. I have checked out LV but they don’t have this size for sale. Would it really matter if I were to use a 1/2″ tenon? Either way, i am excited about giving this a try, I can see a lot of trial chairs in my future before i work up the courage to try my hand at the welsh stick chair!
I’ve not tried making one of these with a 1/2″ tenon. So I don’t have anything other than a gut feeling about it (so take it with salt). If I had to use 1/2″ tenons, I’d use a strong hardwood such as maple, oak or ash. Sorry I cannot be more help.
Thank you!