Our storefront on Willard Street in Covington, Ky.
We are offering some new classes and old favorites at the Lost Art Press storefront during the first half of 2023. All these classes take place in our bench room at our Covington, Ky., location.
Our storefront is located in the center of the city’s Main Strasse village, and we are surrounded by lots of places to eat, drink and stay – all without ever using your car. The bench room is a nice place to learn handwork. Every student gets a heavy workbench, the bench room is filled with natural light and the floors are oak, which is easy on your back. Oh, and the class size is small: a maximum of six students.
Registration for these classes opens at 10 a.m. Eastern on Sept. 26 through our Covington Mechanicals classes page (where you’ll see “Register Now” buttons on each class – but you can’t until 10 a.m. Eastern on the 26th). Classes tend to fill up fast, but there is some turnover. So we encourage you to sign up for the wait list if the class you want is full.
Here are the classes for January to June 2023. (And we may add another class or two in the weeks to come – if so, they’ll be announced here.)
Comb-back Stick Chair with Christopher Schwarz
Jan. 16-20, 2023
Build a comb-back stick chair, an excellent introduction to the craft of chairmaking. Students will construct a comfortable chair using mostly bench tools and just a few specialty tools. Students are encouraged to customize their chair by combining different hands, arms, stretchers and combs. This class is open to anyone who can sharpen their own hand tools.
Build a Sawbench with Megan Fitzpatrick
Jan 28-29, 2023
Build a traditional sawbench as you learn fundamental hand-tool skills including how to lay out your cuts, use handsaws, chisels, bench planes, router planes and more. Plus, you’ll learn how to properly use cut nails (without splitting the wood). Sure, you’ll get a nice sawbench out of it, but the real joy is in the new techniques you’ll pick up.
Anarchist’s Tool Chest with Megan Fitzpatrick
Feb 6-10, 2023
In five days, we are going to build traditional full-size English tool chests – a.k.a. “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest,” from Christopher Schwarz’s book of that title – using hand tools. If you don’t like dovetails, this is not the class for you. If you’d like to learn dovetails (while you build a sturdy chest that holds about 50 hand tools…which is to say almost all the hand tools you need to build furniture), this is absolutely the class for you – you’ll get plenty of instruction and practice.
Plus, we’ll make handsome and (almost) bomb-proof raised-panel lids, and cut the mouldings, skirts and lids by hand. And though we will have time to build only the outside of the chest, I’ll discuss how to divide up the interior for efficient work, and show you some options.
Staked Backstool from the ‘Anarchist’s Design Book’ with Christopher Schwarz
Feb. 18-19, 2023
This contemporary side chair is a two-day introduction to many of the operations involved in chairmaking, including drilling compound angles, making tapered mortise-and-tenon joints and creating short sticks. This class is open to anyone who can sharpen their own hand tools.
Dutch Tool Chest with Megan Fitzpatrick
March 3-5, 2023
This handsome tool chest is a great three-day introduction to several bedrock hand-tool joinery techniques: dovetails, dados, rabbets and more. Plus you’ll learn how to cut a fingernail moulding, raise a panel, use cut-nails and rules for carcase construction. By the end of Day 3, you’ll be able to pop all your tools in your new chest (which fits in the back of almost any car) for your drive home.
Lowback Stick Chair with Christopher Schwarz
March 20-24, 2023
Build a lowback stick chair, a fairly simple chair that involves a good deal of cutting and shaping compound curves. This is a great dining chair and offers excellent lumbar support. This class is open to anyone who can sharpen their own hand tools.
Dovetailed Shaker Tray with Megan Fitzpatrick
April 22-23, 2023
Make a classic Shaker silverware tray in this introduction to hand-cut dovetails. In this two-day class, you’ll learn: dovetail layout using dividers; how to saw to a line with a backsaw; how to wield a coping saw; how to pare and chop with chisels; how to fit dovetails;cut and fair curves and more.
Staked Sawbenches with Christopher Schwarz
May 13-14, 2023
During this weekend class you’ll build a pair of staked sawbenches, which are essential for any shop that uses handsaws. During the process of building your sawbenches, you’ll learn about compound-angle joinery, making tapered mortise-and-tenon joints and leveling the legs to the floor. This class is open to anyone who can sharpen their own hand tools.
Dutch Tool Chest with Megan Fitzpatrick
May 19-21, 2023
This handsome tool chest is a great three-day introduction to several bedrock hand-tool joinery techniques: dovetails, dados, rabbets and more. Plus you’ll learn how to cut a fingernail moulding, raise a panel, use cut-nails and rules for carcase construction. By the end of Day 3, you’ll be able to pop all your tools in your new chest (which fits in the back of almost any car) for your drive home.
Great news! Any guidance as to the class cost for these, for planning/budgeting purposes?
Click on the classes in which you’re interested at the ticketing link (https://www.tickettailor.com/events/covingtonmechanicals); the info is on each.
What’s been the experience of folks building the ATC who are based on the west coast? I’d love to sign up, but not sure how I’d get the chest back home.
I’ve had folks drive from as far away as Colorado…but gosh that’s a haul. So from the coast would be even worse! So, you could pay me to crate and send it, but that’ll cost about $400 including the shipping I’m afraid. So another option: bug a school out there to invite me to teach it 🙂
Boy, I’d really like to take each and every single one. Choices, choices. Perhaps the tool chest first so that I can bring my tools to the chairs classes…
Chris / Megan – Are there required tool lists for each of the classes? Curious what we would need to bring if one was travelling from say, New Orleans. Thanks!
We typically send out the tool lists after registration – but tell me which one interests you, and I can send it…probably (for the new classes, we don’t yet have the tool lists done)
I was looking at the lowback chair class and the feasibility of flying versus having to make a 12 hour drive each way with a toolchest.
And…that’s one for which I don’t yet have the toollist. But I suspect it will be much like the below, for another stick chair class.
An important note on tools: When you arrive, all your tools must be sharp and ready to go. There won’t be time to restore vintage tools or set up new tools in this class (there are other great classes for those activities). I am quite serious about this point. If you don’t show up with sharp tools, you are letting me and your fellow students down.
Block plane or smoothing plane
10” or 12” Cabinet rasp, medium coarseness, such as 10 or 12 grain. Auriou is my favorite
Mechanical pencils (.9mm or .7mm lead)
Non-Scratch Pliers such as this. Alternate: Bring Vise-Grips and we will line the jaws with tape
No. 2 pencil
Pocket knife (sharp – seriously)
Combination square (6” or 12”)
Cordless drill/driver
5/8” spade bits. You need both the 5/8” standard length and the 5/8” extra-long length. Available from any decent hardware store
Scorp (I recommend the Barr Tools Mike Dunbar Style scorp or WoodJoy’s version)
Travisher (Claire Minihan’s standard travisher and Elia Bizzari’s 4.5” radius travisher are both excellent)
Card scraper (the Bahco 475 is the one to get or the curved one we make at Crucible)
Cork sanding block
Flush-cutting saw
Veritas 5/8” Tapered Tenon Cutter
Veritas Large Standard Reamer
WoodOwl 5/8” bit.
Small sliding bevel (Lee Valley 3” sliding bevel or any of the Vesper 4” sliding bevels or the Crucible sliding bevel)
Plastic protractor (Yup, one of the inexpensive ones from the grocery)
Dividers (any but the smallest or largest sizes will do)
Tape measure (a small one, such as 12’, is fine)
Any crosscut saw – a carcase saw, a small panel saw or dozuki
Metal-bodied spokeshaves: you need both flat-sole and round-sole tools (I recommend the Veritas shaves or the Lie-Nielsen ones. Please do not buy crap shaves. You will regret it when you throw them away).
A few chisels – 1/2”, 5/8” or 3/4”
Mallet (heavier is better for chairmaking). I like 2-1/2” lbs.
Bubble level (any size will do except huge ones for carpentry)
5” random-orbit sander with 3M soft Interference pad.
Mirka Abranet #120-grit sanding discs (5” for your sander).
A final note on tools: Please bring your sharpening gear so you can keep your tools in working order.
Thank you. This is extremely helpful and clearly indicates that driving is the way to go.
So, I’ve got a scorp, but can’t get a Claire Travisher in time. Are there other sources? Her wait list is a mile long.
We can loan you one (which is true for several of the tools)
I took a class last February and same issue with the wait list. Ordered one from Elia Bizzarri and could not be more pleased with the tool. Looks like they are in stock https://handtoolwoodworking.com/travishers/
Awesome. The suggested ones are almost two years waiting. Thank you!
Can you tell me what color blue that is on the ATC?
I can’t swear to it, but I think “Slate Teal” from Benjamin Moore (yep, it’s latex)
I’m assuming it’s 10AM eastern time?
Yes
Literally sold out in 5 seconds.
yeah, I was logged in at 9:30 and clicked register exactly at 10:00:01 and sold out
I was logged in, watched it count down to zero and it said it was “redirecting” and then sold out. Insane.