Lost Art Press

Future Pocket Books

Posted on by Lost Art Press

We now have a dedicated page at our store for our popular pocket book series. You can reach it anytime under the Books menu in the store. You’ll also find other helpful collections of books there. Want to know what are our best selling books? It’s there. (We don’t control what is there – it is determined by sales numbers.) 

Also helpful: A page on the books we recommend for people getting started. Green woodworking. Chairmaking. Plus others.

Megan and I are planning out our next pocket books for the series. Here is a short list of ideas we have. If there are any that you really like (or hate) please let us know in the comments. Or if you have an idea for a topic, please share it. (Keep in mind these books have to be pretty narrow in scope. The pocket book of Universal Furniture Design would be impossible. Or horribly inadequate.)

Thanks for your help! We do appreciate it!

Dovetails: Through, Half-blind, Blind & Secret Miter

Mortise-and-Tenon: The Foundation of Civilization

Saw Sharpening: Backsaws & Handsaws

Finishes that Won’t Kill You: Oil, Shellac, Paint & Soap

Mitered Picture Frames

Hardware: Placement & installation

Treen: Turn plates, cups & bowls for eating

Steambending

Green wood: Felling, splitting & drying lumber

Bench Planes: Setup & Use

Joinery Planes: Setup & Use

112 thoughts on “Future Pocket Books”

  1. I really like the finishes and hardware idea. The format seems really great for hybrid reference-manual/books.

    I like the picture frame book idea too, mostly because I’ve gotten back into photography and would love handmade picture frames

  2. Dovetail book

    Hardware: Placement and installation

    Treen: Turn plates, cups and bowls for eating

    Steambending

    Bench Planes: Setup and Use

    Joinery Planes: Setup and Use

  4. The Greenwood and Saw Sharpening books are one’s i’d definitely keep in my tool chest for referencing!

  5. 1 vote for
    Finishes that won’t kill you
    Bench Planes…
    Joinery Planes..

    2. I would also second this. Finishes, bench and joinery plane setup would be my top three!

  7. I am intimidated by sharpening a saw. The choice of file, angles and maintaining a consistent tooth profile seems impossible by hand.

  9. I like each and everyone of those titles, but especially dovetails and tenons.

  10. I’d greatly appreciate have your take on saw sharpening. I am afraid that’s a skill that most of us will need to learn since there are so few skilled people sharpening saws these days.

  11. Picture frames, I’ve had some success and failures success is better. And steam bending is a mystery

  13. I’m all kinds of bullish on the idea of a pocket book on finishing techniques.

  14. A turning book? Who would write it?

    If you do steambending, give soaking/boiling a try, if you haven’t, as a point of comparison. I find it superior to steaming. John Wilson’s The Home Shop sells water trays, and will make any size you want.

  15. I like the one about finishes that won’t kill you. #2 hardware, #3 green wood
    Thanks!

  16. I like the hardware book idea. Easy reference to grab where you just want to remind yourself how to do something/check that you are doing it right. I could see this working with the Dovetail and M&T topics also.

    Some of the others I would think lend themselves more to larger books (green wood, turning). But maybe it seems like that to me because I don’t know as much about those topics and if I would want to learn more I would want more in depth coverage, as opposed to quick reminders about something.

  19. What’s funny is is meant to tell y’all when I was there that a pocketbook on dovetails would be great. I was disappointed I forgot to mention it, but it looks like you’re on it. A pocketbook on prepping stock isn’t a bid idea either, just saying.

  20. Saw sharpening for sure. Maybe I am not looking hard enough, but I haven’t seen much written about it. However, there are a few good videos on the subject, and my favourite is the one that was done by Louis Sauzedde (Tips from a Shipwright Youtube channel). Steambending could be a good one and Planes set-up would be very useful for many.

  21. From the perspective of a primarily YouTube-taught woodworker with 500-1k hours of woodworking video watch time: hardware installation, steam bending and green wood processing at least have not been done to death by every content creator on the planet, unlike dovetails, mortise & tenons and plane setup. Saw sharpening has been done a lot, but maaaaybe worth it if you can go beyond this: “Hey, get or build a simple saw vise, use a file of the right size for the teeth and be careful about the angle you hold it in. But first, enjoy this obligatory line drawing depicting rip and crosscut teeth geometry!”

    (A bit of snark, sorry; I’m sure there’s value in putting words to page for literary learners as opposed to audiovisual ones.)

    If you do go with green wood processing, I hope you’ll look at as wide a range of options for drying as possible. My accidentally discovered method of choice (after some months outside as bandsawn boards, using my small shop as a 24/7 dehumidifier kiln for a 2-8 weeks depending on initial moisture and board thickness) is barely mentioned anywhere that I’ve seen, yet it’s really cheap, effective and has no issues with case hardening.

  22. A pocket book on Saw Sharpening sounds right up your alley. It’s a Lost Art for sure….

  23. And you could call it Sharpen This II, with 2 skeleton hands on the cover…..or stickers….

  24. Totally agree with the hardware and placement, I would suggest including how to for all fancy hinges such as knife hinges, two kinds, schoss etc. Also maybe including closing hardware.
    Thanks.

  25. Of the ones you’ve listed, I could anticipate purchasing:

    Saw Sharpening: Backsaws & Handsaws

    Finishes that Won’t Kill You: Oil, Shellac, Paint & Soap

    Hardware: Placement & installation

    Green wood: Felling, splitting & drying lumber

    Joinery Planes: Setup & Use

    *One book that I’ve not seen that would be invaluable to me (I’d likely keep it in my vehicle), is on converting cut lists to common material sizes. I can spend hours staring at the racks trying to do mental math to get what I need. While I’d love to be able to go to the lumber yard all the time, 75%+ I’m going to Big Green or Big Blue.

    1. One other thing that’s more of a niche item, but I’d love to see somebody do a deep dive on are homemade stains (walnut hulls, cherries, etc.). Whether that would fit into what you’re seeing as a pocketbook for finishes that won’t kill you. I honestly just can’t think of any other publisher that would put out a book with that information.

    2. I think a book about cut lists would be great! It could also include discussion of how to write a cut list if the plans don’t include one and how to cut up a board efficiently while leaving an adequate margin between each of the pieces you want to use.

  26. Missing for beginners: Setting up your wood shop

    My ordering of your suggested titles:
    1) Bench Planes: Setup and Use (Accompanies Sharpen This)
    2) Joinery Planes: Setup and Use (Accompanies Sharpen This)
    3) Hardware: Placement and installation
    3) Dovetails: Through, Half-blind, Blind and Secret Miter
    4) Mortise-and-Tenon: The Foundation of Civilization
    6) Finishes that Won’t Kill You: Oil, Shellac, Paint & Soap
    7) Steambending (Interesting suggestion).

    Not of immediate interest
    Saw Sharpening: Backsaws and Handsaws ( I recently read a column this)
    Mitered Picture Frames
    Treen: Turn plates, cups and bowls for eating (Buying a lathe is a barrier to entry)
    Green wood: Felling, splitting & drying lumber

  28. The Japanese kanna (hand plane): Setup and Use

    Particularly from the perspective of hand-tool furniture making. It’s an approach that shares roots with the west/antiquity but diverged due to self-imposed isolation. Interestingly they went a different approach than the west. They focused their energies on making a better cutting edge while the west went the route of making it cheaply (too follow industrialization) and easy use by a novice.

    I thought Chris Hall had a great ebook on this at “The Carpentry Way” website but unfortunately he passed away last year. It is still available via his wife through the website.

    BTW, Ian Kirby made a small book on dovetails – “The Complete Dovetail”. Despite your recent blog on out-sourcing saw filing, Holly’s Art of Saw Filing could get an update.

  29. Hardware seems like something that’s missing out there and would be great in the pocket ref format.
    I also like the Saw Sharpening idea (a companion to Sharpen This!)
    Also (Finish It!) would be great because I’m always having to look up the shop finish recipe or what dissolves what (and I appreciate the focus on non-toxic finishes)

    I think the joinery ones I’m less likely to buy because I already have Joshua Klein’s “Joined” and that one is just awesome on the topic (not that I wouldn’t appreciate a friendly competition but I would probably take a little more convincing to buy that one).

  32. Saw Sharpening: Backsaws & Handsaws

    Finishes that Won’t Kill You: Oil, Shellac, Paint & Soap

    Hardware: Placement & installation

    All would be great.

  34. Oh hey, here’s a pocket book idea: problem solving and troubleshooting. Tenon board not square with the mortise board? Page 26. Unable to joint an edge without making it badly out of square with the face though the plane blade seems fine? Page 18. Freshly ground and honed blade edge simply will not polish all the way to the corners without spending 15 minutes on it? Page 33.

    And these were just from my past week.

    I would buy this in a heartbeat. Honestly, it could probably be multiple volumes…

    1. Sounds like something I need as well! Or maybe I need to actually spend time practicing…

  35. Knowing Chris’ love of brewed spirits, how about a small book on brewing beer.

    2. I like that idea & second it. Though the bible on this subject already exists, look for The Complete Joy of Homebrewing by Charlie Papazian, it’s not a small pocket book. What Chris Schwarz is to woodworking Charlie Papazian is to homebrewing and craft beers.
      Maybe LAP can get Charlie to write the pocket book for Lost Art Press. And/or LAP could branch out and publish the next edition (if not locked up by contract to current publisher) of The Complete Joy of Homebrewing; at least a Special Edition. I would love a copy of the bible in the same type of binding and paper as any other book published by LAP.
      And remember: Relax. Don’t Worry. Have a homebrew!

  37. Pocket books please!
    Saw sharpening, plane setups, green wood, treen

  38. Yes!!! A dovetail book and a saw sharpening pocket book would be awesome! Oh and a book about setting up joinery planes! Sign me up for a pre order!! In other words TAKE MY MONEY!

  40. I like the “finishes that won’t kill you”; Treen; picture frames (not just mitered): morose-and -tenon; and a small book about optimal height, width, depth of everyday furniture like chairs, benches, tables (dining, coffee, night stands), stools, etc.

  45. After the column on saw sharpening, I don’t feel like I need to learn that or would be any good at it. That seems like a hands-on course for serious folks. I would be interested in finishes, hardware, planes, and dovetails.

  47. Pocket Books rather than Tomes are inherently an excellent idea.
    A Your First Hand Tools Book would save many people time money and frustration.
    I look forward to the Finishes that Won’t Kill You. Finishing is a topic that gets so complex I am left wondering why I have all those cans on the shelf.

  48. For my part, I would buy each and every one of the potential titles you are listing, but those I’d probably be happiest to see at the head of the production queue are:

    Finishes that Won’t Kill You: Oil, Shellac, Paint & Soap
    Hardware: Placement & installation
    Steambending
    Green wood: Felling, splitting & drying lumber

    As to further suggestions, how about a Workshop Safety (hand tool and machine) companion to the Workshop Wound Care title?

    Cheers,

    Mattias

  49. Dovetails, Mortise-and-Tenon: The Foundation of Civilization are instant orders.

    Finishes that Won’t Kill You. I would love to see this get into more detail about the non-milk paint you recommended a couple of weeks ago and the oil finish you put down before using it.

    Mitered Picture Frames and Hardware are both really good.

    Treen, Steambending and Green wood seem a bit more niche to me than the others.

    I’m not sure I’m qualified enough to make suggestions but here goes:

    A book on making a solid wood door. I realize that might sound a bit pedestrian but walking through construction, hardware, do’s and don’ts. It doesn’t need to have a chapter on knockers and peepholes (phrasing) but something that could walk you through the process of selecting, cutting assembling and fitting a nice replacement door.

    A book on making a hope/dowry chest. It might sound corny but something I can give to a friend when they have a daughter or granddaughter to plant the seed of making them something… special.

    Your first table and chairs: A book to make your own kitchen table and chairs/bench seat. It doesn’t need to be fancy. It needs to be sturdy and help you get over the hump of making your first furniture.

  50. I would love to see a pocket book by Bern Chandley on steam bending kiln dried wood. I’ve been trying to bend an arm bow for the Scottish stick chair and the results have been…..
    There’s no source of green wood in the Yukon and I’m DESPERATE!

  51. I vote for saw sharpening, despite your suggestion in another of your recent posts that we should send our saws to the pros for sharpening! Seeing the comments above, that seems like a popular choice. Looks more and more like you are gonna have to write that one! 🙂

    Dovetails and mortise and tenons would be good, too. As would bench plane set up.

    Thanks for asking. I do like the small book series.

  52. I’m still waiting for Chris’ cook book series:
    To bake as perfectly as possible,
    By hand and fry,
    Fermenting – How to avoid molding in practice,
    With all the persimmons possible,
    Pans employed aright.

  53. Not sure how much electrical work or construction you have done but a pretty popular reference is Ugly’s Electrical reference book and the Swanson Blue Book that comes with their speed square. They are available at most home improvement stores. They are both little pocket references with various formulas etc. maybe could have something like that with various formulas you find handy in your day to day woodworking. Dovetail angles, rules of thumb for M&T joints in various woods, rake and splay angles and resultant angles etc. and perhaps a recommended tool list for various things. Not like ATC detail, just a simple list, like “stick chair: 5/8” spade bit, tapered reamer, etc”. Just kind of thinking out loud really

  54. If they get printed I will probably buy most of those. Some of it is in Slojd in Wood, but a pocket volume on drying and finishing green wood projects would be nice to have around.

  56. Love: Planes, planes, and saw sharpening. Do these first, please! Especially if can get Matt Cianci to write the saw sharpening book. Then all the others, though I’m not enthusiastic about picture frames.

  57. Hardware selection and installation. Is more of killer and likely to mess us a project than finishing.

  59. For folks who live outside continental USA, please continue providing the alternative of a PDF version of your pocketbooks. As no postage is required it makes the books easily accessible.
    I also found they printout nicely in the format of 2 pages to 1 side of an A4 (weird metric) page when I wanted hard copy of a chapter.

  60. My votes are on:

    Finishes that Won’t Kill You: Oil, Shellac, Paint & Soap
    Mitered Picture Frames
    Treen: Turn plates, cups & bowls for eating

    Also I’ve no idea if y’all have any control over what distributors carry (my guess is probably not) but if someone could poke at the folks at Lee Valley to carry the Workshop Wound Care so us Canadian folk can get a hardcopy I (and my digits) would be much obliged.

  61. All the above… are you done yet!
    Ok, so preferences:
    Saw Sharpening
    Dovetails
    Mortise-and-Tenon
    Finishes
    Joinery Planes

  63. Is a simplified timber reference out of the question? Sort of if you condensed the data, identification and characteristics from Cut and Dried + With the Grain. However, I would hate to take anything away from the authors of those two.

    I like the hardware and dovetails ideas too.

    and lastly, The Gibson Chair. Just release that information already!

  65. My preference, given my own particular needs, is the following, in ranked order:
    1.Green wood: Felling, splitting & drying lumber
    2. Steambending
    3. Dovetails: Through, Half-blind, Blind and Secret Miter
    4. Mitered Picture Frames
    5. Finishes that Won’t Kill You: Oil, Shellac, Paint & Soap
    6. Mortise-and-Tenon: The Foundation of Civilization

    But almost all of the suggested titles are of interest (as are almost all of your books)! Your press is a godsend!

    Regards,
    Garret

  67. Finishes that Won’t Kill You: Oil, Shellac, Paint & Soap
    Dovetails: Through, Half-blind, Blind & Secret Miter
    You have already shared some of this information through the blog, but it will be nice to see what you come up with for the book and as you have pointed out new woodworkers are a sponge. They probably are the audience.

  68. All good topics, and I think the release order of the first six is about right. My interest drops the farther down the , and goes to sleep with the last two – very well plowed ground.

  70. Depending on the nuances of exactly what you are thinking of writing, I would perhaps be quite wary of presenting the drying of timber in pocket book form. Particularly without very strong caveats included regarding which species of timber and circumstances the advice would be suited to. You can start by drying something like one of the cypress or cedar species and find that sticking it out and waiting a while is sufficient for good quality timber, then apply the same techniques to a cool climate eucalypt and waste a whole lot of timber and money really quickly; depending on how much collapse and honeycombing you feel like tolerating.

    You can’t get a degree in saw sharpening, you certainly can in timber drying.

  73. My top 3 choices for pocket books are:
    Saw sharpening, Finishes that won’t kill you and Dovetails.
    Thanks for doing these handy bench books.

  76. Great ideas on little books! I have two of them already and would love to see all the rest of your ideas for books come to market. I could use all but the green woodworking one as I live in Colorado and the only green wood in sight for miles and miles and miles is pine! Keep makin’ sawdust, buddy! You’re a treasure!

  78. I think a book on shop appliances would be useful. Bench hook, shooting board, etc.

  79. I think the pocket book series is the most appealing LAP line yet. I would buy any one of the books already on the list. Two suggestions:

    proportion and divider use (sort of a practical/shorter version of By Hand & Eye)
    spoon carving and utensil making

  80. I would buy all of these books. I really like the 3 pocketbooks I already have. The ones I’d personally like to see sooner than later are:

    Dovetails
    Greenwood
    Finishes
    Steambending
    Mortise and Tenon
    Bench Planes
    Joinery Planes
    Saw Sharpening

  82. Saw sharpening, both on planes and hardware. I’ve got the saw sets, no files. I have a couple hand saws, back saw and dovetail saws that need sharpening. Also need a large back saw for my miter box.

  83. A pocket book on wood species would be great. Ideal content:
    – How to identify a species (when it’s not a tree anymore) with a few pictures of long grain, end grain and color range
    – Key characteristics for each species, strengths and weaknesses (quite literally:)
    – Which range of applications each species is most suitable for (Fine furniture? Baby toys? Kitchen utensils? Carving? Outdoor use? Framing? …)
    – If relevant, any tips on working with it or anything I should know before I start (for example, does it split easily, does it make nails rust, does it tend to warp or check more than other species, does it tend to be resinous, is it toxic …)
    – how well it works with different finishes
    – maybe some basic info on availability and relative price range in North America

    All of this info can be googled for each species individually, of course. But I am not aware of a concise pocket sized book that I can just take along when I pick up reclaimed wood, try to decide on wood for a project, or simply want to decide whether this board in front of me is a good idea or not.

    I suppose much of this knowledge comes with experience and time. Many of us do not have old school mentors anymore, who could pass on this knowledge “in a nutshell” so we can get going without too much time spent on research. Depending on the size of a project, the material can cost a bit.

    A hands-on little book. Not intended for woodworkers with 40 years of experience working with hand tools, obviously. But I suppose, those wouldn’t need most pocket books anyway.

    1. Oh, I forgot to mention, I mean commonly available woods, 20-30 species or so. Probably mostly domestic stuff. Anything else would be beyond the scope of the series, I guess.

  84. As a beginner, I would say you should start with the books on planes (especially bench planes), dovetails, and mortise and tenon joints.

  85. Even though I don’t really “need ” any of these, I’d probably still buy all of them.

    One thing I’d like to see the Lost Art Press treatment of, is how to make a dovetail at an angle, and at a slope. The outside corners of a tool tote (like Roy Underhill used in opening credits) would be an example.

  86. The pocket books are a great idea. Basically one topic that a person can dive into and learn something useful such as saw sharpening, dovetails and miters.

  87. Metal working for woodworkers, bow saw construction and use, and maybe building and using custom planes. I’d like to make my own coopering plane, for instance.

  88. Your thoughts mitered picture frames would be awesome. I find it a tricky subject to learn about because most of the search topics regarding ‘framing’ teach you about building a house. I can get as far as creating nice wooden frame parts that look great during the dry fit, but assembly is usually a battle. I end fighting with clamps and nails and ultimately end up having to fill a gap or two.

    1. This works for me but YMMV: make a simple miter shooting board: a 90 degree block fixed 45 degrees onto (essentially) a long grain shooting board. Rough cut the miters any way you see fit (a small crosscut saw is easy and safe). Then refine the miters on the shooting board. Make sure you always put the reference surfaces against the block and the base. This way, any deviation your shooting board may have off 45 degrees will cancel out as long as the block itself is square. Confirm your angles with a combination square. Confirm the length of all components. You can creep up to perfection a few hundredth of a millimeter at a time. Don’t cheat yourself!
      Use hide glue (liquid or hot) to glue the frame up. If you screw up, you can easily take the bad joint apart and try again. This does not work with PVA, which does not stick to itself.
      Use panel clamps with clamping blocks or something like the Veritas 4 way speed frame clamp. The former allows for more adjustment but also tends to shift if you’re not careful.
      Use tape around the corners, or don’t. I find it more of a psychological help.

  89. In terms of where I need to improve the most I would love see Dovetails and M&T sooner than later. I also like the set-up books for planes and saw sharpening (not that I’m going to do that myself anytime soon, but…). And the finishes and hardware placement pocket books would be most handy on the workbench shelf library too.

  90. Hm. My favorite is not on the list.

    Fixing common mistakes (adjust a wonky mortise/tenon, fill a gap, steaming a dent..). Sort of “Wound Care for Wood”.

  91. I’d like a pocketbook of general furniture design standards. Not just sizes of furniture, but clearances and spatial allowances and human dimensions in various categories. And maybe even weight support tolerances. Otherwise a book of tested non toxic paint and finish recipes is exactly what I’ve been looking for! Especially for exteriors.

  94. I really like the Finishes and the mortise and tenon ideas.
    I would be into the saw sharpening one but I think I read some truth a couple days ago that “There are about 4,000 things you should learn first before learning to file saws”. So maybe that can be pocketbook 4,001?

  95. Would you consider workshop dust control, particularly for the small or home shop?

    Also I would love to know what shop made tools/jigs every wood worker should be considering. (I remember my grandfather had a box full of shop made tools that he made as an apprentice fitter & turner – some of them he was still using until his last day in his shop)

  97. +1 for Bench Planes: Set Up and Use and Hardware: Placement and Installation. How about Sanding: Preparing Your Work for Finish or Painting?

  98. I would love a Pocket Guide to Furniture Styles. There is so much to learn for someone new to the hobby (part of the appeal!) but it can be overwhelming. A quick guide to the evolution of furniture styles and associated terms would give a new or curious woodworker essential background knowledge. That background knowledge makes it so much easier to understand what we are seeing when we look at furniture and to appreciate the history of the craft.

Comments are closed.