Megan is finishing Matt Cianci’s book “Set & File: A Practical Guide to Saw Sharpening,” and I’m polishing “The American Peasant.” Both books will go to the printer within the month, and then we will turn to our next publishing projects.
Here’s what is coming up.
Megan is (still) working on her Dutch tool chest book, and she’ll also take the reins on Jim Tolpin and George Walker’s next book, “Good Eye.” Their early drafts have convinced me this will be their best book. For this book, George and Jim are deconstructing pieces of furniture to show their underlying patterns and language.
Also in the works: Kale and I just began filming a long-form video on building and using a Roman workbench.
And I will dive into the next issue of “The Stick Chair Journal.” I have been working on the second issue off and on, and I promise it will be out before the end of 2024. The delay on “The Stick Chair Journal” has not been due to a lack of enthusiasm. Quite the opposite. My list of stories for the second (and third) issues grows every week.
Mostly, I have been stalled by our 11-month-long restoration of the Anthe building, our new fulfillment center. Finally, work on the Anthe building is winding down. This week we’re repairing the basement stairs and waterproofing the second-floor doors over the loading dock. These little projects are much easier to tackle than say: pay for a new roof, sunlight, gutter and reconstruction of the rear masonry wall.
Aside from the Anthe building, one of the obstacles to the next issue of “The Stick Chair Journal” is which chair plan we will publish in issue two. I have seven designs I’ve been working on:
Comb-back with a plywood arm and comb
Settle/Settee
The Shortback
Irish writing chair
Peasant chair
The Stout Lad chair (a chair for larger body types)
Hobbit chair
I want to build them all. And given enough time, I will. Since writing “The Stick Chair Book” (a free download), I have been moving chair-by-chair to a particular chair form in my mind. The two chairs on my bench right now (shown above) are a significant step forward to that chair – both in form and the natural dye I’m cooking up.
Or maybe I’m just fooling myself and “that chair” will always be on the horizon.
— Christopher Schwarz
Thanks for the peek into the crystal ball. A very exciting list. I’m especially eager for the roman workbench video.
Curious about the plywood arm/comb. Over recent months you’ve referenced a shop-made plywood from time to time. It never occurred to me that this was possible before reading it and I haven’t looked into it much yet. Is this another historical technique you’re exploring or is it more modern like baltic birch ply, or something else altogether?
Both. A plywood arm in a painted chair solves a lot of problems and opens up a world of design ideas.
So excited for all of this. I really appreciate the videos you have been making, it makes me more confident to try things after watching them in addition to reading about them often. I loved Ingenious Mechanicks and in fact am painting my 4-leg Herculaneum bench today. Seems like the video will be well timed for when I’ll be working on the Hulot block and other workholding.
I would opt for the “stout lad” chair, as I am one. And almost every chair I sit in either is too short so my thighs are in the air over the seat, which leads to back and knee pain, or my legs are stretched way out in front, with people tripping over them, while the backrest is hitting me in the lumbar…
Thanks for the interesting update Chris. I am looking forward to Matt Cianci’s long awaited saw book which appears to be nearing its finish line. All is good news on the various LAP projects.
Were you a Circus juggler in another life?
Cheers,
Michael
You know everyone wants to learn how to make that Hobbit chair.
I’m curious how you did on physical sales on the first issue of The Stick Chair Journal. If memory serves, you ended up increasing the order by a thousand right at the end. I hope sales ate into that thousand. I’d imagine sales of issue one will be spurred by the release of issue two.
All good news, looking forward to the new books and the journal. LAP’s journey has always been a source of inspiration for me. Thanks to all of you for all of the amazing work.
I think about that settee all the time.
Peasant Chair should go into American Peasant, full stop. American Peasants need a chair!
While I think putting the Shortback chair into Journal No.2 is a great way to show the evolution of the design from the OG six stick from the SCB, if the only difference is the height of the back, that’s just a one pager… Maybe if you went further into the choice of seven sticks rather than six (14% stronger, fills that negative space, creates more defined negative space between long and short sticks, number of perfection, etc), and one of the more refined arm shapes you’ve settled on. I do think this would be a great thread linking the Chair Journals and SCB, showing how your thoughts on that particular form have evolved over time, but I don’t think it would need the full treatment, as almost anyone getting the Chair Journal No.2 will have had No.1.
My same thoughts go towards the Stout Lad chair, unless you have wholly unique form in mind, it could be a short brief on combining the cross grain battens from the Germanic chair forms, mortising through both, slightly beefier components all around. I’m aiming to make two like that later this year for my brothers, one is 6’3″ ~400lbs, other 6’6″ 300+lbs. My 6’3″ 250, and my nearly to the book SCB six stick in Cherry is great, but I would never build theirs from Cherry. White Oak is the plan, but would love some Elm for the seat. I do plan to do a bit of drawing to aim for a good looking form, something that doesn’t just look like a wide chair… The more I type, the better case I seem to make for a full treatment on this.
I am super curious on your take on an Irish Writing Chair, if its a like a Windsor Writing Arm chair stick-chair-ified, I’ve been wanting to make one of these myself. That said, I’ve always thought that would be like your magnum opus, the writer who became a chairmaker, designing the ultimate writing chair for themselves the writer. So maybe thats Journal No. 3,4, or 5.
But we all know the answer should be the Hobbit chair. That’s a more unique form, it’s teased in a few different blog posts, and expounds from the SCB in getting more into that center back plank, which offers so much room for creativity! Would be really fun if you made 2-3 of the same chair, but had some other chair makers contribute designs for that board piece? Like a Follansbee, a Schwarz, and a Galbert hobbit chair form. Could even suggest a write in contest on back form designs, or bring back merit badges, but with the hobbit chair form.
I could just keep writing.
FWIW, I vote for the most comfortable chair ending up in the Journal. That said, I really do like Bilbo’s chair.
If you print it, I’ll buy it.
As for the next journal: Settee! Settee! Settee!
I would like to see an Irish Writing chair, that would be cool…
We call that a bar.
Thanks for the update Chris. Will you be producing any more sharpening videos to complement “Sharpen This?”
Super excited for a Roman Workbench video!
Any news about the crucible claw hammer? I’m excited for that one.
The CNC programming is done. All that is left is for me to finish the handle. I’m honestly hesitating because the finished hammer will be so damn expensive, I worry that it will not make me happy from the perspective of price v. function.
I vote for at least a page on a short/tall stout ladd/lass design modification.
Any word/timeline on the DTC book?
Soon – I haven’t had much time to work on it lately…but I hope things are clearing up
Very excited for the new books! Thank you.
Irish writing chair!
Hobbit chair for the stick chair journal!
I think that you should always keep that ‘next chair’ on the horizon. It’s when we stop looking forward to the future and the ways to do better than we’ve done in the past that we start to decline. Always keep striving to make tomorrow better than today.
Here’s a vote for the short chair. That one you made in FL looks just about perfect to me.
Looking forward to the new book releases especially the DTC book.
Thanks Megan and Chris, Have a great week.
I graciously accepted an offer to tour the Anthe Building one warm evening back in October, while attending Travis Curtis’ JA Chair class. Despite it’s humble countenance at the time, I understand your enthusiasm for promoting and concentrating on this piece of the Lost Art Press Empire. I am willing to accept any sacrifice that a content-hungry consumer must undergo to witness the engagement of the Anthe Building into the big picture. I anticipate that its function will increase LAP productivity in the future. I applaud your decision to expand in this direction. I already own a couple of shelves worth of LAP books – probably more knowledge than I can realistically absorb in the next 5 years. Seems to me that it’s reasonable to cut a wider swathe in another direction.