In addition to this Lost Art Press blog (long live the blog!), we also write three other blogs hosted by Substack. These blogs go deep into woodworking topics we are passionate about. They’re not for everyone. But they might be for you.
For the entire month of June we’ve removed the paywall from all three Substack blogs so visitors can look around, soak up all the information they like and decide if they would like more. All blogs offer both free and paid subscriptions. About one-third of the new posts on these blogs are free, so it’s definitely worth paying absolutely nothing to check them out for a time.
And, like this blog, you won’t be inundated with ads or spam on our other blogs. Here’s some links and three of the most popular entries from each blog:
The American Peasant
This is my PG-13 unfiltered* writing voice. It’s always about woodworking, but it delves into the ethics, scams and idiocy that permeates the craft at times. It explores vernacular furniture, the business of making furniture and (of course) off-color animal metaphors. There are more than 270 posts to read, and 13,000 subscribers. Here are three posts readers liked the most:
The Lesson of the Bearded Antiquarian
Never Sponsored
After almost 50 combined years in the business, Megan and I know more about tools than we know what to do with. “Never Sponsored” is our blatantly frank reviews of tools – some great, some despicable. We can write these reviews because we don’t have advertisers to please, and we don’t do affiliate marketing or any other quid pro quo stuff. This new blog has 22 posts so far and nearly 3,500 subscribers. Some popular pieces:
Shapton Kuromaku Stones (the Only Ones to Buy)
The $%&@ They Don’t Tell You About Diamond Stones
The Anarchist’s Apprentice
This year we brought on Kale Vogt to learn the craft of woodworking. And this brand new blog consists of diary accounts from Kale, Megan and me about the training process. The ups, down and sore wrists that come from learning to make furniture for a living. These entries are fairly personal, but they give some insight into the day-to-day working of a busy workshop. This blog has 2,300 subscribers and 19 posts to enjoy. Some highlights:
Kale’s Chair is done; Now What?
The Only Prescription is More Chairs
I hope you’ll take a look at some of the writing. We try our best to keep it lively, pointed and useful. You don’t have to sign up for any free trial or give your name or email address to poke around. (You know we hate that stuff.) Just click and go.
— Christopher Schwarz
Good morning Chris,
Just out of curiosity, will those of us who already have paid subscriptions to all three substacks have them automagically extended by a month when the paywall comes down, or is this not how Substack as a platform works? If the latter, no worries; as I said, just curious to know.
Cheers,
Mattias
PS. I also meant to say but forgot to include that I very much enjoy all three, and so far have found them considerably more than well worth the $60 per year per substack! I think it a great good, not least in the light of how much of your writings you have given and continue to give away for free, that at least some of it generates an income for you.
Hi Mattias,
Sorry for the slow response. The weekend chairmaking event has kept me off the computer. All paid subscribers have had their subscriptions extended by a month. I don’t know if substack notified people of this (it doesn’t say). But it happened! I pressed the buttons!
Thank you, Chris — that’s fair play and great to know, although as I hope I made clear I was only curious, not worried or upset about it! Also no worries on the reply front: even had I not known about the chairmaking event (at which I spent a good part of my weekend wishing I had been able to be), your time is yours, in particular when that time of yours falls on a Sunday.
And no, Substack has spilled exactly zero beans, at least to me, although when I compare the current renewal date of my subscriptions with the billing history under “Manage subscriptions” (which I should have done straight off the bat instead of bothering you, so my turn to say “sorry”), I can see that yes, a month has been tagged on in all three cases. For which many thanks!
Cheers,
Mattias
I would love to read these but I boycott substack over its platforming of Nazi content.
Is there anyway to search a substack? Last time i tried the search shows every possible substack. It made trying to find an old post impossible unless you want tomscroll through every post from a substack.
I was able to find a search hutton by clicking the ‘archive’ tab on the front page. That search worked on just the single substack.
I’m happy to be a member of all three.
I’m curious to know about the symbol for the Anarchist’s Apprentice shown above. What can you tell us about it?
Kale drew it. They will have to weigh in on its meaning.
Hey John! Chris is being modest, it was actually him and Megan who came to me with a simple sketch of the design. I just refined it on my iPad. The design is a play on the cabinet makers triangle, a lesson I learned early on from Chris. The triangle already resembles the letter “A”, adding a line down the middle creates the look of two letter “A’s” for “Anarchist’s Apprentice”. It’s a design that I’m sure will evolve with time but for now, it’ll do.
Ahhhhh. Thanks. Now I can’t unsee the double A. All I could see before was an AI, or IA.
I like it.
Hi Chris,
Once again this another incredibly generous offer that’s bolsters your commitment to the advancement of the craft.Thank you again and I will be sure to notify my 750 plus members of this incredible offer.
Mike D.
Vice President, Guild of New Hampshire Woodworkers
Thank you
I read your post on Shapton, and I am of the same opinion. I’ve tried Norton and love them, tried King, and it’s ok, I gave Shapton a whirl and wanted to marry them. Still, to this day, I’ve never used any other.