Sometimes we have so much stuff going on at Lost Art Press that I need to condense it all into one brief blog entry. Here we go.
‘American Peasant’ Released Early
My latest book, “American Peasant,” shipped from the printer 10 days early and will arrive in our Covington warehouse on Monday or Tuesday. We’ll open up ordering as soon as we can. The book will be $37. It is the prettiest book I’ve ever written, designed or published. I hope you like it.
On the Cover of Fine Woodworking
I am on the cover of the latest issue of Fine Woodworking magazine, which was a surprise and shock. I wrote an article on building Irish stick chairs for the magazine, which I worked on with Anissa Kapsales. I had no idea that I was going to end up on the cover, and Anissa kept it a secret.
The article turned out quite well (I think). And FWW has contracted me to write three more articles for future issues. I was wary about getting back into the magazine publishing world, but the good staff at the magazine has made it a pleasure. And fun.
The Stick Chair Journal No. 2
The second issue of The Stick Chair Journal has gone to press and should be released in early August. The cover article in the issue shows how to build the Hobbit-esque chair from “The Lord of the Rings” movies. There’s also an article about the first John Brown chair made in America. And a new technique I’ve worked out that makes assembling stick chairs much easier.
Other news….
We have new Lost Art Press hats that will go up for sale this week. They are navy blue and feature our dividers embroidered in white.
Whitney Miller has just finished editing her video on building a Swedish Tool Chest. We hope to have that up for sale this week, too.
And also worth noting: We have started production on our new Exeter-pattern nail hammers. Sexy, sexy, sexy.
Apropos of the prettiest book: I’m curious about the font for the title of “American Peasant.” It reminds me of this set of (self-consciously) “archaic” fonts for Romanian: https://florinf.wordpress.com/2009/11/01/gusztav-cseh-scrisul/. Any connection?
The font is from the Zamolxis family. Modern and self-conscious.
What happened with the Principles of Design book? I thought it was supposed to up this 6/27? Did I miss it?
It has been delayed at the printer. We don’t have a new release date yet. Sorry.
No worries! Just making sure I didn’t miss out. Thankful for all you do!
Wow you all are busy bees this year!
Other than size, how does this hammer functionally contrast with the crucible warrington?
A 9-ounce hammer is middle size that some people (including me) like to have for furniture-making tasks, mostly driving nails for backboards and nailing tasks where a 16-ounce hammer is overkill. The hammers I use go like this:
Lump hammer (2 lbs.): Chairmaking. Heavy assembly/disassembly, setting holdfasts.
16 ounce hammer: Driving wedges and large (6d and bigger nails)
9 ounce hammer: Driving all nails between the 6d and pins/headless brads.
Warrington: Driving pins/headless brads, adjusting planes and other tools that require a fine tap.
I know I’m crazy, is the hole for the Exeter pattern hammer straight through? Or is it like a shallow inverted cone for wedging?
The peasant font reminds me of one for printing Old Church Slavonic.
So old-church, in a good way.
Not exactly the place, just a bit sad that this “blog” has really just become a place of announcements and excerpts from books. Legit content now going behind paywalls.
On the one hand – good on you all for building your company and your brand to the point where you don’t need to give content away for free. It’s been a journey and it’s amazing and I’m happy to have been a part of watching and purchasing and the like. That free content led me to buy books (I have a bunch) and tools (have a bunch of those too).
On the other hand – all that yummy content – your original voice, your writing, notes on tools, etc. – is mostly gone from this specific place. And it’s how you built your audience, and it’s worth noting that from the outside, for folks like myself who can’t pay to read – I find myself coming back less frequently to this blog, and so I’m more out of touch with what you’re doing. And because I come back here less I buy less now, as I find little incentive to check out the blog.
It may be effective in the short term, but the real content is how you built your grassroots audience, and maybe not the best long term? But of course, I don’t know your numbers and you seem to be doing just fine, and I’m just one middle-aged man yelling at clouds.
Of course, everyone has an – opinion – about everyone else’s company, process, whatever. Just noting that I miss the days where I could learn something fresh from the blog, enjoy the content, and now if I want to be a part of it, I have to pay $15 a month to read the three substacks.
But such is the way of all things I suppose. Change.
Can’t wait! Will you be signing the American Peasant copies as well?
Yes