First the good news: Tariffs aren’t yet affecting Lost Art Press books. We print entirely in the United States. But some of the raw materials, including some of the papers we use, come from Canada. We follow the issue closely, and our books might not see any price increases.
The bad news: metal prices are on the rise because of the tariffs. And the only book we import, “The Welsh Stick Chair: A Visual Record” by Tim and Betsan Bowen was just walloped by a tariff. We had to raise the price significantly.
This is a great book, and I hope we can carry it going forward. But no promises.
We just got the first batch of Crucible Curved Card Scrapers in from the machine shop. These have been out of stock for far too long. I bought the steel before all the tariffs went into effect, so the price is the same ($25). I have no idea what will happen to the price with the next batch (some steel components have doubled in price in the last month).
So buy them now while they are this price.
Finally, we have also restocked on “Doormaking and Window-Making.” There is no price change for this Michigan-printed book.
— Christopher Schwarz
I fail to understand why you say copies of Welsh Stick Chair has been “walloped by a tariff”, when the web sites of the American Booksellers Association, The Bookseller, and Alliance of Independent Authors, all agree that under the First Amendment, books from the UK are not subject to tariffs; causing you to raise the price significantly.
Hi Wesley,
I was surprised, too. But the shipper said we had to pay the tariff or they wouldn’t deliver the books (and we would be out the shipping fees). I wouldn’t be surprised if the books were misclassified, or the shipping service was being slimy. But I was given a bill and we had to pay it. So mistake or not, we paid a tariff on the books and had to pass it on.
Mr Tanner, thank you for speaking the truth.
Are y’all calling me a liar? Because you can come by the shop and I’ll show you the paperwork.
Mr Schwartz, I would never call another man a liar unless prepared to give or receive an ass whooping. Your reference to tariffs, repeated thrice without alternate proposals is, to me, an example of ideology infecting handwork. Mr Tanner’s post serves to clarify reality, but hey … it’s your blog. You have helped me immensely with chair making, tool selection and most recently sandwich drilling for which I am very thankful. The ideological rhetoric I can do without. Please delete my AP subscription at your earliest convenience. Thank you and Happy Easter.
Good grief, it’s a great book and we’re very fortunate that LAP stocks it. The other option is to head over to Tim Bowen’s and buy it there, I’m sure he’d appreciate the visit.
Thanks for the heads up on pending price increases, and for your generous nature it is appreciated.
Thank you for your transparency. Do you know if the steel used in Crucible hammers or your other tools will be impacted by tariffs?
We don’t know yet. I am waiting to hear from Alro.