Got a woodworking question or a question about what’s cooking at Lost Art Press? It’s your lucky day –it’s time for Open Wire!
You have until 5 p.m. Eastern to pose your question in the comments section below, and we’ll respond – hopefully with a informed and useful answer…but no promises on that front. (And it’s possible your fellow readers will have answers, too – and perhaps you’ll have an answer for someone else!).
You’ll hear mostly from me during the day; Chris will chime in to answer the myriad chair questions, and comment on the tensile strength of wombat poop, after his class ends.
– Fitz
p.s. The final Open Wire date for 2025 is December 13.
How do you get such clean lines between spindle deck and excavated seat area? I’ve think that might be a good topic for a short instructional video…
Thank you once again for doing Open Mic. It’s helped me avoid many an irreparable mistake. Two sanding questions. 1. Do you ever use a random orbital sander? 2. For the finishing sticks that Chris recently did a video on, would it be an improvement to add a strip of cork between the stick and the sandpaper?
Chris uses an ROS for 3-5 minutes on every seat at the end, to blend the different tooling surfaces together and make it all look cohesive. And I use one on flat work all the time when the grain is misbehaving, and I can’t plane it smooth to my satisfaction.
We use a cork block to keep the sandpaper flat and not create ripples. I can’t see a benefit to using a strip of cork while sanding sticks, because those are round.
When “softening ” a chair seat by providing a sheepskin, do you trim the sheepskin to the size and shape of the seat, or do just take it as it comes and toss it on the chair?
As it comes
Good morning! I have one of the Lost Art Press planing stops and I feel like I haven’t figured out how to use it properly. It’s not grabbing the wood well. I know the website mentions filing things, which I have tried. Do you have any tips for how to file it to grab better? Perhaps a video?
Thanks!
Anxiously awaiting the Jefferson “Declaration Desk” book. Any update?
I am laying it out right now. I hope to have that finished in the next week or so (but then there’s author approval and printing, so probably first quarter of next year)
What height do you recommend for a work bench. More around the user ie hip height , knuckles or something like that. Thanks in advance!
For hand work, at about the height of your pinky knuckle, if you stand next to the bench with your arms straight down
Thanks for doing this again, It’s always so helpful. Could you help me out of a mess? My holdfasts got rusty so I sanded off the rust and waxed them. Now they don’t hold. In addition to cleaning off the wax, what should I do to fix this?
Thanks for another open wire opportunity.
How did LAP do with the second print of the By Hammer and Hand poster? I finally got mine framed and love it. Curious if it remains a money making item.
My tools chest is finished with soft wax over milk paint. If I want to touch up the paint do I just sand or scrape the wax off and reapply paint?
Posters are a great way to lose money, or in the case of that one to break even… so I guess that’s a success?
On the wax, just use mineral oil to wipe it off and you should be good to go. But test it of course.
Are there any visual indicators when picking lumber if a board will have tension in it? I have had quite a bit of difficulty on a couple of projects when I try to rip table legs out of a board. This has happened with a number of different species. Thanks for your time!
If there is, I don’t know it. Maybe Chris does? But I would think he would’ve taught me by now…
Good morning and thanks for doing this! When using clout head nails, how far do you sink them? Until the head touches all around, or until it’s below the surface all around? When setting them at a slight angle, neither of those seems quite right – one leaves the possibility of snags, and the other can crush the surface of the wood.
I have the same question about Tremont’s small rose head, which I guess are always going to be somewhat proud.
I usually have the heads flush with the surface. If you try to hit them below a surface and you’re near an edge or an end, you can create an unsightly wound.
Thanks for this, I had 2 questions.
What kind of considerations should be made choosing wood for furniture that will be left unfinished?
I once saw a campaign chest with knobs carved/inset into the drawer faces. I wish I could find it again. It kind of looks like a shallow bowl was carved out of the face except with the knob in the centre sticking out. How is something like this done? What sort of tools would be needed?
Is there an update on when the new milk paint book will be available?
It should ship to us next week, but that’s not a promise
Good morning. What is the diameter of the Crucible GoDrilla? (I’m guessing it works to drill 5/8″ holes through arms for long sticks?) Thanks.
I don’t know the exact diameter off the top of my head, but yes, it fits through a 5/8 hole
I’ve read in a few spots the hollow mortiser has been replaced by the domino in your shop.
Are you replacing traditional mortise and tenons with floating tenons in your work these days?
There are a lot of times we need to cut Mortis for the work we do, which is why Chris got rid of that machine. It was taking up too much space for the amount it got used. If I have only a few to cut, I’ll do them by hand. Or I’ll do them by hand if the work is appropriate for it otherwise, I use the domino.
Fixing the Oh $h!t moment. Chris, how do you deal with drilling a replacement arm (original split on assembly too bad to live with) after you’ve already done the initial drilling in the arm and seat? Trying to figure out the best way to get the angle and sightline in the replacement to align with the seat. Seems like drilling up from the seat would be best but getting the correct offset and positioning of the arm to the seat so the exit in the arm lands correctly has be puzzled. Do you sandwich or setup the drilling jig to hit it?
Is there a standard range for the number of pages in the signatures of Lost Art Press books?
Ideal is 16, eight is also good. (that’s why you’ll occasionally see blank pages at the back of a book, because it didn’t divide evenly by eight)
Mineral oil? Or mineral spirits to remove soft wax?
Spirits…oops.
Oops. This was supposed to be a reply to an earlier post. I failed at using this internet box.
This reply is for HuwD,
Take a center punch and go around the shaft of the holdfast punching barbs in it all the way around and down. That will make it hold.
What height and style shop stool do you recommend? As to the height I know that will differ with different sized folks but in relation to bench height. I do a lot of carving and would like to build a stool for long sessions.
Hi Megan and Chris,
Do you guys have an ETA on the Milk Paint Book?
Thanks in advance.