We’re cooking up answers for Open Wire this Saturday (June 20) on the Lost Art Press blog – so if you have a woodworking question, you’ll have until 5 p.m. Eastern to ask it in the comments section on the Open Wire post, which will go live at 8 a.m. Chris and I will do our best to answer, and readers are free to offer their expertise as well.
One caveat: Chris is leaving for the airport in the afternoon, so best to ask your stick-chair-related questions before lunchtime.
Oooo, ooooo, ooooo. Do it like Jeopardy. Give us an answer first, and we’ll come up with the question.
42.
How many roads must a man walk down?
what is the Deep Thought’s answer.
For life is quite absurd,
And death’s the final word,
You must always face the curtain with a bow
Question: When cutting mortises by hand, how do you make sure they are exactly square to the face? Yes, I know, practice, or a jig (e.g. Paul Sellers), or a mortising machine (infamy! + $$$) but if you have a great tip, I’ll take it!
Ask on Saturday, please, on the Open Wire post.
Teach yourself to feel plumb. It is so liberating.
Indeed. But that comes under “practice”. While I’m getting there, I’d still like to be able to cut mortises that don’t wind frames up like a corkscrew!
I’m thinking of a trick like using the reflection in a saw blade to make sure you’re cross-cutting square. Does anyone have a trick like that for cutting mortises? Something that doesn’t use a jig, but helps to develop muscle-memory without stuffing things up each time!
I have seen people use an F clamp or some kind of square as a reference to eyeball white you work.
Good morning all- I’m about to attempt my first Lincolnshire Chair as per The Stick Chair Journal No. 3. It states that the legs are simple turned cylinders. If one doesn’t own a lathe, what would your recommendation be with approaching the legs? Approach the legs like a traditional Stick Chair? Thanks much, Charlie
You could do that. If I didn’t have a lathe, I would shave them round, then add some beads/lines to imitate the look of the turned legs.
Current recommended source huck towels? have found that earlier link left me somewhere in the deep woods…thanks!
The ones we offer are out of stock at our supplier, and you have to buy from them in bulk. So for individual towels, you can buy from us… (I feel so slimy saying that!). https://lostartpress.com/products/soft-wax-soft-wax-kits?variant=41921661173823
But the best ones I have ever found were in the variety store at my mom’s retirement community. They had been washed, so I knew they were lint free because there were no strings sticking to them. But I’ll be darned if I can find any more with the same SKU on the tag. So… I keep haunting the variety store in hopes of more.
Maybe someone else here has a source for good ones?