Chris is working on some bends for an upcoming seating project.
Update: Comments are now closed. Thanks for entertaining us on our drive!
Got a woodworking question? Then today is you’re 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. (And it’s possible your fellow readers will have answers, too – and perhaps you’ll have an answer for someone else).
Chris and I are driving to Northern Indiana to pick up a thing…so if you’re wondering why I’m answering many of the chair questions…I’m not. I’m the amanuensis on those. But I’ve you covered on many of the not-chair questions.
– Fitz
p.s. The remaining Open Wire dates for 2025 are August 9, October 25 and December 13.
A couple weeks ago, one of our warehouse’s dehumidifiers lost power and dripped water onto a pallet of “Ingenious Mechanicks” books. We dried them out, but a couple hundred of them suffered some water spotting on the back covers and have pages that are a little wavy from the moisture (the waviness will likely disappear over time). See the photos below for examples of the spotting.
We cannot sell these as new, so we are selling them at a discount. The water-spotted books are $26 (that’s $18 off the regular $44 price). All sales are final on this special offer.
A quick reminder that the introductory special of $100 plus free shipping on the four-volume collection of “The Woodworker: The Charles Hayward Years,” ends at 11:59 p.m. Eastern, June 4. On June 5, the price for the set will be $39 more.
Here’s the link to the page. The books are also available individually.
The reprint of all four volumes of our Charles Hayward collection arrived this morning; as I write this they are on our driveway. Good thing there’s no rain predicted until much later today!
In late February when we got our new Hayward four-volume collection in stock, we offered a $100 special on the set with free domestic shipping through April 30. But we ran out of books two weeks before the end of the special offer date. Now, we have a new print run in stock of all four volumes (it will be inside the warehouse instead of on the driveway by the time you read this…I hope). So, we’re extending that special offer for two weeks from today, through June 4. Order by 11:59 p.m. Eastern, June 4, and you can get all four volumes for $100 with free domestic shipping. That’s $39 off. Plus the free shipping.
Here’s the link to the page. The books are also available for sale individually.
These four books are the backbone of a complete education in handwork. A team of six people (including some extra helpers) worked for eight years to read, organize, scan, design and produce these four books from the articles written and edited by Charles H. Hayward.
As editor of The Woodworker magazine from 1939 to 1967, Hayward oversaw the transformation of the craft from one that was almost entirely hand-tool based to a time where machines were common, inexpensive and had displaced the handplanes, chisels and backsaws of Hayward’s training and youth.
Our massive project distilled the thousands of articles Hayward published in The Woodworker. This is information that hasn’t been seen or read in decades. No matter where you are in the craft, from a complete novice to a professional, you will find information here you cannot get anywhere else.
The books have 1,492 pages total, with thousands of hand drawings and photos. The books are printed in the USA and are designed to last decades. The sewn bindings will lay flat on your bench. The uncoated paper is easy on your eyes.
For more information on the project, including a complete list of all the articles in the books, click here.
The spruce soundboard of the harpsichord built by John Brown, with wildflowers painted by Richard Platt.
Most of the readers on this blog know John Brown as a chairmaker and writer. But as I have gotten to know his family and friends, I’ve learned he was much more. I knew JB was a boatbuilder, and his cuttyhunks still fetch good money. He was also a jet pilot, a fine art painter and a man of letters. But I didn’t know that he ever built musical instruments. One of JB’s sons has to part with a harpsichord made by the late John Brown. If you are interested in Baroque-era instruments, please read on.
— Christopher Schwarz
Here’s a unique opportunity to own a harpsichord made by the great John Brown, decorated with British wildflowers by renowned artist and musicologist Richard Swaby Platt, a great friend of JB. Though JB was of course best known as a chairmaker, magazine columnist and author of the seminal book “Welsh Stick Chairs,” he built other things, too – including this Flemish-style harpsichord, which started out as a kit from harpsichord revolutionary Wolfgang Zuckermann (though JB made it his own).
The instrument is currently owned by JB’s son Ieuan Einion, a writer and musician who lives in France. “I don’t really want to part with it because of its sentimental value to me but I’m running out of space (it is one of seven keyboard instruments I have, including three harpsichords),” writes Ieuan. “I would be happy for it to go to someone who appreciated JB’s work and philosophy, and wanted part of his history; a serious musician who wanted a light, easily transportable instrument might be better advised to look elsewhere.”
I asked Ieuan to describe the instrument, as I know little about this form. “JB’s harpsichord was built from the kit that WZ produced after his move to England, not using the sides provided by Zuckermann, but replacing them with solid teak on the straight sides (15m thick) and laminated teak on the bent side (2 X 7mm glued). This has the effect of turning an Italian harpsichord into more like a Flemish one,” he writes. “Italian harpsichords were extremely light and were fitted into a heavier outside case from which they could be removed. The single most important development in Flemish instruments was that the soundboard was joined to the outer case.”
The teak, which had been destined for high-end boatbuilding, adds some heft; the JB harpsichord weighs 40-45kg, Ieuan estimates. It is 86 cm wide, 22 cm deep and 190 cm long.
“There are 54 keys BB – e” – with brown naturals (cherry?) and black accidentals (ebony or grenadilla?). It has two sets of strings (referred to as 2 x 8′), which can be engaged independently or together, and a lute stop. It can be tuned to A = 415 hz or A = 440 hz.”
“Zuckermann’s great achievement was making a hitherto specialist instrument into a project achievable by the home builder, which is probably what attracted JB to it, accompanied by his love of baroque music,” writes Ieuan. “We played one of JB’s favourite works, the Telemann viola concerto with the family band at his memorial event in 2008.
“The JB harpsichord has not been played since the 1990s and will require a good service from someone who knows what they’re doing, mostly fine tuning and replacing where necessary the plectra, checking the dampers etc (maybe two-three days work for someone who knows what they’re doing).”
Ieuan is asking U.S.$20,000. Interested parties, please click here to send him an email.
