Lost Art Press

Author: Lost Art Press

Publisher of woodworking books and videos specializing in hand tool techniques.

About Whitney Miller

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Whitney paring the tailboard.

I first met Whitney Miller when she was a reporter at WCPO-TV in Cincinnati, right as the pandemic was cranking up. Whitney worked with my wife, Lucy, and Whitney was really into making anything and everything. 

She’d made her own dining table with the help of some friends. And she’s made almost everything else in her life – her clothes, curtains, sweatshirts for her friends, masks for people she knew, stickers for everyone. The woman just makes and makes.

She wanted to get better at woodworking, so she took a Dutch Tool Chest class with Megan. Whitney hadn’t done much hand joinery, but she has what we call “good hands.” Put a tool in her hands, and she will make it work. And work well.

During the class, Megan came to me and said: “Whitney’s form isn’t classical, but you can’t argue with the results.”

Her dovetails were fantastic. Her entire chest was crisp. Whitney might be a natural, or she might also be someone who works with her hands all the time and can make them do her bidding. (I vote for the latter.)

When we built a workbench for the Henry Boyd exhibit at the Cincinnati History Museum, Whitney led the way on its construction. She is simply an outstanding craftswoman – no matter what the tools she is using.

And her energy and enthusiasm for making things eclipses most of the goober YouTubers.

So when we thought about making a video on building a Swedish tool chest, we decided to make it for beginners and have it hosted by someone who wasn’t your typical over-trained and textbook-perfect woodworker. Someone who could get it done and make it look awesome (look at the dang photos) and wasn’t an intimidating host.

Whitney was my first choice.

We’ve been posting clips from her video on Instagram this month, and the response has been both great and depressing. Some people get it. Look at this bada$$ person putting this chest together, even without the classical education and the requisite stick up their butt. Awesome.

And others who make it about gender or race or denigrating Whitney’s work.

What does Whitney think of all this? She generally kills people with kindness, but I think you should look at her work. She might not hold a dovetail saw like you. Or plane boards like you. Or drive a chisel with the confidence of someone who does it for a living. But she knows what she is doing. And she knows how to get it done.

And if there’s not room in your world for people like that, please find another world.

— Christopher Schwarz

Recommended: Gibson Chair Class

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Hey! Two of my chairmaking friends, en and Jim Crammond, are putting on a Gibson chair class in Michigan starting Sept. 30. They are both great people and chairmakers. If you’ve wanted to build a Gibson chair, this is a great opportunity. Details are below.

— Christopher Schwarz

Join us for an immersive chair making class where you will build an Irish Gibson chair, a vernacular chair form that is known for its comfort and relative simplicity to build; it’s a great first chair or 12th chair! The fact that these simple and distinct chairs were made by farmers and non-professional woodworkers, with limited tools, and with materials that were easily accessible makes this chair a joy to make. In this class you’ll have the opportunity to personalize this chair (vernacular forms invite creative input) as well as pursue tools and methods that suit your setup at home. 

Class Details:

  • Dates: September 30th to October 4th, 2024
  • Location: Monroe, Michigan (details upon registration)
  • Cost: $1,000 (Includes cost for workshop, supplies, and lunch). Deposit of $200 to confirm registration.  Full payment is due upon arrival to the workshop.
  • Lunch will be provided daily

What You Will Learn: In this intensive five-day workshop, you will delve into the craft of chair making with two chair makers with a combined history of 25 years in the craft. Whether you’re a novice or seasoned woodworker, this class will teach you the fundamentals of chairmaking and set you up to continue chairmaking at home.  

  • Tools: Learn to use the froe, lathe, drawknife, shaving horse, bench plane and other tools.
  • Design: Understand concepts such as rake, splay and sight lines that influence chair design and comfort.
  • Techniques:  steam bending, splitting and riving, staked tenon joinery and more, adapting techniques to suit your setup at home.

Reserve Your Spot Today: Spots are very limited (only five!) so sign up early.  

Click here for registration, or for more information, please email taproot.sanctuary@gmail.com.  

Looking forward to chairing with you 🙂

— En and Jim

That (bleeping) Ad for the (bleep) ‘American Peasant’

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What’s this guy selling?

One of the many things I disliked about working for a family newspaper was how fragile the editors were to reader criticism. If one person complained about the tiniest thing in a news story I’d written, I’d be dragged into the city editor’s office and raked over the coals about it.

They’d print a correction, clarification or retraction – even if it wasn’t warranted.

The editors’ temerity eventually seeped into my reporting and writing. If I thought someone would complain about the way I wrote a story or the subject matter, I would sanitize it to the maximum degree. Why? I needed the job to eat and stuff.

For the past 13 years I’ve been free of the corporate mamby-pamby poopy-butt stuff. It took awhile for the poison to pass through my system entirely (I’d been gagging on it for 21 years). And the result of this cleansing is my substack “The American Peasant.”

My writing for “The American Peasant” is the way I wrote when I was fresh out of journalism school. I was unafraid of speaking my mind (or perhaps too stupid to not be afraid of speaking my mind). I wrote like I talk and how I think. 

Why do I keep that writing sequestered on the substack? Good question.

Recently we started running a few advertisements for “The American Peasant.” The ad (above) is goofy (it looks like I’m trying to sell a tape dispenser). And the reaction has been about what I expected.

Omar P. Bounds III: “Just because you can do some woodworking doesn’t mean you can’t be an ahole.”

Allison Loxsom: “I might have considered buying this. I’ll get something from a craftsman who doesn’t need to be vulgar to be cheeky.”

For me, this means the ad is working. These people wouldn’t like the substack and would be horrified if they subscribed. The language there is direct and unapologetic. The specific words are sometimes crass (and justified). And the topics are not what you’ll find in magazines or books. But they are things I’ve wanted to get off my chest for a long time.

Here’s a free example: People Take Warning: Your favorite toolmaker can disappear.

Some readers have asked: Why not put this stuff on the Lost Art Press blog? It’s too personal. And I don’t want this stuff to appear in the same space as writing from our authors. That’s not fair to them. 

So if you’ve ever wondered what I *really* think about ________….. This is where you’ll find it. 

A free subscription allows you to read about half the posts. It’s a good way to try things out and see if it’s right for you. “The American Peasant” is not for everyone, but it appears to be for a lot of people (“The American Peasant” has just as many subscribers as this blog.)

— Christopher <bleeping> Schwarz

Digital Chair Design Tool (It’s Free)

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The main screen of the chair design tool.

When I was finishing up the writing of “The Stick Chair Book,” one of my friends suggested we should make a flip book that had four different “layers.” There would be a layer for the undercarriage, one for the seat plus the arm, one for the sticks and one for the comb. 

Kinda like this.

Readers could flip the pages to try different combinations of undercarriages, seats, sticks and combs. It was a cool idea, if limited in its usefulness.

Then Nick, a reader, made a cool and free tool that you can use to visualize different sorts of chairs. Once you create a design with the sliders, then click “Layout” at the top of the screen, and you get all the dimensions and angles you need to build the chair. It’s really quite clever and amazing.

And don’t forget to rotate the chair around. It really does help you visualize different designs.

The program works in both metric and American Customary Units, and currently works with designing a lowback chair. A comb back is in the works, according to the site.

If you like the tool (I love it), consider sending a contribution (I did).

— Christopher Schwarz

‘Set & File’ Back in Stock (Yay); Delays on Other Books (Boo)

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“Set & File: A Practical Guide to Saw Sharpening” by Matt Cianci is back in stock after we absolutely burned through the first printing. We now have enough copies to begin filling wholesale orders for our international retailers. So stay tuned.

Other good news: Classic Hand Tools in the U.K. now has “American Peasant” and “Backwoods Chairmakers” in stock.

Now the not-so-good news: Two titles have been delayed because of manufacturing glitches. The Stick Chair Journal No. 2 and “Principles of Design” are stuck in the cover department of the plant. They are having trouble getting a clean diestamp on both covers. Here are some photos for those of you who are curious about what gets rejected.

We are trying to find a foil and cover material that will give a crisp impression. I hope it won’t take long.

— Christopher Schwarz