Lost Art Press

Author: Lost Art Press

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

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

Help Fund 2 Chairmaker’s Toolbox Classes this Fall

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Students from our first scholarship class with The Chairmaker’s Toolbox.

This fall, Megan and I are each teaching scholarship classes for The Chairmaker’s Toolbox, which offers free training for people who have been historically excluded from the trade.

I’m teaching a stick chair class Sept. 16-20. And Megan is teaching a Dutch tool chest class Oct. 11-13. Megan and I both volunteer our time and the workshop here for the classes. We also cover the students’ materials, plus breakfast and lunch during the class.

For that last few years, readers have asked to donate to help cover the materials and the food for these scholarship classes. If you would like to help out, you can send a donation via this link. Any amount helps. (Please note a donation is not tax deductible. We are not a charity or nonprofit.)

If we collect more money than we need, every penny gets donated to The Chairmaker’s Toolbox to help fund its expenses. We do not make any money off these classes.

Thanks to everyone who has donated in the past. Many of our students from these classes have gone on to teach chairmaking to others or have launched their own businesses. (In other words, it’s working!)

Here’s the link again (because they tell me we are supposed to do that).

— Christopher Schwarz

P.S. Don’t bother leaving a comment that craps on the program or us. No one will ever see it. At Lost Art Press, we help anyone who wants to enter the craft. We teach scholarship classes (and donate money) for need-based students, students who have been historically excluded and those who serve (such as our military). Don’t get ugly about something beautiful.

A John Brown Rocking Chair

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Earlier this month a John Brown chair surfaced at auction that was a highly unusual form: a comb-back rocking chair.

Commissioned in 1988, the chair was made for a family with a newborn and served as a nursing chair. From the seat up to the comb, the chair resembles JB’s cardigan chair, the chair he built for his book “Welsh Stick Chairs.” (FYI, many people don’t consider the cardigan chair to be a Welsh form, but that’s not part of this tale.)

Below the seat, things become unusual. Instead of an H-stretcher, the chair has a box stretcher and beefy rockers. The seat of the chair is elm, and it looks like the remainder of the chair is oak, though I can’t tell what species the rockers are.

The chair sold for the remarkable price of 550 GBP, according to Chris Williams, who tipped me off to the chair and the auction. Chris is the author of the excellent book “Good Work: The Chairmaking Life of John Brown.”

JB built the chair before Chris worked with him, so Chris was shocked to see the chair. “Can’t quite believe my eyes!!!” he wrote. 

I’ve seen only one other stick chair that was a rocker, and it looked like that chair had the rockers added later.

— Christopher Schwarz

Video Postcards from Germany

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Driving on the comb during a chair class in Bavaria.

I just returned from two weeks (and then some) in Bavaria. For the most part I was teaching classes put on by Dictum GmbH. It’s been more than five years since I’ve taught there, so it was great to catch up with old friends and make some new ones.

Here’s a typical scene at dinner one night with the students. We got our menus and the students were explaining what a “divorce salad” was. 

“Is this what you eat when you want a divorce?” I asked.

“Yes, of course,” they said.

“No,” I replied. “You are pulling my chain.”

Eventually we realized they were saying “die wurst,” which means “the sausage.” Not “divorce.”

And yes, they put hot sausages on a green salad here. Don’t knock it until you try it.

I’m returning to Dictum next year for two more weeks of teaching. The plan is to teach two chairmaking classes: A big ole comb-back at the workshop in Niederalteich. And an Irish armchair in the workshop in Munich. When registration opens for these classes, I’ll post the links here.

I made a short video of the Dutch tool chest class. Students came from all over the globe.

In between a few too many beers and Bavarian food, I managed to finish editing Megan’s Dutch tool chest book. It was worth waiting for. Soon we’ll begin designing the book, so it’s definitely coming out  this year.

After teaching, I traveled to Nuremberg with Lucy to explore the city and see a lot of folk furniture at the Fränkisches Freilandmuseum. I could have spent three or four days there, but we had only one. I made a video of some of my favorite pieces and interiors. Take a look.

And now I’m back in the States. Happy to be home, but falling asleep at odd times until my body adjusts.

— Christopher Schwarz