Every single vernacular stick chair I have studied uses cylindrical tenons. None have tapered tenons and mortises.
Yet, I teach many first-timers to use the tapered joint. What gives?
The tapered joint requires some special tooling, but you get a few chances to dial in the final angle. So it’s forgiving for beginners. A cylindrical mortise uses only a drill bit. But you get only one chance to get it right.
Personally, I prefer the cylindrical joint because it looks right to me. But both survive just fine in antique examples. You can make up all sorts of reasons that one is superior to the other, but the furniture record is clear: Both work.
Yesterday I legged up two Irish chairs I’m working on, and Kale Vogt (our new assistant editor), shot this short video that explains the steps I take to get my mortises just right.
This method is a little different than what I show in “The Stick Chair Book” (a free pdf download). I have added my cheap construction laser to the process. The laser makes the process so easy, that I’m considering using it in future classes.
Our future retail space is now clear of piles of books.
Our fulfillment center at the Anthe (pronounced Ann-thee) Building is now fully operational. The material lift has been repaired, the new roof is on, the skylight has been replaced, the back wall masonry has been rebuilt, and we have dehumidifiers on every floor – plus extra heating capacity to deal with the occasional cold snap.
The price: in$ane. Thank goodness John and I both have other ways to make money. Because Lost Art Press has primarily been paying contractors for the last 11 months.
Next month, John and his fulfillment crew will move the last of our inventory from storage units in Cincinnati and Latonia into the Anthe Building. If all goes well with that, we’ll have an opening day party for y’all (I hope you like Milwaukee’s Best and oyster crackers).
I know this doesn’t look exciting. But this is inventory that Mark and Gabe moved to the third floor with our material lift.
Now John and I can finally start looking ahead to what to do with the space. What is the next project? Restoring the exterior storefront? Getting a retail store up and running? Building a break room for fulfillment employees (probably this one).
This project has been the most stressful and difficult thing John and I have ever done together. If we could do it all over again, we’d probably do something different (a pole barn in unincorporated Kenton County would have been faster and cheaper). But for now, we’re just happy that the place is running and running well. John, Mark and Gabe have been getting orders out faster than our fulfillment house ever has. And we’re able to offer some signed editions and other niceties for customers that were once impossible.
So thanks to everyone who helped. Whether you bought a hammer, a class, a book or a bandana. Every penny helped.
Megan is teaching a class on building a Shaker silverware tray here at the storefront this weekend, so y’all are stuck with me and Wally the cat for Open Wire.
We are happy to answer your woodworking questions here on Open Wire. Simply type your question into the comment box below. Post it. We will read it and answer as best we can. Know that Wally has only one answer to every query: “Treats, in my mouth.”
Sometimes there is a lag between the asking of the question and the typing of the answer. But I will attempt to answer all questions. Sometimes we answer them after comments have been closed – it just depends on our schedule for the day.
One of my pieces from 2018 – Monticello bookcases in walnut and pine – are now up for sale on eBay. These were commissioned by a Michigan customer and came out rather nice.
He’s now putting them up for sale, with the starting bid at $1,500. Normally I don’t promote third-party sales like this on the blog, but this customer has been particularly kind to us in supplying tools for students.
After much analysis and debate, we have decided to put “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest” – our bestselling book – on sale for the month of March. Until March 31, the book is $34 – that’s 34 percent off the $51 retail. Plus, all copies sold through us are signed by the author and include a nice wooden bookmark (more on that below).
We don’t do sales. So why are we doing this? During most of the pandemic, the printing plants we use were closed or operated on a skeleton crew. Paper was scarce. And other press supplies (like cover cloth) were impossible to find. So when we managed to get a book on press, we had to place a sizable order.
In 2021, we ordered a big run of “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest” to get us through the uncertain time. It was our 15th printing of the book. And now, we have way too many copies. So many that we cannot fit them in our warehouse in Covington, Ky. They are spread out in expensive storage lockers all over the city.
This half of our warehouse (and storage lockers on Cincinnati’s West Side), are filled with boxes of this book.
We are near-desperate to make space so that we can fit everything into our warehouse. So we are reluctantly putting “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest” on sale.
Because this book is a part of the foundation of our business, we wanted to make this event special. So all copies bought through us are signed individually by the author (me!). And we are including a nice U.S.-made wooden bookmark with each copy during the sale.
The bookmark included with each purchase during the sale.
The bookmark features a quote from humorist Nick Offerman, who is a fan of the book. The first time Megan and I met Nick was in Louisville, Kentucky, at a coffee shop. When we were about to arrive, we texted Nick that he could look for me – a tall bearded fellow – and Megan – a white-haired goddess.
Nick texted back: “I’ll be brandishing an incendiary device.”
That “incendiary device” turned out to be a copy of “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest,” which he asked me to autograph. It was the oddest moment in my life – Nick Offerman asking me to autograph a book.
The bookmarks are birch, made in Michigan and quite durable (as they are laminated).
Like all our books, “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest” is made in the U.S.A. and printed on quality materials you don’t find in modern books: The pages are sewn together then glued with fiber tape. Then wrapped with heavy hardbound boards covered in cotton cloth.
This book has changed the way that thousands of people do woodwork. Many have told us they quit their corporate jobs as a result of reading it. If you’d like to read what all the fuss is about, this is an excellent opportunity.
— Christopher Schwarz
P.S. We have notified our retailers that they are welcome to put the book on sale during March (and we have lowered their wholesale price as well). We try to be as fair as possible.
