After a long dry spell (five months), we finally have two new products in our store that we have been working on for a long time (nine years on the saw sharpening book!).
“Set & File: A Practical Guide to Saw Sharpening” by Matt Cianci is in our warehouse and shipping. It is $32. If you buy it before July 1, you will receive a free pdf download of the book at checkout. This book shows you saw teeth like you’ve never seen them before: up close. Matt Cianci, a long-time saw doctor, has a practical way to teach saw sharpening that anyone can do (I watched teach this last weekend).
If you’ve ever been frustrated by old texts about saw sharpening, this book will set you straight (pun intended).
“Video: Build a Roman Workbench.” This video shows you how to build the most portable, compact, inexpensive and easy-to-use workbenches available. Made from about $45 in dimensional lumber and scraps, these benches allow you to make cabinets, chairs and tables while sitting down.
These benches are ideal for apartment woodworkers – or anyone who has limited shop space (the bench can double as a coffee table). It’s also ideal for woodworkers who travel, who like to work outside or have mobility issues.
The video is now $35 – a special introductory offer. After July 1, it will be $60. The video includes downloadable construction drawings and a packet of additional information on workholding.
It’s a bit difficult to put a label on this book. It’s not really a catalog of the pieces produced by Nakashima Woodworkers, but it is filled with drawings and images of the pieces the company makes. It’s also a short history of the workshop, a close explanation of how they work and a sometimes-lighthearted look back at George Nakashima’s life and work.
Called the “Process Book” and written by Mira Nakashima, this 2023 book is unlike any other book I have encountered in my career as a publisher and a woodworker.
The book is a deconstruction, showing you its structure like a wedged through-tenon or visible dovetails. When you first unwrap the book, it looks like it has a dust jacket. But when you open the jacket, you find that the jacket comes off and unfolds into a large poster. One one side is a photo of George Nakashima and on the other are construction drawings.
The book block has no boards or paper cover. Instead it is like looking at a component from a pressroom. The spine of the book shows the thread running through the signatures. And the glue that reinforces the signatures. You can see clearly the registration marks from the press (usually obscured) that guide the bindery as they assemble the book block.
And while there is no formal “cover,” the pages of the book are protected by heavy printed end sheets.
Once you start exploring the interior of the book, there are more surprises, including large fold-out sections and gorgeous photography displayed on premium uncoated paper.
The whole experience is much like experiencing a piece of well-made furniture. First you see the form – it’s a book. But as you get closer and interact with the piece you come to understand it was made with incredible care and it gives up its secrets slowly but inevitably.
If you love the work of George Nakashima and his daughter, Mira, this book is essential reading. The book is filled with sketches of the pieces the shop sells, plus many archival images and drawings that aren’t shown in George Nakashima’s “Soul of a Tree.”
The book details the process of building a piece of furniture for both the customer and the workers. It explains with great clarity how wood is chosen for each piece of furniture in a way that helps determine the final design of the piece.
And as you work your way through the book, folding and unfolding and marveling at this detail or that curious drawing, you become an active participant in the creation of the book. After you are done with the text, you put it all back together again. And there it is, the form you started with.
The book ships with a current price list (always interesting). “Process Book” is a delightful piece of work. And at only $35, it’s a steal for printing and binding of this caliber.
Because of the Backwoods Chairmakers event in Berea, Ky., on June 2, we have decided to open our storefront doors here in Covington, Ky., on June 1 and June 3. This will allow travelers who are coming from out of town to stop by on their way to or from the event.
These days we keep sometimes-scattershot hours because we might be at the lumberyard, packing books at our warehouse or teaching out of town.
But on June 1 and June 3, we will be at our storefront (837 Willard Street, Covington, Ky., 41011) from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. to welcome you. We’ll have all our books, apparel and tools. Plus some blemished and returned books at half price (cash only on blemished books).
On June 2, Kale and I will be at the Backwoods Chairmakers event, documenting this once-in-a-lifetime gathering. We’ll also have a small table of chairmaking books for sale there. We will not have our full line of books at the event.
This chair is based off a couple chairs I built a few years ago, which were based off the chairs I built for my two kids, which were based off a chair that Bilbo Baggins briefly sits in during “The Fellowship of the Ring.”
I haven’t watched the movie in ages, but I remember the arms of Bilbo’s chair were different, the short sticks were turned spindles, and the legs were different – maybe a decorative groove. And I can’t recall what the undercarriage looked like.
But other than those tiny details, this is an exact replica.
This chair is made of mahogany that is at least 70 years old. I bought it from Midwest Woodworking in Norwood when it was going out of business. The wood is gorgeous stuff, light and strong.
The chair is set up for dining. The seat tilts about 3°, the back tilts another 12°. The seat is 16” off the floor, which makes it comfortable for a wide range of sitters. The seat is a single wide plank of mahogany (that I had to rip down to make the seat – amazing!). All the housed joints are assembled with hide glue and ash wedges so that the chair can be repaired long in the future.
The finish is super blonde shellac with a thin coat of black wax, which tones down the red and accentuates the wood’s pores.
As mentioned above, the mahogany is straight and strong. But because there are no stretchers, I recommend this chair for sitters less than 220 lbs. I’m being over-cautious. (Also, if a leg ever snaps on any of my chairs, I’ll repair it free of charge.)
Purchasing the Chair
We’re selling this chair via a silent auction. If you wish to buy the chair, send an email to lapdrawing@lostartpress.com before 3 p.m. (Eastern) on Tuesday, May 28. Please use the subject line: “Hobbity Chair.” In the email please include your:
Bid
U.S. shipping address
Daytime phone number (this is for the trucking quote only)
The highest bid wins. If you are the “winner,” the chair can be picked up at our storefront. Or we will happily crate it and ship it to your door. (I’m sorry but the chair cannot be shipped outside the U.S.) The reserve price is $500. Shipping and crating is included in your winning bid (with no additional charges whatsoever).
— Christopher Schwarz
P.S. Plans for this chair will be in the second issue of The Stick Chair Journal. Also, Kale and I are working together on a second Hobbit-y chair in the same gorgeous mahogany. It will be up for sale in a week or so.
Editor’s note: The “bulk reply” plugin on Chrome has stopped working, and I cannot find a replacement on any of my browsers. So if you don’t hear from me (Fitz) by the end of the day on the deadline day, I’m afraid you are not the winner (this applies also to the recent Irish chair, and Ash and Elm chair). I’m sorry I haven’t time to send individual responses to the many entrants who did not win. If I did, it would read: “Thank you for your interest, and stay tuned – Chris is making more chairs, and there will be other opportunities.” Which is true in perpetuity!
A mock-up of the two-color die stamp of “American Peasant.” The swirls are some of the engravings/spells shown in the book.
We just sent the “American Peasant” book to press, but it’s a lot like landing in a foreign country (yay!) and having to wait behind 1,000 people at the immigration window (ugh).
Normally, our books come out about five or six weeks after we send them to press. But these are not normal times. Thanks to the latest brood of cicadas venture capital ridiculousness, all our books are in a long queue at the printer. Right now, the best they can say is: Maybe it will be done in August or September. Maybe later. Maybe sooner. Can’t say.
I have no desire to change printing plants. We’ve worked with this one for 17 years, and I know exactly what their sheet-fed presses are capable of, and how to get the best results out of the different papers they stock. This hard-won knowledge keeps the cost of printing and thus the retail price down.
So we will just have to wait. It took two years to write “American Peasant,” so waiting a couple months shouldn’t be a big deal. Right?
In the meantime, above is a preview of the cover (no, I have not been taking street drugs), and some of the images and spreads from the book; the gorgeous opening images of each project are by Narayan Nayar.
I’m excited to see “American Peasant” released into the wild, but until then, I’m working hard on issue 2 of The Stick Chair Journal.
