A real live photo of the real books filling our real warehouse.
We are extending our free shipping offer until midnight Nov. 24 for one reason: It’s working.
While most “inventory reduction” sales verge on bunkum, we are offering free shipping for one single reason: to reduce our inventory. Right now, the Anthe building is loaded to its maximum capacity (as per a report from our structural engineer). And we still have six storage lockers filled with pallets of books.
We are working to get the third floor and basement ready for storage, but whether we have enough room for everything is still a guess.
The free shipping offer costs us. But we’re thrilled to store the books on your bookshelves instead of on the pallets in the Anthe building or (worse!) in storage lockers. And thank you to everyone who has already bought a book, tool or piece of apparel.
Free shipping applies to everything in our store. You can start shopping here.
The Sharpie PRO (or the Fancy-pants Sharpie T.E.C.) I feel like a fool for having used regular Sharpie markers in the shop. They are…OK. As long as you don’t expose them to water, alcohol, pretty much any solvent or even a stern look. Face it: The ink in regular Sharpies is not durable enough for workshop use.
I’ve used them for years to mark important settings on my machines, for marking glass and plastic bottles for mixing finishes, and for marking cutting edges while sharpening.
And pretty much, the regular Sharpie marker sucks at all these tasks. But I didn’t know there were other options.
Enter the Sharpie PRO. It sucks so much less. It makes a far more durable mark on plastics, metal and even wet wood. It even smells more dangerous and professional, like you shouldn’t sniff it for too long.
Mostly, however, it’s what a workshop marker should be – at baseline. The cap has a heavy-duty clip, so it clings to your shop apron and stays there. The marker has a rectangular cross-section, so it doesn’t roll off the bench. The ink takes a little longer to dry, but it stays put. Even if you wipe it with alcohol, you won’t lose all the ink on the surface.
Question: Is it available in an ultra-fine tip? If it is, I’m unaware of it and can’t find it. But the big Sharpie PRO works fine – as long as you aren’t trying to do calligraphy.
For the space nerds, check out the Sharpie T.E.C. (trace element certified). This one has ink that really sticks and smells completely dangerous.
Our breakfast table has an oil/wax blend on it and has survived just fine.
Almost every week on the Open Wire, we get asked some variation of the question: What finish should I use for the top of a dining table?
My answer is not going to be the most obvious one (polyurethane/varnish) or the most durable (conversion varnish or – shudder – bartop). Instead, my preferred finish comes from the fact that these three qualities are most important to me:
1. I want a finish that is easily repaired, even if that means it is less durable.
2. I want a finish that looks better the more it is used.
3. I want a finish without dangerous solvents or heavy-metal driers.
So why do I not like the highly durable finishes, such as conversion varnish, lacquer and polyurethane/varnish? They all have poisonous solvents, which the woodworker (me) has to endure. The finishes are safe (enough) after they have cured. Also, these finishes look great until they reach a tipping point, but then they deteriorate and look terrible. And they are difficult to repair. Usually you have to strip the finish and start over.
What about shellac? It is easy to repair and doesn’t have to use a dangerous solvent. Correct. Shellac is OK for tabletops. It is easy to repair. Usually you just have to pad on some more shellac. But when it deteriorates, it looks like crap – just like lacquer and polyurethane/varnish. If I want a shiny, high-style finish, then I will definitely use shellac. And a good coat of wax.
So what meets all the criteria? Several finishes.
1. Paint. Don’t immediately discount it. Paint is durable, can be non-toxic, looks better when it gets beat up. It is easy to repair (add more paint). Most woodworkers are horrified at the idea of painting a tabletop. I am not.
2. Some sort of oil, wax or combination of oil and wax. These finishes are so safe they can be edible. Beeswax and raw linseed oil are used to coat our foods – or even used as food. They are not durable at all. But they are easy to repair (add more oil and/or wax). And they look better the more they are used.
3. Soap. It is completely safe. Easy to renew/repair. But it offers almost no protection. It is used in many Scandinavian countries on furniture, woodwork and floors. My desk has a soap finish and I can attest to the fact that it looks better with age. After almost 10 years it has a glow that no finish can give you on the first day.
A worktable finished with soap on the tabletop.
I don’t expect you to follow my advice. It takes time to realize that all these fancy film finishes are really short-term solutions. If your spouse really wants a durable finish on a tabletop, here’s what I would do:
Mix any oil-based polyurethane/varnish 50/50 with low-odor mineral spirits. Wipe on a thin coat. Wipe it until it is just barely there. Let it dry. Scuff-sand it a little with #320-grit sandpaper until it is smooth. Then add another very thin coat of the mixture. Repeat five or six times until the finish starts to build. It is time consuming. When it fails it will look like crap. But it will protect the tabletop for a good long while. (Perhaps until you come to your senses and switch to an easily repaired finish.)
This table was built in 2006, and the top was originally finished with sprayed lacquer. It looked great for a day or two…until some nail polish remover was spilled on it. It looked like crap until earlier this year, when – finally – Megan and I sanded off the old finish then applied a couple coats of soft wax. It could probably use another coat now thanks to some scratches – but that’s easy.
The Anarchist’s Gift Guide – comprised only of stuff I have bought and used in our shop – starts today and runs over the next two weeks.
I started this “gift guide” years ago (read past recommendations here) after watching a woodworking TV personality’s “gift guide” for one of his sponsors. Clearly, he’d been given a list of worthless stuff that they wanted gone.
I thought: What if some poor spouse/child/friend actually took this crap advice?
This gift guide is – as always – unsponsored. Toolmakers who ask to be included in the guide (and they sometimes do) are automatically excluded from it. We don’t make money from these recommendations – there are no affiliate links. I paid full price for these items. And I’ve sought out at least a few things that your children could afford to buy for you.
Here goes.
Marshalltown 829 Masonry Brush This brush was suggested by a reader. It’s a U.S.-made masonry brush that is just the right size and stiffness to make a great bench brush. And it’s less than $12. I bought two, and I plan to buy a few more for our machine room.
Most bench brushes have fibers that are too fine for my taste. A bench brush needs some coarse fibers to deal with chips – not just fine sawdust.
The Marshalltown 829 (shown above) is made using Tampico fiber, which is harvested from cacti in northern Mexico. The fibers come from inside the cactus leaves. And the fibers are what makes this brush a gem (the hardwood handle and block are nothing special). The fibers are bundled in a way that makes them just right for bench work. You can brush up fine sanding dust. And you can also wrangle those weird cross-grain chips that elude fine brushes.
The Marshalltown 829 is not pretty. But it works exceptionally well.
You are all so very kind – thank you! We have more offers now than we need now for tools, so we’re set there. And for those of you who are interested in donating a dollar or two toward a few unpaiud bills with this class, we have this link set up: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=QHGYHGZMS5EY6
– Fitz
Jerome Bias is teaching a scholarship class here next month. Most of these students are new to hand tool woodworking, so we are gathering tools to give them or loan them during the week.
I’ve got the saws and block planes and hammers we need. But if y’all have some excess user tools that have followed you home at one time or another that you could donate, read on.
Jack Planes I’m hoping to hand each student a sharp and functioning metallic jack plane they can take home and use. Nothing fancy. Just a Stanley No. 5 or equivalent. I don’t care about what “type” it is, just that it doesn’t need restoration (I don’t have time to do that, I’m afraid). I can easily grind and sharpen the iron.
12” Combination Square Likewise, I’d like to give them a 12” combination square to take home. It doesn’t have to be fancy, but it would be nice if it were better than the plastic ones at the big box stores.
Hand Drill The students are going to be boring a lot of pilot holes for nails. If you have a functioning hand drill that could use a good home, let us know.
If you have any of these tools you could send, email Megan at fitz@lostartpress.com and let her know. She’ll give you shipping instructions (and let you know if we have already collected enough tools).
Thanks in advance for helping these six new woodworkers.