Here’s an interesting piece of news for those who might remember the early days of the internet. Pete Taran, one of the founders of Independence Tool, has begun making new dovetail saws again under the Ne Plus Ultra line.
The Independence saws were the first premium saws on the market in the mid 1990s, well before Lie-Nielsen, Lee Valley and all the individual makers started cranking up their files. Pete founded the company with Patrick Leach, who now sells antique tools. You can read the entire history here, which is from an interview I did with Pete in 2008.
Short version: Independence Tool was sold to Lie-Nielsen and those saws became the first handsaws produced by the Maine company. The Lie-Nielsen dovetail saw still has the same lines as the Independence tool, which are gorgeous.
Pete, one of the most knowledgeable saw people I know, has remained active since selling Independence. He runs the VintageSaws.com site, where he sells refurbished saws and dispenses advice on saw filing.
And now he’s making new saws again. If you never got a chance to buy one of the original Independence saws, this is probably about as close as you can get. I have no plans on testing them (those days are thankfully behind me). But knowing Pete, they will be nothing shy of perfect.
In an effort to reduce all the things sitting around, I’m offering this leather-bound copy of “Mouldings in Practice” for sale for $250. Domestic shipping is free. International shipping is at cost. Note: This item is sold.
The book is a first edition of Matt Bickford’s landmark book. The boards are covered in calfskin that has been hand dyed. The endsheets are handmade as well. All the work was done by the artisans at Ohio Book, who have created all of our leather-bound editions.
To buy it, send me a message through my personal website via this link.
Every month in the late 1990s, an oversized manila envelope would land on my desk at Popular Woodworking magazine. When that happened, I’d finish editing the sentence I was working on, put down my red pen and rip into the package.
Inside was the newest Good Woodworking magazine with the latest John Brown column. I would read the article several times. Photocopy it for my records (I still have those photocopies). And then pass the magazine to one of my fellow editors who would read it for the tool reviews or how-to-make chopsticks article.
I adored John Brown’s column for two reasons. One, his writing was outrageous, even by the typically wilder U.K. standards. This gave me confidence and license to loosen up my own woodworking writing so I didn’t sound like an instruction manual for a toaster oven.
Two, the chairs. Gawd, I loved the chairs he showed in the articles. While I adored the chairs shown in his 1990 book, “Welsh Stick Chairs,” the chairs in his magazine articles were far more interesting because John Brown had learned so much in the decade since writing his book.
Today I went to the mailbox and there was an oversized manila envelope with a U.K. postmark waiting for me. I put down my satchel and ripped into the package. Inside was a mint August 1999 issue of Good Woodworking magazine. And on page 50 was the John Brown article titled “Of All the Works of Man.” One of my favorites.
We’re collecting these vintage magazines to help illustrate the upcoming book by Christopher Williams titled “The Life & Work of John Brown.” The book will feature 20 of JB’s best columns. We purchased the rights to reprint these articles for the book, but the publisher who now owns the rights to the articles doesn’t have the images from the columns. So I need to invoke some digital trickery to illustrate John Brown’s columns for the book.
It’s a bit weird to see this article again after 20 years and in mint condition – like encountering an old friend who hasn’t aged a day. (And who is still a dang interesting guy.)
We have two upcoming classes in July at our storefront that should – by all rights – be filled and have a long waiting list. But they aren’t.
If you can attend these classes, I encourage you to do so for two reasons. One, in both cases these classes are being taught by the premier instructor on the topic. Two, we won’t offer a lot of classes next year, so these opportunities will dry up in December.
Here are the classes:
French Polishing With Derek Jones
July 11-12
Most people know Derek as the editor of Furniture & Cabinetmaking magazine. But Derek is way more than that. He’s a time-served professional woodworker who has an affinity for toolmaking and French polishing. His classes on French polishing sell out quickly in the U.K. and Europe because Derek has distilled the process so it contains 0 percent garbage. I’ve watched Derek teach it, and it’s brilliant. In fact, the reason I wanted him to teach the class here is so I could take it (as luck would have it, my Germany trip was extended, so I cannot).
Honestly, if you want to up your finishing game (or just establish your finishing game), this weekend will do it. Period. This class is for beginners. Intermediates. Experts.
Make a Carved Oak Box with Peter Follansbee
July 29-Aug. 2
Yup, we managed to lure Peter Follansbee west of the Allegheny Mountains for this class, and he is bringing primo red oak for the students to build and carve their boxes. Follansbee is one of my favorite woodworking writers, instructors and builders (I said it so right here). He’s also the author of our newest book, “Joiner’s Work.”
This class is the gateway drug to 17th-century-style construction methods and carving. You get to make this beautiful little box with traditional joints and then cover every surface with the geometrical carvings. Even if you’ve never carved a block of soap or a ham, you’ll do great. I’ve been amazed by what Peter’s students turn out their first time holding a gouge.
About Next Year This year has been nuts. We offered so many classes that I found it difficult to keep up with the shop’s commission work and work on future books. While I loved having people teach here from all over the world, we’re going to dial things back – way back – for 2020 so we can regain our footing and catch up on commercial furniture work and toolmaking.
We’ll still offer a weekend class or so each month. Maybe a two or three week-long classes during the year. And we’ll bring back Chris Williams for another Welsh chair class. But for the most part, we’re going to hunker down and build stuff.
So if you want to take a class here, you might want to comb over the current list of classes for 2019. Next year is going to be quiet.
It’s been too long since I’ve updated everyone (including my fellow editors) on the projects that are about to bear fruit. Plus other projects that are in fruit cocoons, which is totally not a real thing but should be.
These are in the order in which you’ll likely see them. As always, if I haven’t listed a project that you are lusting for, that’s because I don’t have any news on it. Here we go.
“Making and Mastering Wood Planes” by David Finck Likely release date: August
This book is a classic. I wore out my first copy and even wrote a gushy blurb for it when it was on the imprint of a competing publisher. That’s how much I love it. David was self-publishing the book and asked if we would like to take it on. I said yes, as long as Lost Art Press could put it out in a high-quality domestically printed hardback. David agreed. Everyone wins.
“The Solution at Hand: Jigs and Fixtures to Make Benchwork Easier” by Robert Wearing Likely release date: October
Here’s another book we’ve been working on but haven’t been talking about. We love Wearing’s “The Essential Woodworker,” and so we asked him if we could compile about 150 of his best jigs and fixtures that he’d published in various forms during his career. He agreed. This book is hand illustrated, like “The Essential Woodworker,” and is as tricky as a Vegas magic show.
“Making Things Work” by Nancy Hiller (the Lost Art Press edition) Likely release date: October or so
Nancy considered letting this book go out of print (she’s a damn busy professional woodworker). We thought that would be bad for readers. So we offered to bring it into the Lost Art Press fold. Our new edition will have a new cover and will feature one extra short story at the end that elegantly twists the knife as you laugh….
“The Anarchist’s Design Book (Revised & Expanded)” by me Likely release date: January 2020
I tried to finish this book at the end of 2018, but my father became very ill. So I put aside all my personal writing projects to help take care of him at the end of his life. With his estate now settled, I have the time to finish this revision. I’m building the mule chest for the revised edition now. There are two additional projects to build after that (which are already designed). And then we’ll have a new book.
“The Life & Work of John Brown” by Christopher Williams Likely release date: March 2020
Chris should be done writing this book in the fall. Then I just have to design it. This book has been filled with many twists and turns – like the life and work of John Brown. I promise it will be worth the wait.
“Make a Chair from a Tree” by Jennie Alexander Likely release date: As soon as I can manage
This book has been a lodestone for me. I have lots of excellent people helping me with the text, illustrations and technical side. But in the end, I have to ensure the book is true to what Jennie wanted and helps you build her chair. I work on this project whenever I can. It’s slow going, which is totally my fault.
That’s the list. There are lots of other projects that are eyeing the birth canal. When they get closer, we’ll post an update.
The Independence saws were the first premium saws on the market in the mid 1990s, well before Lie-Nielsen, Lee Valley and all the individual makers started cranking up their files. Pete founded the company with Patrick Leach, who now sells antique tools. You can read the entire history here, which is from an interview I did with Pete in 2008.
