Author: Lost Art Press

During the last few years I’ve sought out images of vernacular stick chairs from places other than Wales, Ireland and Scotland. Unsurprisingly, stick chairs can usually be found in any place where there was hardship and a strong desire to sit upright.

These chairs are likely user-made. And they are almost always dismissed by furniture historians as “crude,” “rudimentary” or “rough.”

This week I hit the jackpot and found some nice Canadian stick chairs in “The Furniture of Old Ontario” by Philip Shackleton (Macmillan of Canada, 1973). Most of the book celebrates the glossy, curvy, carve-y stuff that makes me feel dead inside. But there are several pages of really good stick chairs.

The captions on the photos mostly discuss how roughly the chairs were built. Or they deliver a backhand compliment such as “Despite the crude qualities of the chair, its elm seat has been shaped somewhat in the saddle tradition.”

Oh well, thanks for the photos. (And thanks to John Porritt – I first found this book in his chair library.)

— Christopher Schwarz

We’ve just put up a big batch of lump hammers in the store. And we now have Arno burnishers at a competitive price.

We have another batch of hammers coming (I hope next week) and burnishers are in the pipeline as well.

When we published “The Book of Plates” in 2014, we were under intense pressure from readers who wanted to see all the plates in A.-J. Roubo’s “l’Art du menuisier.” Lots of readers suggested we publish the plates by themselves. We resisted that idea at first, but we came around to it in the summer of 2014 over a fried chicken lunch.

As it turns out, “The Book of Plates” wasn’t a great idea – financially at least.

To make the book affordable, we had to print thousands of copies more than usual. We viewed this book a public service to the woodworking community, and we didn’t want the book to cost $500. But now, five years later, we are carrying a huge inventory of this enormous book. And we don’t sell many.

After much discussion and thought, John and I have decided to sell these books at a huge discount to get them out of the warehouse (and my cellar) and into the hands of woodworkers. We are not reprinting “Book of Plates.” When it’s gone, it’s gone.

The sale will start on May 14. The book is normally $120. Starting May 14 it will be $49 until we run out of books.

We’ve agonized over this problem for a couple years now and have looked for a way to correct our mistake. This sale – our first and I hope only sale in 12 years – is the best answer.

I know that most of you will support us through this. And I’m sure some of you have questions or complaints. You can get those answered via help@lostartpress.com.

— Christopher Schwarz