Lost Art Press

Author: Lost Art Press

Publisher of woodworking books and videos specializing in hand tool techniques.

Finally: ‘Shaker Inspiration’ Ships from the Printing Plant

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We just received word that Christian Becksvoort’s new book “Shaker Inspiration” has shipped from the Tennessee printing plant and is en route to our Indiana warehouse. This means two things:

  1. We will begin shipping these as soon as possible. I don’t know what date that will be – it depends on the warehouse’s schedule. Please do not bombard poor Meghan with questions about when your book will ship. She doesn’t know. No one (yet) knows, I’m afraid.
  2. As soon as the books arrive in the warehouse, we stop offering the free pdf download with every order. Right now you can get the book and the pdf for $43. After the book hits the warehouse, the book and pdf will cost $53.75. So act now if you want the free pdf.

We also have more news about Christian to announce soon. Keep Jan. 11-12 open on your calendar.

— Christopher Schwarz

Chore Coat Production at Sew Valley

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Sew Valley in the West End of Cincinnati is hard at work on its first batch of 100 chore coats in the new bull denim material, and so I crossed the Ohio River this afternoon to take a quick look at the process.

Sew Valley is located in the floor below The National Flag Co., which has been in business for more than 140 years. It’s a gorgeous brick factory with expansive windows and lots of room for machines and cutting tables.

Founded by Rosie Kovacs (above) and Shailah Maynard, Sew Valley seeks to nurture industry in this area by bringing back sewing skills. So short production runs, such as our chore coat, is part of what the company does.

Today production was in full swing on the chore coats, with components neatly laid out and labeled all over the shop. And four people (including Rosie) were setting up machines (both old and new) to assemble the coats.

As always with production, there is a fire somewhere. Today Rosie informed me that she had been shipped only about 40 buttons for the 100 coats. Hmmm. Probably not enough. A text to Tom Bonamici, our designer, got her an answer. The buttons were on their way from New York.

I don’t have a date as to when the coats will be ready. But when they are, I think you’ll be pleased. The sample that Sew Valley made for us is excellent. And even though we’re using a small contract shop, we’re going to be able to keep the price at $185, a small miracle that is the result of both the low overhead and the work ethic at Sew Valley.

— Christopher Schwarz

A V-block for Shaving Spindles

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Shaving a chair spindle against a V-block.

One of the things I love about how chairmaker Chris Williams works is that he tries – at every turn – to reduce the tools and contrivances needed to build a chair. One of the big things he offers is that you don’t need a shavehorse to make sticks, stretchers or legs.

Instead, you use a small block of wood in your vise and a block plane to do all the shaving.

I have 100 percent embraced this method from Chris (and John Brown), and I encourage you to give it a try.

Of course, I had to tweak the process a bit for my own liking. Instead of a flat block of wood, I plowed a V-groove in mine, which helps prevent the stick from wandering as you rotate it.

My V-block, which projects about 3/8″ from my leg vise.

Honestly, you don’t need the V-groove to make this work, but it is nice.

— Christopher Schwarz

Chore Coats Now Available

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The chore coat in Japanese cotton.

We have a batch of chore coats up for sale in our store, just in time for the holidays. These American-made coats are the last ones we’ll be offering in the Japanese cotton. Our next batches will be in American bull denim. (The price, color and sizes will all be the same).

This is the coat I wear every day in the shop and adore. It breathes and moves quite well. And it takes a beating. Mine is starting accumulate the dust and scuffs a working garment earns. And this coat can take it.

Custom buttons.

Plus, the details on this coat are great – the Lost Art Press buttons and the embroidered interior patch are subtle touches.

Order now – this isn’t a big batch. And we concede that we’re kind of nuts for offering this coat at this price. An American-made coat with these details is typically $200 more.

— Christopher Schwarz

Help a Toolmaker; Win a Poster

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I suspect that many of you have heard the Rob Hanson of Evenfall Studios lost his shop and all his possessions because of the recent wildfires in California. If not, here’s the story.

All of us at Lost Art Press and Crucible Tool have agreed to run a raffle to help raise money for Rob and his wife to help rebuild their lives. The prize is the absolute last copy of our “By Hammer and Hand” letterpress poster. We found this final copy recently in our basement in a stack of miscellaneous bits of paper. I set it aside for something like this.

Here is how the raffle works.

Donate $20 directly to Rob via his PayPal link. Please note that we are not collecting any money ourselves. This money goes directly to Rob.

When you receive your email confirmation from PayPal, forward that email to fire@lostartpress.com. Every $20 you donate gets you one entry in the raffle. Donate $40 and you have two entries in the raffle. Donate $60 and you have three, and so on. Yes, it’s OK if you are outside the United States for this.

On Dec. 9 at noon Eastern time, we’ll select a winner via a random-number generator. We’ll send the poster to that person, and I’ll personally pay for the postage.

And that’s it.

Thanks in advance for helping out a fellow toolmaker who has suffered an incredible tragedy.

— Christopher Schwarz