Lost Art Press

Author: Lost Art Press

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

Bringing ‘The Woodworker’ Books Back

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“The Woodworker” is filled with solid gold, such as this description of mortising. The best way (in my book).

This week I’ve signed off on a new press run of our four-volume set of “The Woodworker: The Charles H. Hayward Years.” We ran out of stock last year, and reprinting the books became prohibitively expensive (thanks, inflation!). I didn’t want to charge people more than $200 for these foundational texts on handwork.

So we worked with our printer to come out with a new four-volume set at an affordable price. What did we change? Only the cover. These books will be softcover instead of hardcover. The text will be printed on the same #60 paper. The pages will still be gathered into signatures and sewn for durability. The book will still be printed on offset printing presses in Michigan – not some digital perfect-bound piece of impermanence.

The four books will be wrapped in #100 Mohawk Carnival, a gorgeous American-made paper, for the covers. And we’re going to have a special introductory offer. Here’s how the pricing will work:

Vol. I: Tools: $40
Vol. II: Techniques: $38
Vol. III: Joinery: $29
Vol. IV: Workshops & Furniture: $32

The set of four should retail for $139. But for the first 30 days, you can buy the full set for $100 with free shipping. 

These books make me hyperbole. We spent eight years culling these articles from hundreds of issues of the now-defunct magazine The Woodworker. These books cover all aspects of handwork, from getting started to making complex mouldings and curved barred-light doors. By hand.

The 1,500 pages of proofs I reviewed to get these books back in print.

These books are densely packed with thousands of hand drawings by Hayward. The four books comprise more than 1,500 pages of information. All organized so you can find it (here’s a list of the entries). I consider these books to be the backbone of my handwork library. When I have a question about a technique or a tool, these books are the first place I look.

We hope to have all four volumes in stock by the end of February. Save your pennies. These books are worth it.

— Christopher Schwarz

For Sale: Irish Lounge Chair in American Elm

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This curved-back stick chair is one of the most comfortable chairs I make. It is ideal for reading, sitting by the fire and talking with friends.

I’m offering it for sale for $1,800 via a random drawing. The price includes crating and shipping to your door anywhere in the lower 48 states of the U.S. Details on the sale are at the bottom of this entry. First, some notes about the chair.

The chair is made from American elm, a perfect and difficult-to-find chair material that is lightweight, strong and beautiful. The sticks are shaved and left octagonal. All the tenons are cut slightly proud and burnished. All the chair’s joints are assembled with animal glue, which is reversible, and wedged with hickory wedges selected for arrow-straight grain.

The seat is tilted 4°, with the chair’s back tilted 23° off the seat. The backrest is positioned to cradle your shoulders. And the seat is 16” off the floor, making it comfortable for all sitters. The chair is 34” tall overall.

The elm is finished first with a two-part bleach to bring the elm’s gray cast closer to white. On top of that is a coat of liming wax, a white wax that gives the wood some sheen and offers a little protection. The finish is not terribly durable, but it is easy to repair if you ever damage it. The finish lasts many years if you don’t abuse it, and the oil from your skin enhances it and adds to the luster. This is a finish that looks better every year.

Like all my chairs, I make them as best I can, but most of the work is by hand. So you will find an occasional stray tool mark or tiny imperfection. These are not left intentionally, but they are the result of hand work.

How to Buy the Chair

The chair is being sold via a random drawing. If you wish to buy the chair, send an email to lapdrawing@lostartpress.com before 3 p.m. (Eastern) on Friday, Jan. 10. Please use the subject line: “Elm Chair.” In the email please include your:

  • U.S. shipping address
  • Daytime phone number (this is for the trucking quote only)

If you are the “winner,” the chair will be shipped to your door. The price includes the crate and all shipping charges. Alternatively, the chair can be picked up at our storefront. (I’m sorry but the chair cannot be shipped outside the U.S.)

— Christopher Schwarz

Download ‘Ingenious Mechanicks’ For Free – Today and Always

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My book on Roman workbenches and early workholding is now a free download for everyone. You don’t have to register, or give up your email, or sign up for sausage-making lessons. You can just click here, and the download will begin.

If you forget to do this, you can always go to the book’s page in our store and download it from there.

This is the seventh book of mine that I have made free to download. It is a small way to help people get started in the craft who might not have a big budget. Here are the other six free titles.

“The Anarchist’s Tool Chest”
“The Anarchist’s Design Book”
“The Anarchist’s Workbench”
“The Art of Joinery”
“Roman Workbenches”
“The Stick Chair Book”

I am working toward making all my books available for a free download. Sometimes this involves getting permission from others who have a stake in the book. That’s why it takes some time and effort.

— Christopher Schwarz

Our Top-selling Titles of 2024

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This year has been a good one – maybe our second or third best since we started in 2007. I won’t have all the numbers for a couple weeks, but to close out the year, here are our top 10 books in terms of unit sales. There are some surprises.

  1. The Anarchist’s Tool Chest: This book topped the list because we printed the last press run of the current edition in an original tan cover. (If you want a copy, you better snatch it because we are almost out.) I’m working on the revised edition, which will be in color and will be released in 2025.
  2. The Anarchist’s Design Book: This is a surprise to me. I have no explanation.
  3. The American Peasant: We sold out the first press run and we are now into the second.
  4. Principles of Design: We printed (and sold) 3,000 copies in three months. We weren’t planning on doing a second run, but y’all changed our minds. This book will be back in stock in January.
  5. Set & File: Not a surprise. This book sold well right out of the gate and has long legs.
  6. Dutch Tool Chests: A surprisingly strong showing for a book that was released so late in the year (October). The book sold more copies on the first day than any book in our history.
  7. The Anarchist’s Workbench: You do know this book is free, right?
  8. The Essential Woodworker: One of the hardest-working books in our catalog. Thank you, Robert Wearing.
  9. The Stick Chair Book: Revised Edition: Also free.
  10. Backwoods Chairmakers: Such a good book, and its success is well-deserved.

We have lots of books in the works for 2025. We hope you’ll like them!

— Christopher Schwarz 

Holiday Shutdown: Dec. 24 – Jan. 1

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407 Madison Ave., the site of our new storefront.

Our fulfillment center and storefront will be closed from Dec. 24 to Jan. 1. So any online orders placed during that time will not ship until we return from the break.

So if you want a book or tool shipped out before the end of the year, please place your order before Dec. 23.

The coming year will be filled with new projects and products: our new storefront will open at 407 Madison Ave. in Covington, we have at least four new books and a new video in the works and we will launch our apparel line, Joyner.

With that mountain of work ahead, John and I decided we should all take a break before plunging into 2025.

— Christopher Schwarz