Lost Art Press

Author: Lost Art Press

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

Now Offering Signed Books until Dec. 31, 2023

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Starting now, when you buy one of my seven titles from the Lost Art Press website, it will be signed by me. We’re able to do this now that our fulfillment operations are here in Covington, Kentucky. We hope to make this offer permanent, but until we figure out how much work it will require, we are committing only until the end of the year.

Offering signed copies is one of the many things we have been eager to bring back now that we are running our fulfillment operations here.

Here are the seven titles that will be signed:

“The Stick Chair Book: Revised Edition”
“Sharpen This”
“Ingenious Mechanicks”
“The Anarchist’s Workbench”
“The Anarchist’s Design Book”
“The Anarchist’s Tool Chest”
“Campaign Furniture”

I apologize that we will not be able to personalize these books or offer haikus, drawings of marsupials or signatures in blood. Signing all my books is already a time-consuming task, and adding another layer of complexity isn’t possible.

We also cannot offer signed books to our wholesale or overseas customers. Offering signed copies is one of the few advantages we have in the marketplace, and we have decided to reserve it for books we sell at retail.

But….

What if you just bought a book and are now disappointed it’s not signed? We can mail you a signed signature plate if you send us a Self-addressed Stamped Envelope (SASE).

Here’s what you do: Write your address on an envelope and put a stamp on it. Put that envelope in a second envelope and mail it to:

Signature Bookplate
Lost Art Press
837 Willard St.
Covington, KY, 41011

We are not going to sell signature bookplates. We did that years ago, and the internet called me a narcissist (it’s not the worst thing I’ve been called, but still…). If you are an international customer, you can still get a signature bookplate, but you’ll need to have a USPS Global Forever Stamp on it. Yes, I know that’s a pain. But this is the best we can do. Yes, some of you will try to strong-arm Fitz into doing it for you, but she says she’ll resist.

— Christopher Schwarz

‘Cricket Tables’ in Stock & Shipping

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Our newest title, “Cricket Tables” by Derek Jones, showed up two weeks early. It is in stock and ready to ship. And boy is that cover green. Derek picked out the color, and it has really grown on us. You will not lose this book in the dark.

The book ships for free until Nov. 15. (In fact, all our products ship for free until Nov. 15.)

“Cricket Tables” is the kind of woodworking book that I enjoy immensely. Yes, it’s about the three-legged cricket table, where it came from, what the different variants are and construction details. But the search for the history of the table is also intertwined with the history of the author, who had a long and twisting career in the furniture and publishing world.

And, at the end, Derek shows you how to build three great examples of this vernacular table and sets you off with the basic geometry and hand skills to do the task.

“Cricket Tables” is 112 pages, full color and printed on white, 70# matte coated 8-1/2″ x 11″ paper. The pages are sewn, glued and taped for durability. And the whole thing is wrapped with 98-point boards that are covered in lime cotton cloth. Like all Lost Art Press books, it is produced and printed in the United States.

You can read more about Derek in this profile by the late Nancy Hiller.

— Christopher Schwarz

The Anarchist’s Square Kit

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The prototype square kit (unglued). The grain in the final version will run in the correct direction.

We just got our first working prototype of a kit that lets you build an Anarchist’s Square with less than an hour of work. 

I’ve made dozens of these squares since “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest” came out. The square was originally a student project. Tool monger Patrick Leach said he has found many of them in the U.K. during his career, and he suspects it was part of a curriculum at a school.

When I teach students to make the square in a class, it takes two days. There are a lot of lessons involved, from sawing accurate half-laps to truing long edges to perfection to sawing perfect little beads. 

But thanks to this kit, you don’t have to do all that. 

The kit parts are made from 1/2”-thick Baltic birch. All the joinery and decorative details are already cut. All you have to do is a little cleanup with sandpaper then glue the parts together. The prototype turned out dead square with little effort. 

Then you can finish up the square however you like. You can leave it unfinished or tart it up with paint, oil or a film finish. Because it’s plywood, it’s unlikely to ever go out of square.

The kit parts.

I am greatly looking forward to getting some of these kits in house because I don’t have any more of these squares. I sold most of them and gave away my personal one – the one I built for the book – to Anne Briggs (aka Anne of All Trades) as a gift. 

I miss having some of the squares around and using them. I had some with accessory fences that made them even more useful. So I’m sure I’ll shoot some video of making, using and modifying the square.

When? I don’t know. Soon, I hope. How much? Again, I don’t know for sure. Less than $50 I hope.

They’ll be made in Ohio and shipped out by Mark and Gabe.

— Christopher Schwarz

Free Shipping on All Products until Nov. 15

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The Anthe building – bursting with books (for now). Mark and I cleaned 20 years of grime off the windows last week.

One of the great advantages of having all our inventory in Covington – and employees to fill boxes – is that we can offer a free shipping promotion without setting a pile of money on fire. (Our storage and salaries are now fixed overhead costs; before we had to pay $4 for every order packed. Plus storage. Plus boxes, tape, etc.)

We have all our inventory in place. Mark and Gabe are well trained and ready. 

So for the next two weeks we are offering free shipping on every product, from pencils to holdfasts. There’s no code to type in. No coupon. When you check out, you’ll see a button for free shipping. Click it. (Yes, even the new engraving tools I just added to the site yesterday.)

Thanks to all of you who have helped us get our fulfillment center up and running. We have heat and AC because of you. And an ADA-compliant bathroom. 

Consider this the smallest of “thank yous.”

You can start shopping here.

— Christopher Schwarz

Books & Tools in the Works

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Some cricket tables from Derek Jones’ imminent book.

Here is a quick-ish update on products we hope to have in stock before the holidays – including three I haven’t announced before.

“Cricket Tables” by Derek Jones

This book should arrive at the warehouse any day now. Is the cover cloth going to be that bright green? I hope not. But if it is, we’ll include a warning label. Retail $33.

Letterpress poster.

“By Hammer in Hand” letterpress poster by Brian Stuparyk

We should receive our press proofs today. Unless something is dog-a-whumpus, these will sell starting in mid-November. We ordered 500 (probably too many). Retail $25.

The “2024 Workbook.”

“Workbook 2024”

This is something I’ve been thinking about doing for a long time. I record all the things I build in an antique “Daybook” – an old accounting ledger. I also write down design changes for my chairs, how much they sold for, the exact finish I used and where the customer lives. It is an invaluable record of my work. 

You can’t buy a decent ledger shaped like this anymore, so we decided to make one. The “Workbook 2024” is a 64-page ledger printed on lovely #60 smooth and undyed paper. The pages are sewn and casebound in thick, cloth-covered boards. (We are using the same printing and bindery plant that does all our color books.) The book measures 4-1/2″ wide x 11-1/4″ tall.

An interior spread of the “Workbook.”

The interior pages are printed with blue and red lines that help you organize your information. And, because we can’t leave well enough alone, we added a short quotation to the bottom of each entry page. Megan selected all the quotations on the left-facing pages (verso). I picked all the ones on the right-hand pages (recto).

We are only printing 1,000 of these. Then we will see if we should do this again for 2025. Retail $27. (Note: Our margin is terrible on these and we don’t think we will be able to sell them wholesale.) These will be in stock by the end of November.

The A-square in maple.

The Anarchist’s A-square: A Kit

This is a fun project I have been working hard on. We are trying to create a three-piece kit of parts that you can assemble to create your own A-square (the tool shown on the cover of “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest”).

The parts will be made of Baltic birch and have all the joinery and embellishments cut. You will just need to do a little fine fitting and then glue the parts together. I have made dozens of these squares for customers and friends and love them. And they are useful tool as well.

We are waiting on a prototype this week and hope to start production as soon as possible. Retail: under $50. But I don’t know enough to state a firm price.

Wooden bookmarks.

Wooden Bookmarks

My daughter Madeline is itching to get back into the sticker business. So I created these lovely wooden bookmarks that are printed in the US on a two-ply veneer. The bookmarks are 2” x 6” and come in a variety of species. The woodcut at the top of the bookmark is from Rudy Everts. The quotation is from John Brown.

Our logo on the back.

We have long been asked to make a nice bookmark. These are nice. Retail $5. Maddy will set up an SASE (self-addressed stamped envelope) system this week and should start selling them next week.

— Christopher Schwarz

P.S. The Anarchist’s Gift Guide starts Nov. 10. If you want a preview of one of the items, check out today’s substack entry.