Lost Art Press

Author: Lost Art Press

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

Now Available: Non-toxic Soft Wax 2.0

Posted on by Lost Art Press

My daughter Katherine has cooked up another big batch of non-toxic Soft Wax 2.0, and it is now for sale in her etsy store. 

As you can see, Shop Cat Bean is surprised/nonplussed/inscrutable in his reaction to the new batch of wax.

This Soft Wax is my favorite finish for chairs, and I use it on a lot of other projects when I was a low-luster finish that doesn’t create a film between me and the wood.

And yes, this stuff is safe enough that you can use it on your beard. More instructions below!

Instructions for Soft Wax 2.0

Soft Wax 2.0 is a non-toxic finish for bare wood that is incredibly easy to apply and imparts a beautiful low luster to the wood.

The finish is made by cooking raw, organic linseed oil (from the flax plant) and combining it with cosmetics-grade beeswax and a small amount of a citrus-based solvent. The result is that this finish can be applied without special safety equipment, such as a respirator. The only safety caution is to dry the rags out flat you used to apply before throwing them away. (All linseed oil generates heat as it cures, and there is a small but real chance of the rags catching fire if they are bunched up while wet.)

Soft Wax 2.0 is an ideal finish for pieces that will be touched a lot, such as chairs, turned objects and spoons. The finish does not build a film, so the wood feels like wood – not plastic. Because of this, the wax does not provide a strong barrier against water or alcohol. If you use it on countertops or a kitchen table, you will need to touch it up every once in a while. Simply add a little more Soft Wax to a deteriorated finish and the repair is done – no stripping or additional chemicals needed.

Soft Wax 2.0 is not intended to be used over a film finish (such as lacquer, shellac or varnish). It is best used on bare wood. However, you can apply it over a porous finish, such as milk paint.

APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS (VERY IMPORTANT): Applying Soft Wax 2.0 is so easy if you follow the simple instructions. On bare wood, apply a thin coat of soft wax using a rag, applicator pad, 3M gray pad or steel wool. Allow the finish to soak in about 15 minutes. Then, with a clean rag or towel, wipe the entire surface until it feels dry. Do not leave any excess finish on the surface. If you do leave some behind, the wood will get gummy and sticky.

The finish will be dry enough to use in a couple hours. After a couple weeks, the oil will be fully cured. After that, you can add a second coat (or not). A second coat will add more sheen and a little more protection to the wood.

Soft Wax 2.0 is made in small batches in Kentucky using a waterless process. Each glass jar contains 8 oz. of soft wax, enough for two chairs.

Crucible Dividers (Type 2) Coming Soon

Posted on by Lost Art Press

With any luck, our first batch of Crucible Dividers (Type 2) will go up for sale in our store in the coming week for $110 plus domestic shipping.

The dividers are made from an alloy steel (about 28-30 on the Rockwell C scale in hardness). All the components are made in the United States – Kentucky and Tennessee. And the dividers are hand-assembled here in the Bluegrass State. You can adjust the friction on the dividers with a No. 8 screwdriver. This allows you to loosen them for gross adjustments, increase the friction so you can adjust them one-handed, and lock them – hard – in place.

During the last six months, we posted snapshots of these dividers on Instagram as we developed the tool. We received a lot of questions. Here are some of the good ones, with our answers.

Q: How are these dividers different from your Improved Pattern Dividers, which you no longer sell?

A: The Improved Pattern Dividers required a lot of handwork to construct and tune. And we never got the price/profitiability working for us. The Type 2 dividers have the same basic silhouette as the previous model, but they were redesigned from the ground up. Our goal was to make dividers that are attractive, fully functional and affordable. As with everything we make, we insisted they be made in the USA. And we wanted to be able to make a lot of them so they aren’t fetishized.

Q. Surely you had to cut corners to make them $110 (a $75 reduction in price).

A: To be honest, yes. The earlier design was hand finished on a precision belt grinder. They were shiny. The new dividers are finished with a different process that does not require handwork and leaves a gray, matte surface. They are not as flashy and look more like a workaday tool. 

Q: So they are uglier?

A: We don’t think so. It’s just a slightly different aesthetic. The fit of the parts on these new dividers is excellent out of the mill. We completely redesigned the hinge to use a standard driver. Our goal was to have the dividers look like what you would get from Stanley (or the other top-line makers) in the early 20th century – the heyday. Not a custom tool. There are small milling marks on our dividers that show how they were made. Nothing is mirror polished. But boy, do they work well.

Q: Are they stainless steel?

A; No. They are made from alloy steel. They come oiled and in a plastic VCI bag to resist corrosion. When you put them away in your tool chest, we recommend you first wipe them down with an oily rag to prevent rust.

Q: Do I need to sharpen them?

A: The dividers come sharp – sharp enough for general woodwork. If they every become dull, you can rub the tips on some #220-grit sandpaper to refresh the points.

Q: Are you going to make an attachment that will convert the dividers into a compass?

A: That is not our plan. We like to have our tools do one thing and do it well.

Q: Are you going to make other sizes of dividers?

A: A second size is in the works. I can’t say more than that at this point.

Q: Why is the packaging so basic? Wouldn’t it be better to ship them in a custom box?

A: With every item we make, our goal is to use the least amount of packaging. Instead of spending $5 to $7 on packaging that will induce breathless “unboxing videos,” we’d rather keep the price low and put all the money into making the tool. It doesn’t matter if you are left-wing, right-wing or chicken-wing, making elaborate boxes that will be thrown away is wasteful. Plus, we have no interest in feeding the collector market and its creepy affection for original packaging. 

Q: Will your retailers worldwide carry these?

A: Not at first. We need to make a lot of them to recoup our investment in these tools, and to figure out how to make them efficiently. After we can make them reliably, we hope to sell them elsewhere. 

If you aren’t sure if you like them, we’ll have some on display at our Aug. 7 Open Day (10 a.m to 5 p.m.) at the storefront in Covington, Ky. Come try them out. 

— Christopher Schwarz

‘Nothing Without Labour’ Bandanas (and Pencils) Return Soon

Posted on by Lost Art Press

We still have a fairly large batch of our “Nothing Without Labour” bandanas to sell. The bandanas come with five of our beefy shop pencils for $33. These bandanas are made by One Feather Press, and they are the nicest ones we have found.

The first round of bandanas sold out in three hours, which is crazy I know. We are going to put this batch on sale in our store at noon (Eastern) on Saturday, July 3.

The good news is we have more bandanas in the works. And we are currently manufacturing Shop Pencil: Type 6 (maybe Type 7) and have figured out a nice way to sell five of them in a box as a standalone product. These pencils are not mere promotional items with cheap lead and rubbery wood. We have spent a lot of effort getting these right for woodworking (i.e. I have a whole cabinet filled with almost-right pencils. Guess what my sisters are getting for Christmas….) 

— Christopher Schwarz

Coming Soon: ‘Family Tree of Chairs’ Poster

Posted on by Lost Art Press

One of the fun details from “The Stick Chair Book” is the endsheets, the thick papers that bind the book’s hard-cover shell to the printed book block. The endsheets for this book are a heavier-than-normal paper that we have printed with “The Family Tree of Chairs.”

On the endsheet at the front of the book is a drawing of the family tree. The endsheet at the back of the book is a key to the chairs hanging in the tree.

The drawing was made by Lee John Phillips in Wales, an outstanding illustrator. You can follow him here on Instagram.

To help us offset the cost of this illustration, we will sell 200 letterpress 16” x 20” posters of the family tree with the key to the tree (as shown in the illustration above). The posters will be numbered and printed on a thick, textured 100-percent cotton paper.

Printing posters via letterpress is expensive, but worth it. When you touch the paper, You can feel the impression left by the plate as it pressed the ink into the cotton. The pricing for this poster is designed to do two things:

  1. Pay for the cost of the illustration and printing the poster. We are not trying to retire to South America on this poster.
  2. Ensure we sell all the posters so I don’t have to stuff them in my pants next winter for added insulation while living beneath the I-75 overpass.

The price will be $30 plus domestic shipping. For international orders, we recommend you investigate a mail-forwarding service in your country. These services are far cheaper and reliable than what we could provide. And they are easy to use. To find one in your country, visit a search engine and search for “parcel forwarding United States” or “mail forwarding United States.”

Because each country has different forwarding services, we don’t have one service we can recommend.

We hope to start selling the poster before August 2021. More details to follow.

— Christopher Schwarz

Now Available: Soft Wax 2.0, a Non-toxic Finish

Posted on by Lost Art Press

My daughter Katherine has cooked up a batch of Soft Wax 2.0, a non-toxic finish that I use on my chairs, kitchen countertops, tables and other household objects.

We switched to making this finish because it is non-toxic. And it works just as well as the high-solvent based wax she made for years. Katherine sells the wax through her etsy store. It is $24 for an 8 ounce jar, which is enough to finish two stick chairs (at least). A little bit goes a long way.

Here are the details and instructions.

Soft Wax 2.0 is a non-toxic finish for bare wood that is incredibly easy to apply and imparts a beautiful low luster to the wood.

The finish is made by cooking raw, organic linseed oil (from the flax plant) and combining it with cosmetics-grade beeswax and a small amount of a citrus-based solvent. The result is that this finish can be applied without special safety equipment, such as a respirator. The only safety caution is to dry the rags out flat you used to apply before throwing them away. (All linseed oil generates heat as it cures, and there is a small but real chance of the rags catching fire if they are bunched up while wet.)

Soft Wax 2.0 is an ideal finish for pieces that will be touched a lot, such as chairs, turned objects and spoons. The finish does not build a film, so the wood feels like wood – not plastic. Because of this, the wax does not provide a strong barrier against water or alcohol. If you use it on countertops or a kitchen table, you will need to touch it up every once in a while. Simply add a little more Soft Wax to a deteriorated finish and the repair is done – no stripping or additional chemicals needed.

Soft Wax 2.0 is not intended to be used over a film finish (such as lacquer, shellac or varnish). It is best used on bare wood. However, you can apply it over a porous finish, such as milk paint.

APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS (VERY IMPORTANT): Applying Soft Wax 2.0 is so easy if you follow the simple instructions. On bare wood, apply a thin coat of soft wax using a rag, applicator pad, 3M gray pad or steel wool. Allow the finish to soak in about 15 minutes. Then, with a clean rag or towel, wipe the entire surface until it feels dry. Do not leave any excess finish on the surface. If you do leave some behind, the wood will get gummy and sticky.

The finish will be dry enough to use in a couple hours. After a couple weeks, the oil will be fully cured. After that, you can add a second coat (or not). A second coat will add more sheen and a little more protection to the wood.

Soft Wax 2.0 is made in small batches in Kentucky using a waterless process. Each glass jar contains 8 oz. of soft wax, enough for two chairs.

— Christopher Schwarz

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