After years of suffering with a drawing compass that was intended for drafting, I banished it to my upstairs office and ordered a vintage Starrett 85 for my tool chest.
The 85s are expensive, but surprisingly robust and versatile. As per usual, as soon as I started working with the tool, I knew I had put the moment off for too long.
The tool is absolutely nothing like a drafting compass. It locks tight and is micro-adjustable. You can swap out the points for a pencil, and you can even rotate the eccentric points to get arcs that are a little smaller or a little larger.
Mostly, I’m happy with how well made the thing is. My German-made drafting compass seems a toy.
OK, enough gloating. Back to the Whole Grain Gateway!
Lost Art Press knows that healthy employees are happy employees.
To engender a new spirit of happiness among associates, Lost Art Press’s human resources department is sponsoring a new initiative that will help promote wellness among its employees, foster a friendly competitive spirit between its two corporate locations (Kentucky and Indiana) and offer up some fun prizes, too!
Each branch of the business has been instructed to appoint a “wellness leader” who will lead the charge for that office. The wellness leaders will meet with their local team members weekly, and all the corporate wellness leaders will participate in a bi-monthly conference call to compare “wellness points” and discuss the next steps for their teams.
The first wellness competition will involve consuming “whole grains,” which can reduce the risk of stroke, type 2 diabetes and heart disease. Each team will seek “wellness points” by consuming servings of whole grain. Each team will receive one point for for every serving. Examples include:
1/2 cup cooked brown rice or other cooked grain
1/2 cup cooked 100% whole-grain pasta
1/2 cup cooked hot cereal, such as oatmeal
1 ounce uncooked whole grain pasta, brown rice or other grain
1 slice 100% whole grain bread
1 very small (1 oz.) 100% whole grain muffin
1 cup 100% whole grain ready-to-eat cereal
How are the points tallied? At the end of every workday, employees will log into the corporate Whole Grain Gateway, where they will tally each serving of whole grain consumed during the last 24 hours. They also can download free recipes involving whole grains (try the Mexican Freekeh Chili With Beans).
The office’s wellness leader will also have administrative access to the Whole Grain Gateway so he or she can see how many wellness points have been earned by each team member and encourage more whole grain consumption among employees and ensure 100 percent participation.
Wellness leaders are encouraged to educate their branch employees on the benefits of whole grains. Examples of education include holding a “Whole Grain Fair” on-site where employees can examine whole grains, try different dishes and ask questions of dieticians. Example two: Wellness leaders can also create quizzes and games available through the Whole Grain Gateway for employees to explore.
During the bi-monthly conference call, the wellness leaders will compare wellness points earned by the two branches. At the end of every fiscal quarter, corporate Lost Art Press will award gift certificates to members of the winning team, including $5 gift cards to Subway and $20 gift cards to Whole Foods.
This is just the first of many wellness initiatives planned for Lost Art Press employees in the coming year. Look for upcoming competitions involving pedometers, on-site blood pressure checks and weekly weigh-ins!
“To a certain extent, our endeavors coincide with those abroad, in particular with ones in Germany, but we feel they are working on a more primitive basis regarding the use as well as the working out. Apparently they have jettisoned all traditions, starting from scratch. “What is a chair?” it is asked, where and in what way is the construction influenced by pull and pressure, etc. It is a laudable way of procedure, but a troublesome one, because in all probability one will not get answers to all the questions.
“In preference to what is modern, one loses one’s view and precludes the best aid, namely to build on the experience gained through the centuries. All the problems are not new, and several of them have been solved before. These movements all over the world are, however, useful: it is no longer fashionable to surround oneself with antiques. A real interest in modern cabinetmaking has appeared and we welcome it sincerely.”
There have been several glowing reviews of Peter Galbert’s “Chairmaker’s Notebook,” but because of other book projects I haven’t had time to compile them for the blog.
We don’t solicit reviews, so these are the real deal. The most gratifying part of the reviews is that people are becoming aware that “Chairmaker’s Notebook” isn’t about chairs alone. It’s a deep dive into the world of high craftsmanship that starts with a simple walk through the woods.
In other chairmaking news, Peter and I are in the final stages of proofing the full-size plans for the two chairs featured in the book. These plans will likely be printed on one huge sheet of engineering-weight paper and be reasonably priced – about $25 to $28, if our supplier can deliver the quality we want.
More news on the plans is forthcoming later this week.
This morning I finally cut into the stack of Port Orford cedar I’d purchased to build a Japanese sliding-lid box.
I picked up the stock at Northwest Timber while I was working out in the Portland, Ore. area and the company shipped it back home for me. (I wrote a blog entry about Northwest here.) I bought enough cedar for a single box with a typical amount of waste when I am purchasing good wood.
During my tour of Northwest, I was quite impressed by the quality of stuff the company sells. Every splinter of it is primo, photographed on the web site and ready to ship. Yes, it’s pricy compared to buying it from a typical lumberyard. But Northwest is no typical lumberyard.
Even though I knew the stock was perfect, I was surprised that I was able to easily get two sliding-lid boxes out of the four sticks. I had expected to get one box and a few extra parts. So the cost per board foot was effectively slashed in half. And because I’ll have two boxes to sell, It’s a big win all around.
Definitely check out Northwest if you are looking for figured or specialty woods. I have them bookmarked.
