Lost Art Press

Author: Lost Art Press

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

Coming Soon: the Crucible Cross-Peen Hammer

Posted on by Lost Art Press
Introducing the Lump Hammer’s little sister.

The Crucible Cross-Peen Hammer is in production, and the first tools will go up for sale in a week or two. This has been a year-long project that required a lot of programming, plus finding a new handle supplier. The result? Craig Jackson, our machinist at Machine Time, said about the finished hammer “I’m happy for once!”

Here are the details on the hammer, which has the in-house nickname “Peeny Weeny.”

The hammer head is milled from a solid block of hardened steel. Weighing 4.5 ounces, the head is 4” long overall with a 5/8”-diameter striking face. The cross peen at the opposite end has a striking surface measuring 1/8” x 1/2”.

Hickory can vary a lot in color.

The handle, made for us by Hoffman Blacksmithing, is hickory and is 11” long overall. The neck of the handle is a scant 3/8” x 1/2”, which was a challenge to cut without chattering. The handles are all sanded and hand-finished with oil. The wedges are walnut.

Overall, the hammer weighs 5 ounces, and is an ideal weight and size for small workshop tasks. In addition to sinking small brads and pins, the cross peen is ideal for starting headless nails without mashing your fingers.

The head and the peen are also ideal for adjusting handplanes. For my entire career, I have used one of these hammers to tap my irons laterally to get the iron centered in the plane’s mouth. I also use the cross peen with side-escapement planes, knocking the iron in place against the blind side of the plane’s escapement.

Adjusting the lateral location of a block plane blade.
Starting a headless brad with the cross peen.

Antique versions of this tool can be hard to find in the United States, especially with a decent handle. Modern imported versions are – sorry to say – not a pleasure to use.

We don’t have a retail price yet. It likely will be about the same price as our standard lump hammer. Though there is a lot less steel, the machine time for this head is considerable. The handle is custom-made and is about three times the cost of the lump hammer handle. 

As always, we will first fulfill all domestic orders for the hammer before we can offer it to our other retailers.

— Christopher Schwarz

For Sale: Soft Wax & Some Anthe Hammers

Posted on by Lost Art Press
Funky Winkerbean says: Please to buy this wax?

A quick note: Katherine has just posted about 32 jars of Soft Wax 2.0 in her store. You can read all about it in her etsy store.

Also, we have now boxed up all the special Anthe Lump Hammers, and we found we had a few extra to sell. You can visit our store here to read about them and consider purchasing one, which helps fund the restoration of our new building.

What About the Willard Storefront?

Posted on by Lost Art Press
The future storefront at the Anthe building. There is a long way to go before it will be operational.

Our customer service lines are buzzing with customers asking what will happen to the 837 Willard St. storefront when the Anthe building comes on line. Will people still be able to visit the Willard Street shop? Where will the books, tools and apparel be sold? What about the woodworking classes?

Here’s the plan as of now. 

Nothing will change at Willard Street for at least two years. The first phase of construction at the Anthe building is to build and perfect our fulfillment center. That requires money and work and cleaning and infrastructure. This phase is the most important to us. It will allow flexibility and a more personal touch when filling orders. And it will save us a load of money.

The second phase is to get the storefront up and running at the Anthe building, which is at 407 Madison Ave. (a short walk from Willard Street that I make every day). People want to visit and buy our stuff in person, and a dedicated storefront allows this.

The third phase is to build new editorial offices, photography studios and workshop spaces on the second floor. It’s important to me that all of us work together. Help each other. Try to make the company better and the Anthe building a better place to work. Megan and I will help fill boxes with orders at peak times. At slow times, the fulfillment people will help us in the workshops and creating content.

I do not like hierarchy.

The Willard Street storefront isn’t going anywhere.

Through all this, the Willard Street storefront will carry on as a classroom and storefront for Lost Art Press and Crucible. People can visit both places if they want – though there’s no guarantee who will be at Willard Street at any particular time.

We don’t have any plans beyond what I’ve written above. So any questions beyond this post have this answer: We don’t know.

So if you are planning on visiting our Willard Street storefront this summer, please do. We are there typically from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Monday through Saturday (we are closed on Sunday). As always, knock on the front door, and we will be happy to let you in and give you a tour.

— Christopher Schwarz

LAP Open Wire, May 6, 2023

Posted on by Lost Art Press
I found a way to level tapered sticks in a vise for tenoning. A laser.

Welcome to the LAP Open Wire, where we endeavor to answer your questions about woodworking – plus our tools, books and apparel.

Here’s how it works: Type your question in the comment field. I will do my best to answer it. It is that easy.

Before you ask a question, please read this.

  1. If you could limit the number of questions you ask to one or two, my fingers might not catch fire. And remember brevity is appreciated. 
  2. If your question is your first comment here, it will automatically be flagged for moderation. Your question will appear after I approve it.

So here we go…. Note that comments for this entry will close about 5 p.m. Eastern. 

— Christopher Schwarz

Anthe Update No. 1

Posted on by Lost Art Press
The south wall of the first floor after a cleaning.

It’s been one bonkers week since we closed on our purchase of the Anthe Building, which will become our new headquarters here in Covington, Ky. (If you don’t know what I am talking about, click here.)

This blog entry is a brief update on a shed-load of work. But before you read further, please take a moment to digest the following.

This project is being done to code by licensed and bonded professionals. We are following all applicable federal, state and local guidelines. If you feel compelled to make some comment like “that’s not safe,” “that’s not right” or “you should do this instead” know that the world will never see your wisdom. I’m going to delete it. The only thing worse than armchair woodworkers are armchair plumbers, electricians and general contractors. Thank you.

We have three big goals before June 1, which is when we plan to start fulfilling all orders from here. (Note, we are actually already fulfilling some orders from here at Willard Street, breaking in the shipping software and building new processes.)

  1. Clean the first floor room and make it safe and appropriate as a climate-controlled fulfillment center.
  2. Add the bits we need to make accept and send deliveries (a paved driveway and a rollup door).
  3. Build an ADA-compliant bathroom and amenities for our two new fulfillment employees.

This week was all about No. 1. How do we remove 125 years of oil from the floors and walls? The answer: Dawn Degreaser. I have never worked with the stuff before, but it is amazing. The clean-up crew wets the surface with the degreaser at full strength. They wait 10 minutes. Then they scrub with a stiff-bristled brush (or an electric floor scrubber). The sludge is sucked up in a shop vacuum immediately and disposed of properly.

One 10-minute treatment of the walls gives you this before-and-after.

The difference is shocking. In one week we went from a room that reeked of oil to barely a wisp of smell. In fact, the degreaser is working so well that we think we can use the original floor with a few repairs and patches, instead of covering everything with a floating floor.

Also in the process, the carpentry crews have been dismantling the modern improvements made to the building (I have been helping a bit because I love this process of discovery). Also, the HVAC crew put in the three mini-split heads for the first floor.

And we are starting to draw and plan for No. 3 (the bathroom). 

What about No. 2 (paving and a new rear door)? Glad you asked. Site-prep and pouring begin next week. Then the rollup door can be installed and the broken modern metal doors at the back can be removed and sent to the scrap yard.

— Christopher Schwarz

A small patch of floor treated with the degreaser and water. I never thought the floor could look this clean.