Lost Art Press

Author: Lost Art Press

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

Folding Stools: The Scrapple of the Campaign Furniture World

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Today I’m building a couple of three-legged folding stools for “Campaign Furniture.” We’ve been building these all summer in classes and for fun, but I have neglected to take photos of the process – not that there is much of a process.

The great thing about these stools is they take almost no material or time. The two stools I’m building today are made from scraps left over from campaign chests, Roorkhee chairs and hides I have sitting in the basement.

All you need are three 1” x 1” x 23-1/2” sticks – perfect offcuts, really.

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One of these two stools is based on a late-19th-century example shown in one of Christopher Clarke Antiques’ catalogs. These stools were quite common (they still are, really). In addition to the military, these stools were common among artists, campers, sportsmen and hunters.

The only thing keeping these stools from being a perfect weekend project is the hardware. The old three-way bolts are very hard to come by. Time to talk to a blacksmith.

— Christopher Schwarz

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Un Etrange Suicide – in High Def

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Some of you might remember my “Death by Roubo” blog entry from March 2013, a grim but fascinating look at how to use your workbench for more than woodworking.

Well sometime this summer I got the idea to turn that image into a T-shirt with a slogan that was in questionable taste. So, with the help of Jeff Burks, I purchased two original copies of the April 5, 1903, edition of Le Petit Parisen, which had originally published the story and drawing. The old newspapers weren’t expensive.

Surprisingly, everyone I told the T-shirt idea to sensibly steered me away from it.

However, because I love this image so much, I took a high-resolution photo of it today and am publishing it here for you to enjoy. The detail in the drawing is quite good. Whoever drew the illustration was either familiar with workshops or simply paid good attention.

I love the little copper glue pot, the brace on the wall and the odd clamping contraption in the background.

But mostly I like the bench. Nice detail on the leg vise’s chop, sir. I salute you.

It’s OK, don’t get up.

Save the image to your hard drive, and you will be able to zoom in on this image to your heart’s content. If you don’t know how to save an image to your computer, click the link below to download the image.

https://blog.lostartpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/strange_suicide_img_6637.jpg

— Christopher Schwarz

Our Book-release Party is Full

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If you are coming to Woodworking in America next month (or even if you aren’t), please consider attending our book release party at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 17, at A Tavola Pizza, 1220 Vine St. in Cincinnati. (Sorry the book-release party is fully booked.)

And if you can’t make it to the book-release party, be sure to join us in the WIA marketplace at noon on Oct. 19 for a second book signing with many of the principals involved in the translation project.

— Christopher Schwarz

The Horse Dung (and Urine!) Experiment

Posted on by Lost Art Press
Jonas in June 2011, when I met him at Dictum GmbH.
Jonas in June 2011, when I met him at Dictum GmbH.

In our excerpt of “To Make as Perfectly as Possible: Roubo on Marquetry,” A.-J. Roubo offers a recipe for staining wood red using a concoction made using horse dung and urine.

Here’s the recipe:

Before finishing the dyeing of wood, I believe I ought to give a least-costly method of dyeing white wood red, which is done in the following manner:

You take some horse dung, which you put in a bucket of which the bottom is pierced with many holes, and you place it above another bucket, into which falls the water from the dung, as it gradually rots. When it does not rot fast enough, you water it from time to time with some horse urine, which helps a lot and at the same time gives a red water, which not only stains the surface of the wood, but penetrates the interior 3 to 4 lines deep. In staining the wood with this dye, one must take care that all the pieces be of the same species, and about equal in density if one wishes that they be of equal color throughout. This observation is general for all water-based stains, which have no palpable thickness nor even appearance [they leave no residue or any evident change in appearance], which requires the cabinetmaker to make a choice of wood of equal color and a density as I mentioned before.

Woodworker Jonas Jensen of Mors, Denmark, is making this stain and documenting the process on his blog, Mulesaw. Follow along – but be warned, if you don’t like pictures of dung you are not going to like the instructions.

And just a reminder, the standard edition of “To Make as Perfectly as Possible: Roubo on Marquetry” is almost finished at the printer. If you want the book with free domestic shipping, be sure to place your order before Thursday, Oct. 10.

The standard edition is available in the store here. We have some deluxe versions still available, though the supplies are dwindling. Click here for details on the deluxe edition.

— Christopher Schwarz