After a few blog about “apron hooks” (see here and here), reader Wendy Neathery-Wise decided to do something about it. She made me one.
The hook is her design. Though it looks a bit like the Masonic symbol, it’s not. The compass is the Lost Art Press logo. The square is from the cover of “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest.” And the hook contains the always mysterious letter “E.”
It works great. I attached it to my existing apron strings and there is one less thing I have to fumble with as I get ready to work in the shop.
Starting next week, all the books that I’ve written that we sell through Lost Art Press will be signed via a letterpress bookplate.
For the last six months, I’ve been signing the books via a simple adhesive label. We wanted something nicer. These bookplates are about five times nicer and 32 times as expensive.
These self-adhesive bookplates measure 2-3/8” x 2-3/4” and were printed at Steam Whistle Letterpress and Design in Cincinnati, Ohio. The bookplates are on acid-free Mohawk stock and were hand-set and printed on vintage equipment restored by Brian Stuparyk at Steam Whistle.
If you need some letterpress work (invitations, business cards, whatever), I highly recommend his shop. Brian has been obsessed with printing since he was a kid and has quite the collection of vintage machines and type.
As a convenience, we are also offering these signed self-adhesive bookplates by themselves for $2 (that price includes shipping). That way you can affix them in a book you have purchased from one of our retailers. Let me repeat that in a different way: All books sold by Lost Art Press that are written by Christopher Schwarz are already signed by him via this bookplate. You don’t need to buy this item if you are buying a book from us. This item is for people who have bought a book from another retailer and want to add his signature to it.
Here are some quick answers to questions we’ve received about signed books.
1. Why use a label or bookplate? Why don’t you just sign the book itself?
Our inventory is in Indiana. I am in Kentucky. There simply are not enough hours in the day for me to drive to Indiana and sign all our books. Until the day comes when we can consolidate all our operations in one city, this is the best that we can do.
2. Why don’t you offer these bookplates signed by other authors?
I suspect we will do that in the future. It’s a time-consuming process, and our first goal is to produce books, not get them autographed by the author.
3. Can I get you to sign my book with no bookplate?
Sure, just show up at one of the places I am teaching (my schedule is in the right rail of the blog). I’ll sign your book, your bare chest, whatever.
I can’t post the original article from October 2012 – that is the property of Popular Woodworking Magazine. But you’re smart. You can figure it out. Or you can buy the issue here.
It has been two years since “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest” was released, and so I am an unpleasant person to be around.
During the last 24 months I have been distracted or devoted to the task of publishing books from other authors. I’ve been teaching classes on three continents. I’ve filmed four DVDs. I’ve written a dozen articles for magazines and more than 300 blog entries.
But no books.
So I’m doing what I always do when I write a book. I gather all the material I need, I ignore the world around me and I start typing.
Today was huge. I managed to gather all the wood I need to finish my book on campaign furniture with a trip to Midwest Woodworking.
I needed about 160 board feet of mahogany to build the remaining three projects for the book, which are now drawn in SketchUp and outlined on my laptop. Four 16’-long boards from the racks at Midwest did the trick. And this beautiful stock is now sitting in my basement, waiting patiently as I finish making a bowsaw and tidy up some loose ends for upcoming classes.
Why the heck am I telling you this?
Because I’m about to go underground. From now until Dec. 31, I will be slow to respond to e-mails. I’ll be blogging less (thanks in advance to Jeff Burks for picking up my slack). And I’m dialing down my teaching schedule for the next two years.
So if you have an urgent question, you might want to ask some of the other excellent hand tool bloggers out there. If you want to take a class with me, you might want to look at what’s on the calendar for the next few months (see the right rail of this blog). And if you are waiting for the campaign furniture book, know that I am forsaking all others for you. Well, really it’s for me. I don’t care if you buy the book, I’m writing it for me.
Only suckers and the richie-rich buy tack rags at the store.
The rest of us can do a better job of making our own tack rags with simple shop chemicals and a just a few hours of work.
Step one: Get some cloth. To make the rag, you need something cotton that has got no lint. Old tank-top T-shirts are fine – just as long as they are thin enough that you can see your nipples through them.
Other options: Swipe some cheesecloth from the garbage of the local yuppie “cheeserie.” Raise some ungrateful kids and use their cloth diapers. Tip: Sort through the trash of your neighbors and get their old tack rags. Soak them in mineral spirits to remove the dust and binding agents. Launder them.
Step two: Soak your rags them in turps. If you live in the South, then turps are easy to get. Just pull over on the interstate in November and tap a longleaf pine tree by the side of the road. Here’s how:
First “box” the tree. Using a long-headed axe, cut a “box” shape into the base of the tree that is 10” to 14” wide and 2-1/2” deep. This will catch the sap from the tree.
Drive off.
In March, chip a “streak” approximately 3/4” wide and 1” deep above the box using a “hack” tool. This releases the sap, which collects in the box you cut back in November.
Drive off.
About April, use a steel spatula to scoop the liquid (called gum) from the box and into a bucket. With the turpentine collected, you can then soak your cotton cloths in the pine resin and get them ready to receive the thing that makes them “tack” cloths – some sort of resin.
Now, you can buy a varnish at the store and spend upwards of $13 on a quart of stuff that you can drizzle on your rags. Or you can easily make your own varnish using ingredients from the sporting goods store.
Step 1: Go to the sporting goods store and buy a cheap “batter’s bag,” which is filled with unrefined tree rosin, the key to making beautiful varnish. Suckers.
Step 2: You need a few quarts of olive oil. Take a Ziploc to your local Olive Garden and get the unlimited salad and breadsticks lunch. On the table will be a bottle of olive oil. Empty that into your plastic bag. Tell the waiter you are out of olive oil. Repeat until you have enough.
Step 3: A gallon of turps. You know the drill. Drive out to your longleaf pine forest in November….
Step 4: Boil these ingredients until they are the consistency of honey. Let it cool and put it into mason jars.
Now you are ready to make your tack rags. Take your turp-soaked diapers and drip some of your varnish on them, kneading the rags the whole time. Drizzle. Knead. When it gets real sticky, stop.
Victory. You are done. Store the rag in a plastic bag until you need it.