Lost Art Press

Author: Lost Art Press

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

That (bleeping) Ad for the (bleep) ‘American Peasant’

Posted on by Lost Art Press
What’s this guy selling?

One of the many things I disliked about working for a family newspaper was how fragile the editors were to reader criticism. If one person complained about the tiniest thing in a news story I’d written, I’d be dragged into the city editor’s office and raked over the coals about it.

They’d print a correction, clarification or retraction – even if it wasn’t warranted.

The editors’ temerity eventually seeped into my reporting and writing. If I thought someone would complain about the way I wrote a story or the subject matter, I would sanitize it to the maximum degree. Why? I needed the job to eat and stuff.

For the past 13 years I’ve been free of the corporate mamby-pamby poopy-butt stuff. It took awhile for the poison to pass through my system entirely (I’d been gagging on it for 21 years). And the result of this cleansing is my substack “The American Peasant.”

My writing for “The American Peasant” is the way I wrote when I was fresh out of journalism school. I was unafraid of speaking my mind (or perhaps too stupid to not be afraid of speaking my mind). I wrote like I talk and how I think. 

Why do I keep that writing sequestered on the substack? Good question.

Recently we started running a few advertisements for “The American Peasant.” The ad (above) is goofy (it looks like I’m trying to sell a tape dispenser). And the reaction has been about what I expected.

Omar P. Bounds III: “Just because you can do some woodworking doesn’t mean you can’t be an ahole.”

Allison Loxsom: “I might have considered buying this. I’ll get something from a craftsman who doesn’t need to be vulgar to be cheeky.”

For me, this means the ad is working. These people wouldn’t like the substack and would be horrified if they subscribed. The language there is direct and unapologetic. The specific words are sometimes crass (and justified). And the topics are not what you’ll find in magazines or books. But they are things I’ve wanted to get off my chest for a long time.

Here’s a free example: People Take Warning: Your favorite toolmaker can disappear.

Some readers have asked: Why not put this stuff on the Lost Art Press blog? It’s too personal. And I don’t want this stuff to appear in the same space as writing from our authors. That’s not fair to them. 

So if you’ve ever wondered what I *really* think about ________….. This is where you’ll find it. 

A free subscription allows you to read about half the posts. It’s a good way to try things out and see if it’s right for you. “The American Peasant” is not for everyone, but it appears to be for a lot of people (“The American Peasant” has just as many subscribers as this blog.)

— Christopher <bleeping> Schwarz

Digital Chair Design Tool (It’s Free)

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The main screen of the chair design tool.

When I was finishing up the writing of “The Stick Chair Book,” one of my friends suggested we should make a flip book that had four different “layers.” There would be a layer for the undercarriage, one for the seat plus the arm, one for the sticks and one for the comb. 

Kinda like this.

Readers could flip the pages to try different combinations of undercarriages, seats, sticks and combs. It was a cool idea, if limited in its usefulness.

Then Nick, a reader, made a cool and free tool that you can use to visualize different sorts of chairs. Once you create a design with the sliders, then click “Layout” at the top of the screen, and you get all the dimensions and angles you need to build the chair. It’s really quite clever and amazing.

And don’t forget to rotate the chair around. It really does help you visualize different designs.

The program works in both metric and American Customary Units, and currently works with designing a lowback chair. A comb back is in the works, according to the site.

If you like the tool (I love it), consider sending a contribution (I did).

— Christopher Schwarz

‘Set & File’ Back in Stock (Yay); Delays on Other Books (Boo)

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“Set & File: A Practical Guide to Saw Sharpening” by Matt Cianci is back in stock after we absolutely burned through the first printing. We now have enough copies to begin filling wholesale orders for our international retailers. So stay tuned.

Other good news: Classic Hand Tools in the U.K. now has “American Peasant” and “Backwoods Chairmakers” in stock.

Now the not-so-good news: Two titles have been delayed because of manufacturing glitches. The Stick Chair Journal No. 2 and “Principles of Design” are stuck in the cover department of the plant. They are having trouble getting a clean diestamp on both covers. Here are some photos for those of you who are curious about what gets rejected.

We are trying to find a foil and cover material that will give a crisp impression. I hope it won’t take long.

— Christopher Schwarz

Help Fund 2 Chairmaker’s Toolbox Classes this Fall

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Students from our first scholarship class with The Chairmaker’s Toolbox.

This fall, Megan and I are each teaching scholarship classes for The Chairmaker’s Toolbox, which offers free training for people who have been historically excluded from the trade.

I’m teaching a stick chair class Sept. 16-20. And Megan is teaching a Dutch tool chest class Oct. 11-13. Megan and I both volunteer our time and the workshop here for the classes. We also cover the students’ materials, plus breakfast and lunch during the class.

For that last few years, readers have asked to donate to help cover the materials and the food for these scholarship classes. If you would like to help out, you can send a donation via this link. Any amount helps. (Please note a donation is not tax deductible. We are not a charity or nonprofit.)

If we collect more money than we need, every penny gets donated to The Chairmaker’s Toolbox to help fund its expenses. We do not make any money off these classes.

Thanks to everyone who has donated in the past. Many of our students from these classes have gone on to teach chairmaking to others or have launched their own businesses. (In other words, it’s working!)

Here’s the link again (because they tell me we are supposed to do that).

— Christopher Schwarz

P.S. Don’t bother leaving a comment that craps on the program or us. No one will ever see it. At Lost Art Press, we help anyone who wants to enter the craft. We teach scholarship classes (and donate money) for need-based students, students who have been historically excluded and those who serve (such as our military). Don’t get ugly about something beautiful.

A John Brown Rocking Chair

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Earlier this month a John Brown chair surfaced at auction that was a highly unusual form: a comb-back rocking chair.

Commissioned in 1988, the chair was made for a family with a newborn and served as a nursing chair. From the seat up to the comb, the chair resembles JB’s cardigan chair, the chair he built for his book “Welsh Stick Chairs.” (FYI, many people don’t consider the cardigan chair to be a Welsh form, but that’s not part of this tale.)

Below the seat, things become unusual. Instead of an H-stretcher, the chair has a box stretcher and beefy rockers. The seat of the chair is elm, and it looks like the remainder of the chair is oak, though I can’t tell what species the rockers are.

The chair sold for the remarkable price of 550 GBP, according to Chris Williams, who tipped me off to the chair and the auction. Chris is the author of the excellent book “Good Work: The Chairmaking Life of John Brown.”

JB built the chair before Chris worked with him, so Chris was shocked to see the chair. “Can’t quite believe my eyes!!!” he wrote. 

I’ve seen only one other stick chair that was a rocker, and it looked like that chair had the rockers added later.

— Christopher Schwarz