After requests from readers, we ordered some “I Shall Die Trying” T-shirts in the “small” size and “3XL” size. They are in stock and available for immediate shipment. Like the other shirts with this design, these are all 100 percent cotton, made by American Apparel and made in the United States.
We still have all the sizes in stock (but barely). Click here for more information or to order.
— Christopher Schwarz
Whenever I produce a DVD with Popular Woodworking Magazine, I get a small box of the finished product as part of my contract. I also receive a toe massage, a liver purging and a private performance of “Dance of the Seven Veils” (David Thiel can shake his moneymaker).
Anyway, we have a number of these in stock and we are going to sell them at a very nice price in the Lost Art Press store with free shipping. Quantities are very limited – about a dozen each. Here are the details.
Super-tune a Handplane: $21 plus free shipping
Whether your plane is old or new, discover tips that will make it perform with surgical precision. With just a little effort and a couple hours, you can turn any handplane into a super-tuned, high-performance tool.
Many woodworkers are looking for a handplane that can be brought back to working life with just a little time and effort — and at a great bargain. This DVD from Christopher Schwarz shows you how to rehab a flea-market find (or soup up a new tool) into a perfectly tuned plane that can handle any task.
You’ll discover:
Mastering Hand Tools: $12 plus free shipping
“Mastering Hand Tools” is a 2 disc DVD set that will introduce you to the basic hand tool skills to turn you into a woodworker equally comfortable in either the powered or hand tool world — and offer the best results from each world. Host Christopher Schwarz starts off the video by asking the question, “Why use Hand Tools?” A fair question that he quickly answers by extolling the benefits of traditional woodworking tools — blended with some of the niceties of power tools. Those benefits include a healthier work environment, fewer jigs and test cuts, and accuracy to within .001″. Watch along as Chris offers advice on selecting hand tools, shares tips for set-up and puts the tools to work.
Learn About:
— Christopher Schwarz
With only days before the Christmas holiday, I stumbled (literally) on a project idea in the new Modern Wing at the Art Institute of Chicago.
Step 1: Find a stump as big as your bottom.
Step 2: Cut it to about 18” long.
Step 3: Paint the end a funky color.
These were not on exhibit. They were for the patrons to sit on while viewing the collection. I give the design a “10” for solidity and permanence. And a “1” for comfort.
Also, I found some interesting early stuff in the permanent collection that was in the not-Modern Wing.
— Christopher Schwarz
The simple chest is listed as circa 1692 from Marshfield, Mass., in red oak and pine.
The chest with the split turnings is dated April 15, 1704, and is listed as a Connecticut piece – possibly Weathersfield.
And the third chest is considered 1710 and from the Hatfield/Deerfield area in Massachusetts.
…because it has six sides, instead of our puny three. No, no, I kid.
Let’s back up for a second for those who don’t know much about the “cabinetmaker’s triangle” shown above in plate 18 from A.J. Roubo’s “L’Art du Menuisier.” The triangle is scrawled on almost all assemblies so that we can immediately orient our pieces when we glue them together.
The triangle trumps all the crazy “AA, BB” and numbering systems I’ve seen and used. The triangle is simpler and almost foolproof.
So why is the French triangle better that a plain equilateral triangle? It is even more foolproof than a plain triangle. With a plain triangle that is marked on the edges of assemblies – think dovetailed drawer – there are times when a part of a triangle can look like the mark for a “true edge” – sometimes called the “carat.”
You cannot make that mistake if you use a French triangle. The loops at the base prevent it from looking like a carat. And the fourth line to the apex prevents it from looking like a carat at the tip.
Plus, chicks dig it.
I’ve been using the French triangle for about a month in my shop. When Megan Fitzpatrick, executive editor from Popular Woodworking Magazine, stopped by to drop off some lumber she saw the French triangle on a panel and said: “Oh, pretty!”
Reason enough. Now where are my Gauloises?
— Christopher Schwarz
Here is our Christmas/holiday present to you, our readers – a fully produced version of the “Irish Joiner,” a fun 1825 tune about how all professions are similar to woodworking.
The “Irish Joiner” was brought to life by woodworker Dan Miller who performed the vocals, octave mandolin and Irish whistle. He is accompanied by Peter Connolly on the Irish whistle, guitar and Irish drum. If you like the “Irish Joiner,” I think you’ll like Dan and Peter’s CD “A Parcel of Rogues,” from their group, Finagle. Check it out here on Amazon.
The original score was dug up by (who else) Jeff Burks, who found it featured in the play “The Shepherd of Derwent Vale; Or, The Innocent Culprit: a Traditionary Drama, in Two Acts, Adapted (and Augmented) from the French by Joseph Lunn.” Read the entire play here.
Rooney O’Chisel, the Irish joiner, is a supporting character in this tale of two brothers and treachery. He’s a joiner who was robbed of his business and then becomes a jailer.
You can download the mp3 using the link below. Then you can add it to iTunes, an mp3 player or just double-click so it will play on your computer. I think it’s a perfect piece of shop music, and I am pondering a sing-along at the next woodworking event I attend.
Thanks to everyone involved in this project. I hope you enjoy the song, and you whistle it on your way to work.
— Christopher Schwarz
Irish Joiner
I’m a joiner by trade, and O’Chisel’s my name;
From the sod, to make shavings and money I came:
But myself I was never consarning
‘Bout the lessons of schools;
For my own chest of tools
And my shop were a college for larning.
For by cutting, contriving,
And boring, and driving,
Each larned profession gains bread;
And they’re sure to succeed,
If they only take heed
To strike the right nail on the head.
Whack! whack! hubbaboo, gramachree;
All the dons in the nation are joiners like me.
Whack! whack! hubbaboo, gramachree;
All the dons in the nation are joiners like me.
The lawyers, like carpenters, work on a binch,
And their trade’s just the same as my own to an inch;
For clients, whenever they dive in it,
Soon find the cash fail;
For the law’s a big nail,
An’ the ‘torneys are hammers for driving it.
For by cutting, &c.
Then each Sunday, at church, by the parson we’re tould,
By line, square, and compass, our actions to mould;
And at joining himself the right sort is;
For he pins man and wife
Together for life,
Just as firm as a tenon and mortise.
For by cutting, &c.
And the heroes who sarve in our army and ships,
When they’re fighting our battles, are all brotherchips,
So entirely our trades are according;
For, with tools of sharp steel,
Soldiers cut a great deal,
And the tars are nate workmen at boarding.
For by cutting, &c.
Then our nobles and marchants, and stock-jobbing lads,
Like joiners, work best when they’ve plenty of brads.
Each projector’s a great undertaker;
And, to clinch up the whole,
Our good king, bless his soul!
Is an elegant cabinet-maker.
For by cutting, &c.