Lost Art Press

Author: Lost Art Press

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

Thus Escaped from Fashion

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“What seems to have happened is this. Certain pieces of furniture, because of their essential practicality and usefulness, began during this period [the 17th century] to achieve definitive forms for which they were to retain for many years. Skilled but unsophisticated country craftsmen, usually joiners rather than cabinet-makers, repeated the same designs again and again, without changing them much, because they had been found to be the best for a particular purpose. A good deal of furniture thus escaped from the influence of fashion and, however unconsciously, responded only to the principle of fitness for use.

“It was the furniture of this type which eventually attracted the attention of 19th-century reformers such as William Morris, and which, through him, became the progenitor of a great many of the utilitarian modern designs which furnish people’s houses today.”

— Edward Lucie-Smith, “Furniture: A Concise History” (Oxford University Press)

Ouch! That’s Cool! I Mean Hot!

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Frat boys rejoice! There is now a low-cost way to brand your young pledges this fall!

Wait, wrong blog.

Uhh. Well this will work here, too. Thanks to a tip from a reader, I have found the most clever way to brand your work. It’s a custom-made branding iron that clips onto a Bic Classic lighter. Flick your Bic for 2 minutes and then simply press the iron against your work. A small puff of smoke later, your work (or the backside of a naughty pledge) is branded for life. Here’s some video I shot this evening.

The inexpensive branding iron  – prices start at $22 – is custom made with your logo. To make your own, you simply upload a logo to the Shapeways web site and pay for it. In a couple weeks, they send you an envelope with the doohicky inside. Clip it to your Bic (not included) and you are in the branding business.

To get started at Shapeways, click here.

I was impressed by the detail from such an inexpensive gadget. I have no idea how many uses I’ll be able to squeeze out if it, but the metal is quite stout. I have high hopes.

In fact, I think we might skip implanting the subcutaneous computer tracking chip in our next batch of kitty cats and just go with a simple low-tech brand.

Man, I hope my wife doesn’t read my blog.

— Christopher Schwarz

P.S. The music in the video can be found here at FreeMusicArchive.org.

A Poor Crutch

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“A book makes a good staff, but a poor crutch.”

— Julia Ellen Rogers, “Trees” (Doubleday)

Leather-bound Copies of ‘The Anarchist’s Tool Chest’ Now For Sale

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After intense lobbying from customers, we have decided to offer 26 leather-bound copies of the third printing of “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest.”

These leather-bound copies cost $185 postage-paid to U.S. customers. The books will be bound in the same brown leather we used for the first printing. The leather will be hand-distressed, and the end sheets will be hand-colored paper. As always, the work will be performed by the life-long artisans at Ohio Book in Cincinnati.

Unlike the first two printings, the third printing includes a complete index and a new ending – I’ll post that new ending here later this week.

We are going to be selling these leather books a little differently than in the past. Instead of starting a waiting list and spending hours administering it for people who fall off or want to jump on, we have decided to do it Roman-style: First-come, first serve.

The first 26 people to place an order for the book in our store will receive the book when it is complete, which will take about six weeks. This simpler system will save us hours of exchanging e-mails (yes, we still love you; no we don’t want to see photos of your Komodo dragon) and phone calls.

So get out your credit card and click here.

— Christopher Schwarz

‘The Essential Woodworker’ for Kindle

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You can now purchase Robert Wearing’s hand-tool masterwork, “The Essential Woodworker,” for your Kindle or other reader that is compatible with Kindle files. The Kindle book is $10 and can be purchased here in our store.

That means you can now buy this landmark book in hardcover for $23, ePub for iPad or iPhone for $10 or in Kindle format for $10.

This reprint is fully authorized by the author – beware of pirated editions – and royalties from the sale of both the electronic and hardcover Lost Art Press editions go to help support Wearing in his old age.

The Kindle and ePub editions of “The Essential Woodworker” are based on our revised 2010 edition of the book where we incorporated corrections and revisions from Wearing, reset all the text and recreated photos that were lost by the previous publishing company.

Bringing this book back into print was a three-year ordeal for us – you can thank my partner John Hoffman for slicing through most of the red tape. But the hard work was worth it. “The Essential Woodworker” is one of the most important hand-tool woodworking books published in the post-Charles Hayward era and it remains one of my favorite references.

We are dedicated to keeping this book in print for as long as possible – we have thousands of copies stockpiled in my basement – and at a reasonable price. And getting it into Kindle and ePub formats helps ensure the book will not be forgotten or lost.

To purchase and download the Kindle edition, visit our store. International customers can send $10 via PayPal to john@lostartpress.com and he will send you a link to download the file.

— Christopher Schwarz