The once-in-15-years sale ends on Aug. 31. That is the final day you can save 40 percent on 13 of our titles, including many of our most popular books. Every item that is on sale can be seen here.
Also good to know: Aug. 31 is the last day you can purchase the “Build a Stick Chair” video at the introductory price of $50. After that date, the price will be $75.
For those of you who have purchased books during the sale, thank you. The sale has reduced a lot of our excess inventory that we hoarded during the pandemic. With any luck, we will never have to do this again.
We’ve heard from a lot of customers during the last two weeks that they have taken advantage of the sale to complete their collection of our “anarchist” titles. Or purchased books for woodworking friends and family members. A lot of you bought hats (sorry we are now all out of those).
I’ll post one more reminder right before the sale ends. But for now, let’s get back to talking about woodworking.
This six-stick comb-back chair continues my exploration of this form. It’s based on an antique Welsh chair in my collection and is made in American black walnut.
The chair is one of the four shown during the filming of our new video about how to build stick chairs, so you will see your chair a few times as it comes together in the background of the video.
I am selling this chair via a silent auction. Instructions on purchasing the chair can be found near the bottom of this blog entry. Here are some more details about its design and construction.
This particular chair is set up for general use. The back is fairly upright at 12° off the seat. And the seat tilts at 4°, giving the chair an overall tilt of 16°. The seat is 16-3/4” off the floor to accommodate both short and tall sitters, and the chair is 38-3/4” high overall.
All the straight components of this chair were sawn or split out to be as strong as possible. The arms are made from four pieces of black walnut. All of the chair’s major joints were assembled using hide glue, so repairs in the (far) future will be easy. The chair is finished with a non-toxic soft wax, a blend of beeswax and raw linseed oil that my daughter cooks up here in our shop. The wax is an ideal chair finish. It is not terribly durable, but it is easily renewed or repaired.
How to Purchase This Chair
This chair is being sold via a silent auction. If you wish to buy the chair, send an email to lapdrawing@lostartpress.com before 3 p.m. (Eastern) on Friday, Aug. 26. In the email please use the subject line “Chair Sale” and include your:
First name and last name
U.S. shipping address
Daytime phone number (this is for the trucking quote only)
Your bid
After all the emails have arrived on Aug. 26, we will pick a winner that evening.
If you are the “winner,” the chair can be picked up at our storefront for free. Or we can ship it to you via common carrier. The crate is included in the price of the chair. Shipping a chair usually costs about $250 to $300, depending on your location. (I’m sorry but the chair cannot be shipped outside the U.S.)
Despite having lived in Kentucky for 30 years, I’ve never visited the South Union Shaker Village in Logan County, Kentucky. I’ve driven past it more than 100 times – easy. But when Megan and I were headed to Nashville last week, I resolved to tap the brakes, turn off I-65 and visit the colony.
Like the other Shaker sites in Kentucky and Ohio, the South Union Shaker Village doesn’t receive the attention of the East Coast colonies. And that’s too bad. These western colonies are filled with gorgeous architecture and beautiful furniture.
All that remains of the South Union Village are a handful of buildings, but the site’s founders and conservators have managed to collect an impressive number of furniture pieces (especially firewood boxes) and display them in a restored environment.
If you are ever in Western Kentucky, you should definitely stop for a few hours to visit the village.
The trip reminded me that Megan had been working on a book about the Western Shakers (I’ve been helping with the photography) that came to a stop when the pandemic closed up all the museums and access to private collections. I hope this visit will help rekindle our efforts to shine a light on all the amazing Shaker furniture and buildings that have been mostly ignored by people in the wider world.
The short video shows some of the highlights from our visit.
Good news: We have Crucible GoDrillas and Center Squares back in stock and ready for immediate shipment. We assembled and inspected a huge bunch, so we hope they won’t sell out.
If you are wondering what a GoDrilla does, or why you would want a Center Square, check out the pages in our store, which have videos that (I hope) explain their utility.
Jennie’s hacking knife, which fell into my possession.
After Jennie Alexander died in 2018, she left a house full of tools, chairs and bits and pieces from her long life of woodworking, research and writing. For several months, her friends and family sorted through the possessions and distributed them so they would do the most good.
Shortly thereafter, we traveled to Jennie’s Baltimore home for one last time: to shoot step photos for the third and final edition of “Make a Chair From a Tree.” As we were leaving her home on Light Street, Jennie’s daughter Harper implored us to take some of the objects that no one else would.
Otherwise they were going to charity or the resale shop.
Among the few things I took was this hacking knife. Clearly blacksmith-made, it’s a heavy sucker at 1 lb. 4 oz. It’s made from 3/8”-thick steel. Overall the knife is 9-1/2″ long. The blade is 4-1/2″ long and 2-7/16″ tall. The handle is 5” long and 3/4” tall.
“I may have made that one,” Tom replied. “I think I also made one with a more shapely handle. The first one I made (which looks much like that) J. Alexander rejected because it wasn’t heavy enough to split pegs by knocking the cleaver and pegwood against the chopping block once the cleaver was stuck in the wood. The lightness hasn’t been a problem for me since I never made the super long pegs that J. did. I just strike it a couple times with the mallet, and the wood pops apart.”
Here you can see the sharp taper of its blade.
I’ve been using the knife for a few years now and think it’s perfect. I use it to split pegs, of course, but also to make short sticks. It also has a very Jennie-esque quality to it as it is so outwardly plain. In fact, it didn’t even really look like a tool when I first saw it among the clutter in her workshop.
But now I wouldn’t be without it.
I get occasional questions about the knife after I showed it in use in “The Stick Chair Book.” Plus we get asked: When will Crucible make them for sale? I think the answer is never. This is a tool that is best made by your local blacksmith. So take the dimensions listed above to their shop and see about getting your own Jennie Alexander Hacking Knife. You’ll be glad you did.
