Lost Art Press

Category: The Anarchist’s Tool Chest

On Monday, Wanna Build a Tool Chest?

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If you have ever wanted to build a full-on dovetailed Anarchist’s Tool Chest and want it done quick, here is your chance.

Due to a slight mix-up, we have two openings in my Anarchist’s Tool Chest at The Woodworker’s Club in Rockville, Md. They are prepping the poplar for the build today and tomorrow, so if you sign up now, you can be cutting dovetails on Monday morning and your chest will be done by Friday (except the easy innards. Hmmm “Easy Innards” would be a good band name…).

Sign up here. Or call 301-984-9033.

These classes are brutally fun. We work like dogs and then are mean to our livers.

— Christopher Schwarz

The Minimalist Anarchist Tool Kit

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To build an English-style tool chest, you don’t need a chest full of hand tools. Here is what I consider the minimum tool kit necessary to build this chest during a class or in your shop (as soon as you have your stock dimensioned).

Handplanes
Block plane: for smoothing surfaces and trimming joints flush
Jack plane: for gross removal of material
Moving fillister, skew rabbet or large shoulder plane: for cutting rabbets
Plow plane: for plowing the groove in the lid
Beading plane: 1/8” or 3/16” (optional)

Saws
Dovetail saw
Tenon saw
Coping saw, such as the Olson, and extra blades (10 or 12 tpi)

Chisels
1/2” bevel-edge chisel
1/4” or 5/16” mortising chisel
Chisel mallet

Marking & Measuring
Cutting gauge, such as the Tite-Mark
Dividers (one or two pair)
Marking knife
Mechanical pencil
Dovetail gauge or sliding T-bevel
Tape measure
Combination square: 6” or 12”

Miscellaneous
16 oz. claw hammer
Nail sets
Hand drill with a set of bits up to 1/4”
Sharpening equipment

Depending on how you cut your dovetails, you can skip some of the equipment. If you cut pins first, you can get away without a marking knife. If you like your dovetails a little irregular looking, you can dispense with the dovetail marking gauge and the dividers. If you truly cut your dovetails “by hand” then you don’t need a dovetail saw (you ninja).

— Christopher Schwarz

‘Lost Art Press’ on The Highland Woodworker

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From where you are sitting, I am sure there are times I look like a media harlot. Sweet mother of mystery, I get tired of seeing my name, image and videos spread all over the Internet. So I can only imagine how you feel about it.

Ask my mom if this is true: Though I’m a total goofball, I really am too shy to look strangers in the eye. Somehow, I have ended up where we are today – featured on “The Highland Woodworker.”

When I get phone calls to do a video, class or presentation, my first response is always “no.” I’d rather dig through old books and build things in the shop. Period.

But Charles Brock has always been a helpful and genuine guy; plus, I owe so much to Highland Woodworking in Atlanta, which is the sponsor of the show. So I agreed to have Charles and Stephen Price in my home to chat about Lost Art Press.

I think they did a great job. And they used some photos of the farm house my mom and dad built outside Hackett, Ark., so it was a nostalgia trip as well.

Check it out. As always, it’s a great episode with high production values and a little bit for everyone.

— Christopher Schwarz

An Open Letter to Christopher Schwarz

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I woke at 4 a.m. this morning, my brain boiling with some thoughts on beds and coffins to build for the “Furniture of Necessity” book. And while barfing these notes into my laptop, I received an e-mail from David Savage.

Yes, that David Savage.

He wrote a review of “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest” for his blog. Read the whole amazing thing here. Or if you are incapable of clicking things, here’s an excerpt.

A real quality book, nice binding, good paper and a typeset that look good. I have had your book on my night stand for several months now remaining to be read. I have been a professional woodworker now for over 35 years and wood work books tend to hit the wall before I get past chapter one. Amateurs writing with utter conviction about something they don’t really know tend to get me cross. Schwarz is an amateur but somehow through a lifetime of woodieness he avoids the wall. Since starting this wonderful tome I have come to carry it about with me, almost closer than a good friend.

If Savage had thrashed me, I would have been just as honored. His woodwork is mind-blowing, and his writing is like getting bludgeoned by a hardbound copy of “The Sun Also Rises.” (That is a compliment.) He’s a regular contributor to many magazines that I read. For a sample of his prose, start here.

So, it’s a good day.

— Christopher Schwarz

Books we Found – 50 Percent Off

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WB_coverDuring some annual inventory activity, John Hoffman and I turned up two cases of books we don’t sell anymore at Lost Art Press. These books aren’t doing anyone any good sitting in a warehouse, so we’re offering them at 50 percent off retail until they are gone.

We don’t have a lot of these, so they likely won’t be around for long. Here’s what we found:

“Workbenches: From Design & Theory to Construction & Use” (19 copies). This is my first book and covers the principles of bench design and construction that I still follow today. We stopped carrying this book because it’s suicide to compete with Amazon.com, and I’ve never been happy that F+W chose to print the title in China. We’re selling it for $15 plus domestic shipping. All the copies are signed.

You can buy “Workbenches” via this link.

ATC_cover_300_IMG_0969-1First edition of “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest” – the tan cover edition. The first edition has a few typos and doesn’t have an index. But you can download the index for free here. And at $17.50 plus domestic shipping, it’s a solid deal. These are signed via either bookplate or directly.

You can buy the first edition of “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest” via this link.

— Christopher Schwarz