Just a quick reminder that we will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday to sell books and talk woodworking at our headquarters: 837 Willard St. in Covington, Ky.
We have our full line of books here, plus lots of T-shirts, stickers and posters – including some letterpress “Anarchist’s Tool Chest Posters” that I just dug up. And we also have about 13 blemished or returned books that are half price (cash only), including a few copies of the standard edition of “Roubo on Marquetry.”
Despite my natural hermit tendencies, we’ve decided to again open the Lost Art Press storefront on the second Saturday of each month. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
In addition to carrying our complete line of books and tools from Crucible, we also sell blemished books for 50 percent off (cash only on those) and special T-shirts and posters that are available only at the storefront.
The storefront is located at 837 Willard St. in Covington, Ky.
Jan. 14
Feb. 11
March 11 (in conjunction with a Lie-Nielsen Hand Tool Event)
April 8
May 13
June 10
July 8
Aug. 12
Sept. 9
Oct. 14
Nov. 11
Dec. 9
Since we bought the building in 2015, Covington has blossomed with new restaurants and developments that we are pleased to be part of. You can now stay in the beautiful Hotel Covington (a seven-minute walk from our storefront), get a drink at Braxton Brewing or one of the dozen other new watering holes. And there are new restaurants too numerous to mention.
Oh, and you can walk across the Roebling Suspension Bridge and there’s this other place, Cincinnati, to visit.
Work on the storefront has been proceeding at a good clip. By January we should have the basement all concreted and climate-controlled for wood storage (my first ever place to store wood!). I’ve been working at the back of the ground floor all month, eliminating the last of the purple glitter from the Blaze bar.
And, most exciting, we’ve upgraded the urinal with new plumbing.
The book looks spectacular. Crisp and tightly bound. I won’t bore you with the measurements of the fore edge or discuss paper weights. (We hear you, it’s boring.)
This week the warehouse will begin shipping out all the copies that were ordered before the publication date. You should receive an email when that happens, and the book should be in your hands within a week after it ships. Of course, the weather, sunspots and coyote malfeasance could delay that.
The next book in the pipeline is Vol. IV of “The Woodworker” series. This final volume is on workshop stuff (workbenches and tool chests), furniture and its details, plus a few philosophical surprises at the end.
Kara Gebhart Uhl, our managing editor, has finished up her edit of this book. Then Megan Fitzpatrick and I will give it a final once-over before it goes to press. My guess is it will be out in late January.
Also in the works is Mary May’s book on carving the acanthus leaf. That book will go to the designer on Saturday. It might take a while to design the book because the book is quite complex, with hundreds of photos and illustrations.
And finally, “Roubo on Furniture” is dilated at 9cm. Designer Wesley Tanner needs to make some repairs to the layout (don’t ask; it’s painful) and we need to rebuild the index. We are still gunning to get that to the printer before the end of the year and out on the streets by February.
Those are all the books for which I have updates. If you ask: “But what about XXX book?” my answer will be: “Sorry, I don’t know.” All the other books we’ve discussed are being worked on by their authors and are out of our hands.
What I do know is that we have four new book projects to announce in the coming week. Some of them are ridiculously ambitious, plus translations and books that should have been written long ago.
I’m still hoping for a 16-page picture book on happy snails.
Today the painters finished their job on the Lost Art Press storefront. There were a lot of details to manage, and a lot of cold weather to weather. But a crew of six guys spent the entire day going over every nook of the building, calling to each other to rework a detail or cover up a bare spot.
I’m quite pleased. And my neighbors are even more pleased – they’ve been interrupting the painters all week to tell them what a good job they are doing.
While I’m happy, I’m also trying to keep up. Today I built a new transom window for the side of the building that faces south. And I have two more transom windows to make. I also have to add a coat of wax to the front door and seal up the threshold below the new front door. And… the list is endless. Old buildings are fantastic obligations.
Despite my long to-do list, the next couple days will be all about cooking and eating for me. Thanksgiving is the only holiday I take seriously. It’s not about commerce. There are no greeting cards or gifts to buy. It’s just about getting together with the people you like and sharing a meal.
I hope you have the same sort of day – no matter where you live.
When Lucy and I purchased 837 Willard St. for our next home and workshop, we loved the building but were aghast at the paint job. I describe the color of the bricks as “inflatable sex doll” with highlights of baby blue and white.
This week those colors are on the retreat as a crew from Brian Driscoll Painting are repairing, recaulking and repainting the entire exterior. AJ and Jerome, the two painters who started the job, are both older than I am. They are methodical and meticulous. And they both care about good work.
The bricks are being repainted a light grey that has some green in it. The cast iron storefront is going to be a much darker grey. The sills will be a cream color. The details in the sills and cast iron will be picked out in dark grey and cream as appropriate.
We had a limited palette of colors to work with as we are in an historic district and any exterior changes need to be approved by the city. Our color choices were approved five days after submitting them, and I cannot tell you how thrilled I am to see the odd flesh color of our brick being replaced by a nice coat of grey.
You can check out the new paint job for yourself this Saturday as our doors will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Also, I’ll have a three-legged chair from “The Anarchist’s Design Book” on hand for you to try out. Don’t be scared, no one has fallen out of it – yet.
