Lost Art Press

Category: Mouldings in Practice

New: Leather-bound ‘Mouldings in Practice’

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We now have 30 copies of “Mouldings in Practice” available for sale in the Lost Art Press store. The books are hand-bound in brown calfskin by the artisans at Ohio Book Store in downtown Cincinnati. The cost is $185 postage-paid to anywhere in the United States.

As with all of our leather-bound books, these feature a rounded spine and hand-colored end sheets. The brown calfskin cover the boards has been gently aged, which gives the books a slightly broken-in look. The spine on this edition also has a classy detail debossed into the leather.

These books are available to ship immediately. Click here to go to our store.

The book turns a set of complicated mouldings into a series of predictable rabbets and chamfers that guide your hollow and round planes to make anything – anything – that has been made in the past or that you can envision for your future projects.

During the last several months, we had many proofreaders edit this book and the universal reaction was much like this:

“Well crap. Now I want to buy some of these stupid planes.”

During the past 14 months, Matt and I have been working to make “Mouldings in Practice” into a book that is accessible for even the beginning hand-tool woodworker. It uses more than 200 color illustrations and dozens of photos to explain how to lay out, prepare for and cut any moulding you can draw.

The first half of the book is focused on how to make the tools function, including the tools that help the hollow and round planes – such as the plow and the rabbet. Matt also covers snipes bills and side rounds so you know their role in making mouldings. Once you understand how rabbets and chamfers guide the rounds and chamfers, Matt shows you how to execute the mouldings for eight very sweet Connecticut River Valley period projects using photos and step-by-step illustrations and instruction.

— Christopher Schwarz

Update on Leather-bound ‘Mouldings in Practice’

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The leather editions of “Mouldings in Practice” by Matthew Sheldon Bickford are finished and ready to be picked up from the bindery.

Unfortunately, I’m on a bus to Chicago today.

So here’s the update: The leather books will go on sale Monday about noon Eastern time. They will be $185 postage-paid to anywhere in the United States. We have 30 of them for sale, and it will be first-come, first serve in the Lost Art Press store.

I’ll make an announcement on the blog at noon on Monday with photos and links.

Thanks for your patience.

— Christopher Schwarz

Update: Leather Books, Roubo, Audiobook & etc.

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Next week we will be able to sell the leather editions of “Mouldings in Practice” in our Lost Art Press store. There will be 26 to 30 copies available (depending on how many survive the binding process) and they will be $185 postage paid to any address in the United States.

The books were delayed by the leather supplier – Ohio Book said it took three weeks to secure the brown leather we use for these books. I suspect a bovine rebellion was the real cause.

So for those of you who have itchy mouse fingers, you can relax this weekend. Monday will be the earliest they will be available. As always, it is first-come, first-serve on leather editions.

So while I’m explaining myself, here is a quick update on some other projects we are working on:

“To Make as Perfectly as Possible” aka, the Andre Roubo translation. This book is entirely in my hands right now. The translators have done their job. We have paid an obscene amount of money to get every single plate digitized. The essays are complete. I’m the problem.

“By Hand & Eye” by George Walker and Jim Tolpin. This has been edited and flowed into the InDesign layout files. All the images are digitized. I’ve edited it once. But once again, I am the impediment here. I need to get the design work underway.

Audiobook of “The Joiner & Cabinet Maker” as read by Roy Underhill. This is fully recorded and about 25 percent edited. What’s the holdup? It might surprise you that it is me.

Other books that are a little further out:

“Virtuoso” or the H.O. Studley book: Our team is going back to visit the tool chest again next month to take the final photographs. Then the real work begins.

“Furniture of Necessity:” This is my own book. I’ve shelved all my writing projects until I get caught up on editing the titles above.

“Campaign Furniture:” Ditto.

All our other titles are still being written by their authors – except one. That one is being designed right now in hopes of getting it out by the end of the year. More on that title as we get things firmed up.

— Christopher Schwarz

‘Do you want me to deprioritize my current reports until you advise me of a status upgrade?’

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Here are some short updates on projects in the works at Lost Art Press.

1. “Grandpa’s Workshop” is in its final stages at the printer and should be on its way to us in the next week. Free shipping for this title will end at midnight, Friday, Sept. 28. After Friday, shipping will $7.

2. Leather editions of “Mouldings in Practice” are still at the bindery. They should be ready any day now. When they are released, copies will be $185 (which includes domestic shipping). They will be first-come, first serve.

3. Lie-Nielsen is putting the final touches on a DVD opus I filmed there last year. The four-hour (you read it right) DVD will cover how to build a Shaker side table entirely by hand. This is the Shaker side table from Issue No. 2 of Woodworking Magazine God Rest its Soul. The design is based on a table from Thomas Moser’s book on Shaker furniture.

4. This morning I head up to F+W Media to film a DVD on restoring and tuning handplanes to a very high level. I bought a Stanley No. 4 Type 11 to fix up. It should be a good DVD for those woodworkers who struggle with their planes.

— Christopher Schwarz

2 Reviews of ‘Mouldings in Practice’

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We do not solicit reviews of our books. We do not send out free “review” copies in hopes of snagging a kind word, which is standard practice at most publishing companies.

So when people review a Lost Art Press book – for better or Lumberjockey – it’s because they bought the book with their own money. I completely respect those reviews. I read them. I take their ideas seriously.

This morning, two reviews of “Mouldings in Practice” by Matt Bickford came over the wire on my RSS feed. One is from George Walker, a columnist for Popular Woodworking Magazine and the author of a forthcoming book with Lost Art Press. You can discount his opinion if you like, but I wouldn’t. George is one of the more thoughtful woodworking writers working today.

Here’s the link to his entry.

The second review is from Brian Eve, an American woodworker in Munich, Germany. Brian has taken a couple classes with me, but I wouldn’t call him a fanboy. He’s always busting my chops about something I’ve done and is more passionate about the craft than most American woodworkers – the dude works out of a tiny storage closet.

In any case, here is Brian’s review.

Sales of this book have been quite strong, which is surprising. “Mouldings in Practice” covers a niche inside a niche, but it’s about a part of the craft that hasn’t been fully explored, such as dovetails, ultimate router tables or things built in a weekend.

— Christopher Schwarz