Lost Art Press

Category: Open Wire

LAP Open Wire: May 18, 2024

Posted on by fitz
The Gramercy saw vise on the left has plaster dust on it from my basement. The one on the right has wood dust on it from Chris’ basement. We are a collective embarrassment.

I think the last time these saw vises got used was during Matt Cianci’s last saw sharpening class in our shop. In 2019. We unearthed them from our respective basements for Matt’s class going on today and tomorrow – and we will have our ear plugs at the ready. (It is not a quiet class.) And I will try to talk Matt into taking my super-dull dovetail saw home with him to sharpen. (I have a good saw vise, obviously – but I also have bad astigmatism – I’m not touching my dovetail saw with a saw file!)

Chris and I will be at our computers all day (that’s a lie), ready to answer your woodworking questions (that part is not a lie). You know hos this goes: Post your (succinct) question(s) in the comments field below, and we shall do our best to answer.

Comments have been closed.

– Fitz

Open Wire: May 11, 2024

Posted on by Lost Art Press
My daughter Katherine assembling a chair we built together.

This may or may not work. For the last month, our blog has been sinking into madness. Subscribers weren’t receiving emails, our RSS feed was jacked up and this week we started receiving fatal errors whenever we tried to post.

We have lots of technical help, and I hope in the coming week things will be cleared up for good (we are migrating our blog to a self-hosted server with lots of in-person, on-the-phone support). Then I’ll be able to tell you about the final make-room-at-Anthe sale we are now running. And lots of other news.

But until then, our apologies for the weirdness. I hope we will be able to answer your questions today. Let’s give it a go. Write your question in the comment field below, and we will answer it.

Comments are now closed.

— Christopher Schwarz

LAP Open Wire, Sat. May 4

Posted on by fitz

Comments are now closed

Chris is getting ready for a chair class that starts on Monday, and if all goes as planned, I’ll be gluing up panels for a Shaker project…but we’ll be also be online off and on until 5 p.m. to take your woodworking questions. So post ’em in the comments below (as always, brevity is appreciated).

Also, if you’re interested in taking a chair class with Chris, we have two late additions to our Covington Mechanicals Summer/Fall schedule that go on sale Wednesday at noon (Eastern): an Irish chair, Aug. 12-16 and a Welsh-style comb-back Sept. 30-Oct. 4.

– Fitz

LAP Open Wire, April 27, 2024

Posted on by fitz

Update: Comments are now closed.

Chris should be done with the chair above by the time you’re reading this. As I write and schedule this post, he’s doing the “make pretty” on the arms, legs and seat, and the backrest will be installed by lunchtime. Then he’ll spray a coat or two of shellac and rub on a coat of black wax…then decide he’s unhappy with that look, strip the wax and do a few tests to find a paint that will cover it. If that’s successful, he’ll spray the paint, and hopefully get two coats applied before it’s time to head to the bar. It’s Friday; on Fridays, we go to Crafts & Vines.

If the spray approach doesn’t work, I’ll be wear painting togs Saturday, with my brush in hand.

All that to say Chris, and possibly I, will be available to answer your woodworking-related questions. Please leave them in the comments below. And please know that if the question – or your response to our answers – is longer than the preamble to the Constitution, we will glaze over and be mildly annoyed. And we will roll our eyes in your general direction. “Brevity is the soul of wit,” said Polonius. And while in his mouth those words are ironic, he’s not wrong.

– Fitz

p.s. The chair will be posted for sale on the blog just as soon as we get the blog fixed (assuming Chris is happy with the finish by then). No one is getting the RSS feed or notifications right now. It is vexing.

LAP Open Wire, April 20, 2024

Posted on by fitz

Wally and I are busy today helping students turn the sticks shown above into sawbenches. But Chris is back this week, eagerly awaiting your Open Wire questions.

So, please post your (succinct) woodworking questions in the comments below, and Chris will answer. You can also ask him about the massive wave of relief you might have felt emanating from Northern Kentucky and Central Indiana (where John lives) late yesterday. That was engendered by our finally having all the LAP/Crucible books, tools, clothing and sundries under one (now non-leaking) roof in our warehouse!

Note: Comments are now closed.

– Fitz