Category: Personal Favorites

Lost Art Press knows that healthy employees are happy employees.

To engender a new spirit of happiness among associates, Lost Art Press’s human resources department is sponsoring a new initiative that will help promote wellness among its employees, foster a friendly competitive spirit between its two corporate locations (Kentucky and Indiana) and offer up some fun prizes, too!

Each branch of the business has been instructed to appoint a “wellness leader” who will lead the charge for that office. The wellness leaders will meet with their local team members weekly, and all the corporate wellness leaders will participate in a bi-monthly conference call to compare “wellness points” and discuss the next steps for their teams.

The first wellness competition will involve consuming “whole grains,” which can reduce the risk of stroke, type 2 diabetes and heart disease. Each team will seek “wellness points” by consuming servings of whole grain. Each team will receive one point for for every serving. Examples include:

• 1/2 cup cooked brown rice or other cooked grain
• 1/2 cup cooked 100% whole-grain pasta
• 1/2 cup cooked hot cereal, such as oatmeal
• 1 ounce uncooked whole grain pasta, brown rice or other grain
• 1 slice 100% whole grain bread
• 1 very small (1 oz.) 100% whole grain muffin
• 1 cup 100% whole grain ready-to-eat cereal

How are the points tallied? At the end of every workday, employees will log into the corporate Whole Grain Gateway, where they will tally each serving of whole grain consumed during the last 24 hours. They also can download free recipes involving whole grains (try the Mexican Freekeh Chili With Beans).

The office’s wellness leader will also have administrative access to the Whole Grain Gateway so he or she can see how many wellness points have been earned by each team member and encourage more whole grain consumption among employees and ensure 100 percent participation.

Wellness leaders are encouraged to educate their branch employees on the benefits of whole grains. Examples of education include holding a “Whole Grain Fair” on-site where employees can examine whole grains, try different dishes and ask questions of dieticians. Example two: Wellness leaders can also create quizzes and games available through the Whole Grain Gateway for employees to explore.

During the bi-monthly conference call, the wellness leaders will compare wellness points earned by the two branches. At the end of every fiscal quarter, corporate Lost Art Press will award gift certificates to members of the winning team, including $5 gift cards to Subway and $20 gift cards to Whole Foods.

This is just the first of many wellness initiatives planned for Lost Art Press employees in the coming year. Look for upcoming competitions involving pedometers, on-site blood pressure checks and weekly weigh-ins!

— Lost Art Press Human Resources

This morning I finally cut into the stack of Port Orford cedar I’d purchased to build a Japanese sliding-lid box.

I picked up the stock at Northwest Timber while I was working out in the Portland, Ore. area and the company shipped it back home for me. (I wrote a blog entry about Northwest here.) I bought enough cedar for a single box with a typical amount of waste when I am purchasing good wood.

During my tour of Northwest, I was quite impressed by the quality of stuff the company sells. Every splinter of it is primo, photographed on the web site and ready to ship. Yes, it’s pricy compared to buying it from a typical lumberyard. But Northwest is no typical lumberyard.

Even though I knew the stock was perfect, I was surprised that I was able to easily get two sliding-lid boxes out of the four sticks. I had expected to get one box and a few extra parts. So the cost per board foot was effectively slashed in half. And because I’ll have two boxes to sell, It’s a big win all around.

Definitely check out Northwest if you are looking for figured or specialty woods. I have them bookmarked.

Back to the shop.

— Christopher Schwarz

This week John stopped by to pick up a pile of books left over from the Handworks show and tossed me a bag packed with computer cords and a silver bullet.

“Uh dude,” I said. “You left some ammo in my bag.”

“Nope,” John said. “Someone gave me that to give to you.”

“Oh great,” I replied. “Another death threat.” (Note: This is an exaggeration. I haven’t gotten a good solid death threat in 20 years. However, people do regularly threaten to beat me up.)

I examined the curious ribbed capsule and turned it over. Yup – the base looked like a shotgun shell. OK, time to open it up and read the threatening note inside that is no doubt written in all capital letters.

I twisted the top. It came off and I laughed. Inside is a nozzle. It’s an oilcan.

It turns out to be a Perfect Pocket Oiler, patented in 1889, that was manufactured by Cushman & Denison of New York. The little gizmos were sold to dispense tiny drops of oil on household machinery, such as bicycles and sewing machines.

Unlike typical oilcans, the Perfect Pocket Oiler has some nice details.

1. The oil reservoir is all one piece so it cannot leak. Most oilcans are made from a base piece that is folded together with the sides. And they leak.
2. Instead of the oiler being just a reservoir and a nozzle, this has a clever spring-activated pump and seal. Nothing comes out of the tip until you press the ring around the nozzle down. Then capillary action dispenses a drop of oil.
3. A lid. So you can put it in your pocket without getting your privates oily (I realize some of you will actually see this as a disadvantage).

I don’t know who pressed this oiler into John’s hand at Handworks, but thank you. It’s getting some good use already because I loaned my two favorite oilers to Thomas Lie-Nielsen.

— Christopher Schwarz