I have been invited back to Germany this summer to teach a four-day introduction to chairmaking course at Dictum’s classroom in Niederalteich, a gorgeous monastery in Bavaria.
The class is in English (my German is terrible), and the location is a fantastic place to stay and learn. You can rent a room at the monastery. And we all eat meals together in the monastery’s gasthaus.
The class runs from July 9-12. Beginning chairmakers are most welcome. In the class we will each build a simple backstool and focus on the fundamentals – the angles, the joinery and training your hands to be a chairmaker.
While the chair shown is unsaddled, we will also cover basic saddling.
You can read more about the area and the class here.
I hope to teach a Dutch tool chest class the following week in Munich. More details on that class soon.
“The Anarchist’s Design Book, Expanded Edition” is now a free download for everyone. You don’t have to register, sign up for dumb marketing or give up your email address. Simply click here, and the book will start downloading to your device.
If you want to read more about what is in this book, click here. We will continue to offer printed copies of the book. I love physical books, and this one is particularly nice, with its premium endsheets and bookmark ribbon.
This is the fifth book of mine that I have made free as a download. Here are links to the other four (if you are interested):
When I set out to write, “The Anarchist’s Design Book,” my intent was to create a “pattern book” of vernacular furniture. The book didn’t turn out that way, which is sometimes how it goes. But during the research, Suzanne Ellison turned up a little book that fulfilled my original objective.
“A Craftsman’s Handbook: Henry Lapp” (Good Books) is a reproduction of 47 pages of a pattern book created by woodworker Henry Lapp (1862-1904). Lapp was an Amish furniture maker and hardware store owner in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
His book is filled with more than 100 designs that he made for customers on the farms and in the towns surrounding him. Each one is drawn in pencil and then painted in watercolor.
These pieces represent an excellent cross-section of the vernacular pieces common in the Americas during the 19th and early 20th century. You could spend your whole lifetime building these pieces and pretty much find contentment (both for you and your customers).
The little book is 4-3/4” x 8” is nicely printed on uncoated paper, but it is unfortunately perfect bound. Mine fell apart shortly after it arrived. Despite this flaw, it is an excellent addition to your library if you are interested in vernacular furniture. Highly recommended.
— Christopher Schwarz
p.s. There are a couple versions of this book out there. I don’t know how the others are bound.
p.p.s. You can read more about Lapp in this post from Suzanne Ellison (aka the Saucy Indexer).
We are temporarily lowering the price of “The Anarchist’s Design Book” to $37 (down from $52) in a sincere effort to clear out a huge section of our second floor devoted to warehousing this title. This is not a junk title – “The Anarchist’s Design Book” is our second best-selling book of all time.
We have more than 400 *boxes* of this book – nearly a three-and-a-half year supply, which we ordered during the dark days of the pandemic when it was next to impossible to get inventory. We are trying to move all our inventory to one location in Covington – right now it is spread over three locations, which is expensive and complicated.
The sale on the book starts today and runs through Jan. 19.
A few pallets of the design book at our Covington warehouse.
“The Anarchist’s Design Book” is the second book in the series and begins with the question:
“The people who could afford high-style furniture also owned mega-farms, factories and (sometimes) entire towns. This is not a knock on their wealth. But it is a simple way of asking a question that rarely gets asked among amateur makers: Why would you want to imitate the taste of your boss’s boss’s boss?”
The book offers vernacular furniture forms – classic and simple pieces that have changed very little during the centuries – that can be built with simple tools. Things like six-board chests, backstools and solid freestanding bookshelves.
“The Anarchist’s Design Book” focuses on two simple joints, nails and the staked mortise and tenon, to build all the pieces. It is designed for beginning and intermediate woodworkers. And it is a different path (and destination) than the one most woodworkers take.
“The Anarchist’s Design Book” is a massive hardbound book at 656 pages. Casebound, with a bookmark ribbon and made in the USA.
We very rarely discount products (unless we are closing them out). We hope this short sale will give us the space we need in our warehouse and put this book in the hands of some eager woodworkers.
— Christopher Schwarz
P.S. We have notified all our retailers that they can also lower the price during this period if they wish (and we have reduced the wholesale price for them, as well).
All my books sold through Lost Art Press will be signed by me.
All my books that you buy through Lost Art Press will be signed by me through 2024.
It takes a few hours of my time each week, but we are thrilled we can offer this small personal touch now that we have our fulfillment center up and running in Covington, Kentucky.
We also will offer the PG-13 “Sharpen This” sticker when you buy “Sharpen This.” (Our bestselling product of 2023.
This personal-touch stuff is what we have always wanted to offer our customers, but we were hobbled by our efficient but inflexible fulfillment center in Indianapolis.
More personal stuff on the way (no, you won’t be able to buy my underwear).
— Christopher Schwarz
All copies of “Sharpen This” come signed by the author and with this free sticker.