Category: The Anarchist’s Design Book

I have a bad feeling in my colon about the following idea. But as I’m listening to my spleen these days, let’s give it a try.

My sketchbook is filled with drawings – made in 45 seconds or less – of pieces of furniture that are at some early stage of development. Some have been revised a few times. Most are just raw thoughts.

But I’d like to use these sketches to encourage you to try your hand at a 45-second sketch.

So here’s the deal. I’ve posted this drawing in our forum here.

If you want to discuss the design, you have to post a 45-second sketch of a piece (in your own hand that shows some effort). Post a drawing and we can talk.

If I (or anyone else) wants to comment on your design, then we’ll have to also post a new drawing.

It could be fun. Or it could go nowhere. It’s up to you.

— Christopher Schwarz

For about the last year I’ve been filling my sketchbook with drawings of staked furniture – applying the idea to a variety of forms.

Some of these ideas made it into “The Anarchist’s Design Book,” such as the bed. Others were dead ends or needed some more noodling. During the last three months several of these designs have really started to take shape, including an ottoman with a curved top, a dropleaf table and a settee (shown above in its still-rough form).

These ideas have all developed using a series of sketches made in about 45 seconds. If you haven’t tried making brief and rough sketches of your ideas, I think it’s worth a try. It’s faster than making a cup of coffee.

Later this month I hope to show some of these sketches on our forum and encourage others to try applying the ideas of staked furniture to other furniture forms. In fact, some woodworkers are already at work on this; Cody Carse showed his staked bookcase sketches here.

— Christopher Schwarz

To prevent “The Anarchist’s Design Book” from rivaling “War and Peace” in word count, I hatcheted a lot photos and words during the editing process. Some of the photos that I removed, however, might be interesting to those considering building some of the projects.

The staked dining table and worktable are probably my two favorite projects in the book, and yet they are so unusual that I’m afraid people might dismiss them. So here are a few alternative views of these projects from the book that might give you a better feel for what they look like “in the round.”

Also, there’s a good shot of the dining table with a tablecloth – which is how the table would have been typically used for eating.

— Christopher Schwarz

Though it is painful, I try to read all of the reviews – good, bad and indifferent – of my work.

Reviews don’t really change what I write about in the future, but they do let me know if I am communicating my ideas. Sometimes what I think is obvious is not so obvious to a reader.

This week, I spotted two reviews of “The Anarchist’s Design Book,” which finally seems to be making its way into the hands of readers. You can check these out for yourself:

Greg Merritt of the blog “By My Own Hands” published this review.

And Norman Reid at “Wood News Online” published this one. In the interest of full disclosure, Wood News Online is published by Highland Woodworking, which carries our books. But Norm is nobody’s tool.

Note: Unlike many publishers, we do not send out free copies of our books to reviewers. We don’t ask for book reviews from magazines, blogs or anywhere else. Heck, we don’t even advertise our books. I know I’ve said all this before, but it bears repeating every now and then.

In other news concerning “The Anarchist’s Design Book,” we have had to go back to press for a second printing already. We corrected about a dozen typos (sorry about that) and two small factual errors (very sorry about those). I’ll put up an errata on those in the coming days. Right now, I have to make dinner, or Lucy will punish me.

— Christopher Schwarz

I am not a visual learner. DVDs (and to some degree personal instruction) have always been frustrating for me because I like to speed things up, slow things down or stop dead in my tracks and think when I learn a new task.

That’s why I like books and seem to learn best from them.

But I’ve come to the conclusion that a fair percentage of the population prefers video. And so I have agreed to work with Popular Woodworking Magazine on a third DVD this year, this one on how to build the staked chair from “The Anarchist’s Design Book.”

The gist of the DVD is how to get started in building chairs without a lot of chairmaking tools. Many woodworkers are intimidated by the materials, tools and geometry needed to build their first chair. This DVD (and the book, by the way) seek to show you how to get started mostly with tools you already have. And to remove all math and numbers from the angles.

We begin shooting the DVD on Monday, and so I am preparing parts for two chairs that we’ll be building during the week. We’ll be bending wood without a steambox, making legs and spindles minus the traditional green woodworking tools, and we’ll be making seats without an adze, inshave or travisher.

I also hope we’ll have time to show how to use a soap finish – but no promises on that.

If all goes to plan, the DVD (and streaming video) will be released by Popular Woodworking Magazine in early summer. This most likely is the last DVD I’ll do for 2016. I have a sketchbook full of designs that is making me crazy – I’m staring at some drawings for a staked sitting bench that I simply have to build. Oh, and “Woodworking in Estonia” and “Roubo on Furniture” are also up on my screen.

Crap, it’s almost 11 a.m. and I have holes to bore.

— Christopher Schwarz