The Anarchist's Design Book

March 12 Book-release Party Details (and Guest List)

Posted on March 2, 2016 by Lost Art Press

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The book release party for “The Anarchist’s Design Book” will be at 7 p.m. (EST) March 12 at 837 Willard St., Covington, KY 41011. It’s a 10-minute walk from Braxton Brewing Co., which is where the Lie-Nielsen Hand Tool event is being held that day.

The party is, alas, completely full. We cannot take any more guests because of the fire marshal’s regulations. We have to be strict about this because I don’t want to pay fines. Apologies.

We’ve had a lot of questions from people who have signed up for the party wondering why we haven’t emailed them with details. That’s because we didn’t ask for your email address. I hate asking for personal information unless we need it. If you would like to see if you actually RSVP’d, you can download the guest list here.

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So what will we be doing during the party? Eating pizza (more on that in a future post) and drinking beverages (feel free to bring some along; it would be much appreciated). As a party favor, we have 2,500 “Disobey Me” stickers to give out. (Note, if we have any left over we’ll find a way to put them in the store.)

Briony Morrow-Cribbs, the copperplate artist for the book, will be there to sign books and show off some of her original prints, which will be for sale on site.

We’ll also have special store-only T-shirts for sale. Plus a very cool poster I haven’t shown anyone. And all of our books – including the two Charles H. Hayward volumes.

And, like the Ronco commercials say, that’s not all.

Briony, Megan, John and I will all be on hand to sign books and talk shop. I also will have several pieces of furniture from the design book on display, including some of the wire models and prototypes – plus French workbenches and tool chests.

All in all, I am sure the evening will remind me of why I am a hermit by nature!

— Christopher Schwarz

‘The Anarchist’s Design Book’ Delayed at Bindery

Posted on February 29, 2016 by Lost Art Press

ADB_mockup_lo Our printer informed us this morning that “The Anarchist’s Design Book” has been delayed (again) at the Michigan bindery. The book was supposed to ship last week. Now it looks like the first 1,000 copies will ship to our warehouse on March 8 and the remainder will ship about March 11.

The delay is a result of us staining the edges of the book’s pages black. To do this, we had to send the books to a bindery we’ve not used before. Our usual bindery is reliable….

What does this mean?

First off, we’re sorry for the delay.

We plan to have books for sale and for pickup at the Lie-Nielsen Hand Tool Event and the book-release party on March 11-12 (even if we have to drive to the bindery with a truck). On March 15 (the first day I can get to our Indianapolis warehouse), I’ll personally sign the first 1,000 copies and then our warehouse will mail out all the pre-publication orders.

Apologies again for the delay. I hope you find the book was worth the wait.

— Christopher Schwarz

‘Build a Hand-crafted Bookcase’ DVD

Posted on February 28, 2016 by Lost Art Press

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If you liked the Boarded Bookcase from “The Anarchist’s Design Book” but would like more details (a lot more details) on its construction, read about this new DVD in our store, “Build a Hand-crafted Bookcase” for $29.

R1574 Before you head to IKEA to buy another Billy bookcase, take a moment to read this important message.

Store-bought bookcases with adjustable shelves stink. They are made from flimsy materials, they’re shoddily constructed using questionable fasteners and they can be too-easily configured to tip forward and crush you.

Traditional bookcase construction, a topic covered in “The Anarchist’s Design Book,” is something I’m passionate about. If you are smart, you don’t need adjustable shelves. If you do your research, you can choose fasteners that will outlive you. And if you are frugal, you can build a completely excellent bookcase using home-center pine and a handful of simple hand tools.

In early 2016, I made a 126-minute DVD that explores building the bookcase from “The Anarchist’s Design Book” entirely by hand using surfaced home-center pine.

The DVD begins by throwing out the modern idea of using adjustable shelves and discusses how the design was created and can be modified. From there we explore a bunch of different skills in detail suitable for the dead-nuts beginner (there’s way more detail than in the book).

Topics include:

Surfacing boards with handplanes.
Cutting through-dados with saws, chisel and a router plane.
Making stopped grooves with a chisel and router plane.
Making a tongue-and-groove back.
All about cut nails, forged nails and wire nails.
Why furniture makers should use hide glue.
On using milk paint and why you shouldn’t use the instructions to mix it.

I built and finished the bookcase shown in the DVD with only two days of shop time – and I had to slow myself down so the film crew could get additional shots for the DVD. In other words, this is a quick project. But don’t be fooled by that. If you choose your fasteners, adhesive and joints with care, this bookcase will outlast everyone you know.

— Christopher Schwarz

An Interesting Podcast on Making

Posted on February 25, 2016 by Lost Art Press

podcast_IMG_4365-(1) Woodworker, photographer and writer Andrew Sleigh kicked of his second series of podcasts on making last weekend for Resonance FM, a London radio station. The episodes are available for a free listen through the program’s website lookingsideways.net. You can subscribe to the podcast or simply listen to select episodes.

In the first episode, Sleigh interviews Deb Chachra, an associate professor of materials science at the Olin College of Engineering. It’s an interesting talk with someone who studies, teaches and classifies makers. (Be sure to read her thoughtful article in The Atlantic before listening; it will add an extra dimension to the conversation between Sleigh and Chachra.)

Sleigh has interviewed a list of interesting people for this second season of his podcast (he hasn’t posted the list, so I’ll let him do that). He also interviewed me about the Lost Art Press approach to creating books for makers – why we look backwards in time for our information. And why I think making simple, well-made furniture is a radical act.

From what I know about the other guests on Looking Sideways, I suspect my interview will represent the oddball, somewhat anti-intellectual view. We’ll see!

So if you need something to listen to on your commute to wage-slavery, Looking Sideways will make you think.

— Christopher Schwarz