I know that this blog entry will tick off some people because of this first line: We have someone clean our house.
I know, I know. It’s bourgeoise. But it’s the nicest anniversary present my wife and I ever gave one another. Nothing says love like: “Baby, you never have to clean a toilet again.”
Anyway, the woman who cleans our house showed up this morning and wouldn’t look me in the eye. In fact, she skittered out of the room if I entered.
So I looked down. Is my dork hanging out?
No. Good. Did we forget to pay her? Did a cat leave a special, soupy present for her to clean?
No matter. I gathered up my stuff and headed to the lumberyard to get some oak. On the way home I figured it out: We have three coffins sitting around, two of which have giant burn marks in the area where your head goes.
That probably would freak some people out.
Wally the cat, however, seems fine with the coffins.
This weekend I built three coffins with the help of some friends and wrote a blog post about the experience over at my blog at Popular Woodworking Magazine. Check it out here.
Special thanks to John Hoffman, the other half of Lost Art Press, Dr. Tim Henrickson, Raney Nelson of Daed Toolworks, Megan Fitzpatrick of Popular Woodworking, Sean Thomas and Andrew Lunn.
These coffins and the details of their construction will be featured in the forthcoming “Furniture of Necessity” book.
I know it looks like John Hoffman and I have been lazy publishers this year. Here it is August and we’ve released only two products in 2014 – “Campaign Furniture” and “The Naked Woodworker.”
Are we drunk? Well, yes, but that’s not what is hampering productivity. We have been working on projects that have a long gestation period. Longer than a constipated elephant, apparently. Here is a quick update on stuff that is on the immediate horizon – before the end of the year.
1. “l’Art du Menuisier: The Book of Plates.” We haven’t discussed this project publicly, and I’ll write about it more in the next couple weeks. “The Book of Plates” contains all 383 plates from all of Andre Roubo’s masterwork printed full-size and on super-sexy #100 Mohawk Superfine paper, hardbound and beautiful. This huge book has been a technical challenge because we want it to have a $100 retail price and still be American-made and extremely high-quality. We have succeeded. Details to come. This book is in the capable design hands of Wesley Tanner (“To Make as Perfectly as Possible” deluxe and standard) right now.
2. “Calvin Cobb: Radio Woodworker! A Novel with Measured Drawings” by Roy Underhill. The book is complete and being designed by Linda Watts (“By Hand & Eye” and “The Art of Joinery”) right now. Look for this book in November and somewhere in the $27 price range.
3. “Windsor Fundamentals” (working title) by Peter Galbert. The text is complete. Pete is finishing up some drawings and photos. This book will go to the designer in about five weeks. We are going to try to get this out before the end of the year.
4. “The Woodworker – The Charles Hayward Years.” Work on this book began in 2007 and is finally coming to the end. This will be an enormous compilation of the writings and drawings of Charles Hayward, the single-best woodworking author of the 20th century. Much of this material was collected into his classic books (“Woodwork Joints,” “Cabinet Making for Beginners”). A lot of this work hasn’t been seen since the 1930s. We are scanning a few missing articles and then this book will go into design. We don’t have a release date.
There are lots of other books we are working on actively every day, from the second volume of Roubo, the book on H.O. Studley to “The Furniture of Necessity.” But the above titles are the next four in the pipeline.
Judging from the e-mails I’ve received today, some readers thought I was making a macabre joke when I mentioned we’re having a coffin-making party in August.
It’s no joke. And I’m dead serious about the project. Everyone has personal desires about how they want to pass into the next world; I want to go in a simple pine box I built myself. I don’t want my family to spend a single cent more than necessary.
I’m also not planning on dying anytime soon (sorry, WoodNet). This coffin will live as a bookshelf in my office until it’s needed. And I am certain my wife will want to borrow it as a prop for the lawn on Halloween.
If you want to read more about coffin-making and the special jigs for the process, check out “Coffin-making and Undertaking” by Paul N. Hasluck (a reprint is available from Lindsay Publications).
Jeff Burks turned up this fantastic image from the 1850 book “Bilder des Todes oder Todtentanz für alle Stände” (“Images of death or the Dance of Death for all classes”) illustrated by Johann Gottfried Flegel and written by Carl Merkel.
In August we are hosting a coffin-building party for a few friends (it’s part of the research for “Furniture of Necessity”). I am sure that at some point during the weekend we’ll be re-enacting this image.