Category: The Anarchist’s Tool Chest

Sweet mother of murder I am tired of writing about these posters. I have concluded they are cursed and exist only to suck the life out of me.

Bad news: Classic Hand Tools in the UK received its shipment of 50 posters. The custom box I constructed looked fine from the outside. But when they opened it, somehow the entire interior was waterlogged and the posters had melted together into one icky mass.

Apparently I forgot to check the box on the postal form saying the box was not a surfboard or sea anemone porn.

Bad news: Apparently postal employees are having sword fights with the hardy tubes we’ve used to ship these posters. So many have been mangled that it feels like a vendetta.

Good news: I spent the afternoon at Steamwhistle Press helping to make another 500 posters. Brian Stuparyk at Steamwhistle actually let me run the press for part of the run – pressing buttons and turning knobs. Very exciting.

The 500 new posters are drying now and I’ll pick them up on Monday. Then we’ll start dispatching them – a replacement shipment to Classic Hand Tools and (I hope) a few more to sell on our web site.

I asked John to punch me in the ovaries the next time I suggested we print a poster.

— Christopher Schwarz

Because of some weirdness we are going to do a second and smaller run of letterpress Anarchist Tool Chest posters this week.

We’ll only be making 500 this time and they’ll be in a slightly different hue of ink. We probably will have a few to sell on the website (and at our storefront in Covington, Ky., on May 14) but we have to increase the price to $25 (that price includes domestic shipping) so we don’t lose money on this project.

What was the weirdness? We had more posters spindled or mutilated during shipping and have to replace a lot more than we anticipated. Also, we ended up with fewer posters than we planned (still trying to figure that one out).

So if you are still lacking for one of these posters, hang tight and keep your eye on this blog. By the way, a few readers have asked how they can be notified of things like this. We don’t have a spambot – I mean newsletter – but you can sign up to receive an email from WordPress every time we post a new blog entry. Look at the top of the right rail of the blog and you’ll see “E-mail subscription.” Enter your email address in that box to sign up.

Note: We don’t sell, rent or give away anyone’s personal information to anyone. We don’t send advertisements or information on how you can get in on the exciting world of sausage making at home. All you’ll ever get is an email containing the blog entry.

— Christopher Schwarz

Get them before they are gone.

— Christopher Schwarz

Yes, we are indeed sold out of our share of letterpress posters from “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest.” But don’t despair. Read on before sending us a(nother) nasty-gram.

We sold 500 posters over the weekend. Another 400 posters – personally autographed like the ones we sold – are going to Lee Valley Tools this week for that company to sell. Another 50 (also signed) are going to Classic Hand Tools in the United Kingdom. And we’ll have 50 on hand to replace any that are damaged in shipment (and maybe have a few to sell at our storefront on May 14).

We don’t know when Lee Valley and Classic Hand Tools will begin selling the posters. That’s their decision. We have no say as how they operate (obviously).

Some readers have asked us to do a second run of posters. John and I have decided against that for several reasons. We have books to publish, and lots of them. Also, John and his neighbor are rolling and mailing these posters, and it’s remarkably time-consuming. Finally, these posters are not profitable. We kept the price low to say “thanks” to customers for supporting us all these years. If we continued to publish posters like this, John and I would have to take second jobs at Arby’s.

So keep your eyes peeled at Lee Valley and Classic Hand Tools.

— Christopher Schwarz

You can order the letterpress posters featuring plans for “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest” from our store for $20 – all orders include free domestic shipping.

Visit our store here to order.

The 18″ x 24″ poster was printed in dark blue on heavy #100 paper by Steamwhistle Letterpress of Newport, Ky. on a Vandercook 425 proofing press. See a video of the press run here. All of the posters are individually signed by me.

The construction drawing was made in soft pencil by Randy Wilkins and then converted to a polymer plate for the Vandercook 425.

We printed 1,000 posters. We don’t anticipate printing another run of these, so get them while you can. All posters ship in a rigid cardboard mailing tube.

Note: International customers will be able to purchase this poster through Classic Hand Tools and Lee Valley Tools (while their supplies last). We are still in the process of shipping these posters to them, so please give them some time to get things sorted out and ready to take orders.

— Christopher Schwarz