Lost Art Press

Category: The Naked Woodworker Video

The Return of the ‘Baby Anarchist’ Class

Posted on by Lost Art Press

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Mike Siemsen at the Mike Siemsen School of Woodworking is now accepting students for his third Hand Tool Immersion class on May 29 through June 5 at his shop in Chisago City, Minn. This low-cost, all-in, communal-cooking experience is designed to jump-start the hand skills of woodworkers who couldn’t normally afford a class.

Mike is an outstanding teacher. Funny (especially if you love corn). Very skilled. And a blast to hang out with. Just don’t get in his van (just kidding; John and I love his van).

All the details are below. If you can make it work, I promise you will not regret it.

— Christopher Schwarz

Hand Tool Immersion 101

  • Date: five days May 29th through June 2nd
  • Cost: $650
  • Materials: Included
  • Skill Level: Intermediate/all
  • e-mail

Course Description

Back by popular demand!  An intensive 5 day all-out immersion into handwork. The goal is to tu­ne up your hand skills to as hig­h a point as pos­sible in five da­ys. You will tune up your tools and use them to build a tool chest in which to haul them home. For those of y­ou on a limited bud­get, we will be cam­ping on the grou­nds of the scho­ol (please brin­g your own ge­ar) and cookin­g communally in my house. There is a shower an­d places to camp. If you choose to sta­y in a hotel, that’s t­otally cool and understandable. Know that you­ are always wel­come to hang ou­t late into the e­vening workin­g on your pro­ject. The school is o­pen 24 hours a da­y for you. This class is limited to 12 people and is aimed at, but not limited to, 30-somethings needing a jump start into woodworking.

Tools

I’d like every­one in the cl­ass to have a com­plete tool kit when t­hey finish the cou­rse. Below is a lis­t of the tool­s needed for the c­lass. If you wan­t to purchase to­ols that you need for the c­lass and would li­ke help selec­ting tools or ne­ed recommenda­tions on where to  buy them e-mail me and I wi­ll be happy to hel­p.

 

  • No. 5 jack pla­ne, such as a p­re-war Stanley wit­h a clean iron (no rus­t) and a tight chipbreaker.
  • Low-angle bloc­k plane, such as S­tanley 60-1/2 with a cle­an iron and mo­vable toe piece.
  • Wooden rabbet pla­ne (skew or s­traight iron)­. Wedge needs to wor­k.
  • Card scraper.
  • Large router pla­ne, such as S­tanley No. 71 or No­. 71-1/2.
  • Hand drill, so­metimes called an “eg­gbeater,” such a­s a Millers Fa­lls No. 2 or 5 wit­h a 1/4” chuck an­d intact chuc­k springs (i.e­. the jaws are sprin­g-loaded and wor­k)
  • Brace with a 10” swe­ep. Good chuc­k with its sprin­gs still intac­t and a tight pad­.
  • Bevel-edge chi­sels with woo­den handles (1/4”, 1­/2” and 3/4”)­.
  • 16 oz. hammer wit­h a wooden han­dle. Striking fa­ce should be smo­oth and slightly crowned.
  • Squarehead jo­iner’s mallet. We can make these during the class.
  • 12” combinati­on square that is s­quare, locks tig­ht and has cle­ar markings.
  • Marking gauge­. The metallic o­nes, such as t­he Stanley No­. 90, are pre­ferred.
  • Backsaw with a 10”- to 1­4”-long blade. Stra­ight saw plate, com­fortable wooden han­dle and little or no rus­t.
  • Coping saw that t­akes pin-end bla­des and locks tig­ht.
  • 10” cabinet ras­p (older and shar­p is better).

Materials are included in the price of the class.

The Naked Woodworker’s Mighty Hammer

Posted on by Lost Art Press

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Mike “The Naked Woodworker” Siemsen made mallets for 18 students in my upcoming “Hand Tool Immersion” class at the Marc Adams School of Woodworking. This low-cost class is aimed at beginning woodworkers with young families who have few tools, money for classes or free time to teach themselves the craft through trial-and-error.

The one-week class will be a deep dive into handwork for the students, who will go home with a tool chest, sharp tools, a bunch of new skills and probably some B.O. (we’re camping to save money).

Mike, who runs the Mike Siemsen School of Woodworking outside of Minneapolis, Minn., volunteered to make mallets for all the students. He did, and they are great.

I’m going to teach this class again in June 2016 – at Mike’s place. We plan to camp and cook on his land. I’ll post details about the class, the minimal costs and registration when they become available. Mike and I still have lots of little details to work out.

Thanks for the great mallets!

— Christopher Schwarz

Get Your Books Signed in Iowa

Posted on by Lost Art Press

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Several Lost Art Press authors will be available at Handworks to sign your books.

If you want to get Don Williams and Narayan Nayar to sign “Virtuoso: The Tool Cabinet and Workbench of Henry O. Studley,” they have set up three times during the weekend for signings. The signings will be in nearby Cedar Rapids at the Scottish Rite Temple where the cabinet and workbench will be displayed. Directions here. Yes, there are tickets still available – details here.

Don is obligated to stay with the exhibit the entire time, so don’t look for him at Handworks. You’ll find only other bearded, suspendered men.

Here are the times for the three “Virtuoso” signings:

Friday at 2 p.m. to 3 p.m.
Saturday at 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Sunday at noon to 1 p.m.

“Virtuoso” will be available for sale both at Handworks and at the exhibit.

Roy Underhill and ‘Calvin Cobb – Radio Woodworker!’
Roy Underhill will be at Handworks this year to deliver the keynote address at 10 a.m. Saturday and will be floating about the show at other times spreading mayhem.

We plan to corral him for a book-signing at 11 a.m. Friday morning in the Lost Art Press booth in the Festhalle. Bring your copy of “Calvin Cobb – Radio Woodworker!” or pick one up at the booth.

Other Lost Art Press Authors
Peter Galbert has a booth at Handworks, so you can get your copy of “Chairmaker’s Notebook” signed there. George Walker, one of the authors of “By Hand & Eye,” will be at the show and is always happy to sign books. Matt Bickford, the author of “Mouldings in Practice,” has a booth in the Festhalle. Mike Siemsen, the host of “The Naked Woodworker,” is happy to sign your DVDs (pro tip: not on the silvery side). Joel Moskowitz of Tools for Working Wood and co-author of “The Joiner and Cabinet Maker” should also be at Handworks.

And, of course, I’ll be there and happy to sign anything – babies, bare chests and books especially.

— Christopher Schwarz

The Best Beekeepers…

Posted on by Lost Art Press

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The best words of advice I’ve heard sound simple until you give them some thought. Here are three things to consider.

“Good beekeepers have to figure some things out for themselves.”

This was a simple statement made by a beekeeper and mother to her teenaged woodworker who was struggling with sharpening, setting up a handplane and producing a nice surface.

She didn’t know about woodworking, but she knew about farming and bees. And when her young son despaired that he could not get his plane to work, she spoke those 10 fantastic words:

“Good beekeepers have to figure some things out for themselves.”

A couple years ago I heard Mike Siemsen of “The Naked Woodworker” DVD fame discussing workbenches with a new woodworker.

Question: What about moisture content blah, blah, blah?

Siemsen: Don’t worry about it. It will work out fine.

Question: But the wood species yadda yadda annular rings shinka shinka gymnosperms?

Siemsen: It will all work out fine. I wouldn’t worry about it.

Question: So E-value, Janka rating and tangent grain? Roubo, Nicholson and Klausz?

Yoda: Fine it will all work out. Worry not.

…this conversation continued for another 30 minutes in the same format.

Third vignette. Matthew Sheldon Bickford, author of “Mouldings in Practice,” ends his book with the best single-word ending sentence in the history of woodworking writing. Stick with me here.

“Be willing to succeed by being willing to fail,” he writes on page 241. “Tie yourself to your actions. Stop reading. Err!”

— Christopher Schwarz

Workholding with the ‘Naked Woodworker’

Posted on by Lost Art Press

The workbench that Mike Siemsen builds in the DVD “The Naked Woodworker” doesn’t have a single vise, but it can perform all the standard woodworking operations.

To prove this point, we asked Mike to make a short video that demonstrated how to use this Nicholson-style workbench for planing, sawing and chiseling tasks. Mike, always the overachiever, made the above 31-minute video that puts his bench through all of its paces.

Even if you are an old hand at hand tools, I think you’ll pick up a few tricks from the video. I know I did. Be sure to watch Mike using a ripsaw at 23:30. The man can rip. And the dovetail vise – similar to Caleb James’s version – is mighty clever.

“The Naked Woodworker” is available on DVD and via instant download from our site. No matter how you purchase the video, you’ll also receive a spreadsheet that details all the materials and tools in the video, plus drawings for the workbench and a transcript of the entire DVD in Word format.

— Christopher Schwarz

P.S. Be sure to watch to the end so you can see Mike’s cornball joke. And please do consider taking a class at the Mike Siemsen School of Woodworking. Mike is an excellent woodworker and fantastic teacher. I’ll be teaching a class there in 2016.