If you are coming to Woodworking in America next month (or even if you aren’t), please consider attending our book release party at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 17, at A Tavola Pizza, 1220 Vine St. in Cincinnati. (Sorry the book-release party is fully booked.)
And if you can’t make it to the book-release party, be sure to join us in the WIA marketplace at noon on Oct. 19 for a second book signing with many of the principals involved in the translation project.
— Christopher Schwarz
In our excerpt of “To Make as Perfectly as Possible: Roubo on Marquetry,” A.-J. Roubo offers a recipe for staining wood red using a concoction made using horse dung and urine.
Here’s the recipe:
Before finishing the dyeing of wood, I believe I ought to give a least-costly method of dyeing white wood red, which is done in the following manner:
You take some horse dung, which you put in a bucket of which the bottom is pierced with many holes, and you place it above another bucket, into which falls the water from the dung, as it gradually rots. When it does not rot fast enough, you water it from time to time with some horse urine, which helps a lot and at the same time gives a red water, which not only stains the surface of the wood, but penetrates the interior 3 to 4 lines deep. In staining the wood with this dye, one must take care that all the pieces be of the same species, and about equal in density if one wishes that they be of equal color throughout. This observation is general for all water-based stains, which have no palpable thickness nor even appearance [they leave no residue or any evident change in appearance], which requires the cabinetmaker to make a choice of wood of equal color and a density as I mentioned before.
Woodworker Jonas Jensen of Mors, Denmark, is making this stain and documenting the process on his blog, Mulesaw. Follow along – but be warned, if you don’t like pictures of dung you are not going to like the instructions.
And just a reminder, the standard edition of “To Make as Perfectly as Possible: Roubo on Marquetry” is almost finished at the printer. If you want the book with free domestic shipping, be sure to place your order before Thursday, Oct. 10.
The standard edition is available in the store here. We have some deluxe versions still available, though the supplies are dwindling. Click here for details on the deluxe edition.
— Christopher Schwarz
3. If you are planning on picking up your pre-ordered copy of “To Make as Perfectly as Possible” at Woodworking in America (or perhaps buy a copy at the show), please stop by the Lost Art Press booth at noon on Saturday, Oct. 19.
We will have many of the people involved with the project available to chat about the book and sign your copy. We’re not sure how long the event will run — it depends on how many people show up and what other obligations the authors, translators, etc. have.
Soon we also will be announcing details of a book-release party on Thursday, Oct. 17, at a local Cincinnati restaurant. We’re still running some numbers.
Sign up for Woodworking in America, Oct. 18-20. I mean come on, do you really need to weed the garden that weekend?
— Christopher Schwarz
This was taken during French Oak Roubo project for the Highland Woodworker show. I am disgustingly dirty, sweaty and wearing some nasty shorts.
Judging from the camera angle, it’s a good thing I didn’t wear a miniskirt to the shop that day.
— Christopher Schwarz
5. With your help, we’ll have a new A.-J. Roubo T-shirt design ready for Woodworking in America (not to mention lots of copies of the deluxe and standard editions of “To Make as Perfectly as Possible: Roubo on Marquetry”).
On the front of the shirt will be the image above, which was adapted from the original plates of “l’Art du menuisier” by Wesley Tanner, who designed both editions of the book.
On the back will be a witticism. A really funny one that will cause spontaneous knee-slapping and perhaps even a laugh riot (have you ever seen a laugh riot?).
And this witticism will be written by you, our hilarious readers. If we select your slogan for the rear of our T-shirt, you’ll get a free T-shirt, a copy of the standard edition of “To Make as Perfectly as Possible: Roubo on Marquetry” and our salute.
To enter your witty saying, simply add it in the comments. The slogan should be no more than five or six words. Long slogans don’t fit on T-shirts (that’s what books are for, duh!). Be sure to include your name so we can get in touch with you in case you are the winner.
The deadline for submitting your entry is 5 p.m. EST on Sept. 22, 2013.
And sign up for Woodworking in America, Oct. 18-20 – the T-shirt might have the nipples cut out with fur around the holes. (Not really.)
— Christopher Schwarz