Storefront Classes
Click here to see the current classes we offer.
Search this Blog
My Personal Site & Gallery
Blog archive
Categories
Subscribe via RSS
LostArtPress on Instagram
The more I thought about it, the more I realised this is how most people feel when faced with doing a new design. Scared. Scared big time. You want to make a special piece, but you are facing the probability that it won’t actually be that special…and you don’t want that. This was to be a lovely writing table for my beautiful wife, Carol, and with it a special chair. We have made lots of chairs through the years, and I have built a reputation for it. I wanted a chair that would sum this up in one piece. I wanted it to be elegant but not overly complex, to be the most difficult piece in the book, but makeable for the careful amateur maker. If you are like me, you carry images in your head of the pieces you want to make. They may not be in clear focus or show the whole piece of work. But they show us bits of it – a leg, or a detail for a flashing moment of clarity on the drive to work, or whilst soaking in the bath. But nobody else can see it there between your ears. You can tell people of your blinding ideas and they will look at you as if you needed a kind, helping nurse. Poor sad old devil; can’t get it up any more. So, you go to downloading. This is the process of getting it down somewhere in sketchy notes. Three or four lines in ink on a Post-It Note can do the job. Which was all I had at the start of the chair. — from “The Intelligent Hand” by David Binnington Savage @finefurnituremaker #The_Intelligent_HandI’m closing in on finishing this Nicholson campaign chest for a (very patient) customer. Today I cut all the mortises for the brass strapwork (not shown). Tomorrow I’ll install the drawer stops and do the “make pretty.” If the weather cooperates, I’ll apply shellac Wednesday or Thursday.Forming a volute - an arc that continues to descend. After each arc, move the (compass) point to the next focal point and reset the line. — from “By Hound and Eye” by Geo. R. Walker @georgewalker.design and Jim Tolpin @jimtolpin #By_Hound_and_Eye@RudeMechanic on Twitter
- RT @merrittk: it is my firm belief that anyone's personality can be described as a point on a triangle whose vertices are labeled "mark," "… 1 day ago
- Begin at the Bottom (or Back) blog.lostartpress.com/2019/06/24/beg… https://t.co/qj1i1h2kfe 2 days ago
- RT @WhiteHouseHstry: This writing arm Windsor chair was used by President James Madison to write dispatches in Brookeville, MD, where he to… 2 days ago
Translate
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Begin at the Bottom (or Back)
Even on my final project – pre-worm-food – I’m sure I’ll remind myself to “begin at the bottom or the back.” What does that mean? Basically, whenever I perform an operation that will be repeated, I start by working the … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
17 Comments
Wisdom from the Verge
“It takes half a fool to make chairs and a whole fool to make baskets.” — Verge, an Appalachian chairmaker as quoted in “Craftsman of the Cumberlands” (University of Kentucky) by Michael Owen Jones
Posted in Uncategorized
12 Comments
I’d be Lost Without Jack
The handplane I use the most is the one that receives the least love. My old Stanley jack plane, a $12 purchase at a Kentucky fair, has its original chipbreaker and iron, which is just about sharpened down to a … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
28 Comments
Lump Hammers Back in Stock
We have just delivered a big batch to our warehouse – you can buy yours here. If these sell out, know that we have a second big batch that is almost done. We just need to do some quality control … Continue reading
Posted in Crucible Tool, Uncategorized
An Uncertain Element
It’s funny how words don’t change but the reader does. About 18 years ago, I can distinctly recall reading John Brown’s column titled “An Uncertain Element of Success” in Good Woodworking (April 2001, issue 107) and being blown away. The … Continue reading
Posted in John Brown Book, Uncategorized
13 Comments
Animals in the Workshop*
*Updated to correct fox-wedged tenon. The natural world provides a huge vocabulary to help us describe what we do and make. Birdseye can be a pattern in maple, a textile and a chile. In the workshop, names of animals (or parts … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
27 Comments
Popular Woodworking Acquired by Woodsmith’s Parent Company
Popular Woodworking Magazine was purchased this month by the parent company of Woodsmith magazine, a division of Active Interest Media called Cruz Bay Publishing, Inc. The purchase price was $1 million, according to court records. We’ve received a lot of … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
47 Comments
