Join via Zoom (if you can’t make it to Bloomington, Ind., in person) at 6 p.m. Eastern on May 24, for the 2024 Rosemary Miller Lecture, this year celebrating the life and work of Nancy Hiller (1959-2022).
Duncan Campbell will speak about Nancy and her deep commitment to historic preservation, her superb writing and woodworking, and her all-around excellence.
Click here for the Zoom link; the Meeting ID is: 890 1289 0971; the Passcode is 482124.
We’re having one last sale to get our inventory under control. We have put seven books on sale from now until June 14 – some of them deeply discounted. You can see all the titles on sale here.
We don’t like to put things on sale, so why do this? Last year we bought a historic warehouse in downtown Covington and have fixed it up so we have full control over our fulfillment operations. This is why we can now offer books that have been signed by authors, and it allows us to throw a wooden bookmark or sticker into your order as well.
It’s also why we now ship books faster than ever.
The downside to owning a warehouse is it holds a finite number of books. We had far more books and tools than our inventory numbers suggested. So it’s been a challenge to get everything into the circa 1896 building.
Two weeks ago, however, we reached a milestone. Every single product we sell is now under one roof. I can finally see how much floor space some titles gobble up (it was surprising). This sale will make room for new books, plus books that we are sold out of. I estimate that if we can free up space for a dozen pallets or so, we should be in good shape for a long time.
The seven books now on sale are not stinkers. They are just taking up more than their fair share of space. If you aren’t familiar with Lost Art Press, know that every one of our books requires years of editorial work to produce. Our books return more than twice the royalties to our authors compared to the publishing industry as a whole. And all of our books are printed in the United States using high-quality materials. These are permanent books.
“The Stick Chair Book” by Christopher Schwarz. Regular price: $47. Sale price: $29. This book represents my life’s work from 1996 to present. It felt weird to put it on sale, but the book takes up tons of space in our warehouse.
“Vol. III of The Woodworker: The Charles H. Hayward Years: Joinery.” Regular price: $42. Sale price $21. These Hayward books are huge in size. That’s one of the reasons they are great – there is a ton of information in them. But they also gobble up floor space.
“Vol. IV of The Woodworker, The Charles H. Hayward Years, The Shop & Furniture.” Regular price: $44. Sale price $22. It might seem weird this book is $1 more than Vol. III, but the manufacturing price of this book went loco a couple years ago.
“Mechanic’s Companion” by Peter Nicholson. Regular price: $27. Sale price: $17. This is one of our historical reprints. This book is one of the foundations of Western hand-tool woodworking. When I reordered it in 2021, I ordered way too many.
“Leave Fingerprints” by Brendan Gaffney. Regular price: $49. Sale price: $25. One of my favorite titles. Brendan did a fantastic job of demythologizing James Krenov and painting a true portrait of Krenov’s incredible life. Gaffney distilled more than 150 interviews into a biography of one of the 20th century’s most important woodworkers.
“Make a Joint Stool From a Tree” by Jennie Alexander and Peter Follansbee. Regular price: $31. Sale price: $17. One of our earliest titles, and one of the most difficult to get to press. The book took 20 years for the authors to finish. And thanks only to the absolute doggedness of Follansbee, the book was completed. It’s a great book about green woodworking, joinery and carving from two of the modern architects of green woodworking’s renaissance.
“Calvin Cobb: Radio Woodworker!” by Roy Underhill. Regular price: $41. Sale price: $19. This is the world’s first-ever woodworking novel with measured drawings. Another labor of love that took years of work and tons of money to complete. The book is great fun to read. And the book’s manufacturing details, such as the diestamp, ridiculously expensive dust jacket and endsheets, create a book you don’t see much in modern times.
Thank you for enduring this awkward time with Lost Art Press. I hope this sale helps you complete your collection of the Charles Hayward books or garners you some good gifts for the woodworkers in your life.
Barring that, shredded book paper can give you an R-value of 3.6 when insulating your home – or warehouse.
— Christopher Schwarz
The following is excerpted from Vol. IV of “The Woodworker, The Charles H. Hayward Years, The Shop & Furniture.” This fourth book in our “Woodworker” series covers three different topics:
1) The Workshop, including the design and construction of workbenches, tool chests and wall cabinets. There’s also an entire section devoted to “appliances,”which are workshop accessories such as shooting boards.
2) Furniture & its Details, includes a discussion of all the important Western furniture styles, including their construction, mouldings and metal hardware. This section also includes the construction drawings for many important and famous pieces of furniture examined by Charles H. Hayward during his tenure at The Woodworker magazine.
3) Odds & Sods. In addition to offering its readers practical information for the shop, The Woodworker also asked it subscribers to think about the craft and its place in modern society. We have included many of our favorite philosophical pieces in this final section.
Although a back may not call for the high finish that is necessary for, say, a cabinet door, it needs to be strongly made and of a type to suit the particular job. “Craftsman” discusses here some of the points to be considered when deciding just what kind of back a job is to have. —Ed.
I am afraid that many of us are inclined to let the backs of our cabinets take pot luck, as the saying goes. We make a job, say, in oak, possibly putting in oak drawer sides, and backs, but hesitate before going to the expense of oak for the back. The reason (or excuse, however you happen to look at it) is that it is seldom seen, has little or no wear to withstand, and that, since the cheap back answers the purpose just as well, it is clearly a waste to spend money on an expensive one.
Well, it is logical enough up to a point, and, providing that it is merely the material that is cheapened and not the method that is worsened, no great harm is done. In fact, there are many pieces of quite light woodwork in which a heavily built back seems almost out of place. Still, it is nice to have a piece of work in which nothing has been skimped, and the argument that a cheap back answers the purpose as well as a better one may not necessarily hold good, as we shall see later. The safe plan is to consider each piece on its merits, and give it the best back that it is worth.
BACKS OF OLD FURNITURE
If one goes back into the past one comes across some curious anomalies. Many of the antiques of the Queen Anne and mahogany periods of which we think so highly had wretched backs. I myself spent a good many years in a repair shop, and I can speak feelingly of the hours I devoted to gluing strips of canvas across gaping splits in panels and across open knot holes. I have seen a mahogany chest of drawers of the Chippendale period with magnificent show work—serpentine shaped drawers, fine carving, and so on—with a back consisting of pieces of 1/4 in. pine nailed across. An extraordinary inconsistency. Apart from its having no strength, the whole thing was bound to shrink and split.
Yet when we come to that much abused period of Victoria, we find exactly the reverse. Probably no finer cabinet backs have ever been fitted into furniture. Open the door of one of those huge Victorian wardrobes (there are plenty of them knocking about in seaside boarding houses). You will find the mirror back more strongly made than many a modern wardrobe door, and the carcase back a finely panelled framework often with moulded stiles or flush panels.
Perhaps one reason why there has been a tendency to fit lighter backs since Victorian times (apart from the all-round cheapening of materials and construction) is the introduction of plywood. It seems such an obvious use for ply, a material which is free from shrinkage and obtainable in such large sizes. Undoubtedly it is perfectly suitable for the purpose, providing the carcase is strong in itself, and does not rely upon the back to make it rigid.
TYPES OF BACKS
There are various considerations that affect the choice of a cabinet back. There is, for instance, the question of size. A single sheet of 3/16 in. plywood might make an excellent back for a little cupboard, say, 15 ins. high, but would obviously be absurd for a wardrobe. Apart from this, however, the first consideration should be: does the job rely upon the back for strength, or will the back serve merely to enclose a space? Fig. 1 shows the idea. At A the back is needed to prevent racketing and to stiffen the carcase generally. At B, however, the carcase is already strong, and only a light back is needed.
In the latter connection, of course, it is sometimes an advantage to build in the back with the carcase. Items such as sideboards are often made in this way. As a general rule, however, it is better to make the back separately, because it simplifies the subsequent fitting-up.
THE PANELLED BACK
For a thoroughly strong back the panelled type is undoubtedly the most satisfactory. It is perfectly rigid and is free from all shrinkage complications. It should always be used for pieces such as cupboards with large, heavy doors, which are particularly liable to distortion unless provided with a stiff back.
Fig 2 shows the usual form. The whole thing is put together with mortise and tenon joints, and the panels are grooved in. One point to note is that if there is a shelf in the cupboard, the middle cross rail should be arranged opposite to it if possible. It may not always be practicable, of course, but the advantage is that it gives a level surface against which the back of the shelf can face (see B, Fig 3). If this is not done there will be gaps opposite the panels as shown at A.
The same difficulty sometimes occurs in a bookcase or similar item, but owing to the large number of shelves it is not practicable to arrange for many horizontal rails. The better plan is that in Fig 4, in which the panels are flush with the framework at the inside. It necessitates fairly thick panels, of course, but it gives a far neater result than cutting out the back edge of the shelf to fit.
MUNTIN BACKS
A somewhat distant relative of the panelled back is the muntin type. It is nowhere near as strong, and is rather a doubtful member of the family. Like some relations, you can’t deny them (and they are useful sometimes), but you are a little shy about mentioning them in the best circles. It consists of a series of uprights, say 3/4 in. or 7/8 in. thick grooved at the edges to take thinner panels, as shown in Fig. 5. The ends of the muntins are cut away as shown inset, so that the panels can be fixed directly to the back of the carcase. Now, as the panels are generally about 9—10 ins. wide, and of deal, it is inevitable that a certain amount of shrinkage will take place. Consequently it is a mistake to drive in nails right across the width because the wood would split in the event of shrinkage. The better plan is that in Fig. 6 in which nails are driven in near the centre only. The edges extending into the muntin grooves are free so that they can draw out. Note that the heart side is outwards so that the free ends are pressed tightly against the carcase by the natural twisting tendency of the wood.
If, owing to the presence of a number of shelves, it is desirable for the back to be entirely flush on the inside, the muntins can be rebated instead of grooved as shown in Fig. 7. The beads along the rebates are not entirely decorative, but they serve to render the gaps less noticeable in the event of the panels shrinking. All these details about shrinkage apply only when solid wood is used, of course. In the case of plywood it does not matter.
Speaking of plywood brings us to another variation of the muntin back. In its simplest form the plywood back is nothing more than a sheet of plywood nailed or screwed in a rebate. For quite light jobs this is satisfactory enough, but to give a neat finish the back in Fig. 8 is better. A series of grooved and rounded horizontals is screwed on. They can be arranged level with the shelves as shown. The plywood panels fit between them in the grooves. For a flush effect the rails can be rebated instead of being grooved (see D).
DRESSER BACKS
These are really in a class by themselves, for although they could be applied to pieces such as wardrobes, they are not so strong as a panelled back. One of two methods can be followed. That shown in Fig. 9 has the advantage of simplicity. The back is really a series of matched boards, tongued one into the other, with either a bead or a V worked at the joints. The boards are screwed or nailed directly to the top and shelves, and at the bottom to a rail specially fitted for the purpose. In the second method, Fig. 10, wide grooved rails are screwed at top and bottom and the matching fitted in the grooves. The wide rails give rigidity, the matching merely filling the space, so to speak. It can be either very thin as at A, or it can be stouter, the ends being tongued as at B.
Incidentally, a detail applying to all backs of any thickness is that the rebates in the ends should slope as shown at A, Fig. 11. If this is not done the projecting portion is liable to curl as shown at B.
I just completed this large comb-back chair in ash and elm and am selling it via a silent auction (details below). The chair is set up for dining and keyboarding, with its back tilted at 13° and the seat tilted at 2°.
This chair is probably the tallest comb-back I’ve made in years (if not ever). The overall height is 41”. The seat height is 16-3/4”, making it comfortable for a wide variety of sitters (both tall and short).
The seat and undercarriage are elm. I lucked into some dead-straight elm for the legs and stretchers. Plus some typically squirrelly grain elm for the seat, a sturdy combination. The top part of the chair is all black ash. Ash and elm both have a complementary iridescence. As these woods age, their color becomes quite similar.
Like all my chairs, the joints are assembled with animal glue (so the chair can be easily repaired 200 years in the future if needed), plus straight-grain wedges. The chair is finished with soft wax, which is non-toxic and easy to repair (just add more soft wax).
This chair is a bit special because it’s the second chair that my daughter Katherine worked on with me. She did most of the arm shaping and helped with most of the other tasks. The chair is signed by both of us.
Purchasing the Chair
If you wish to buy the chair, send an email to lapdrawing@lostartpress.com before 3 p.m. (Eastern) on Friday, May 17. Please use the subject line: “Comb-back.” In the email please include your:
The highest bid wins. If you are the “winner,” the chair can be picked up at our storefront. Or we will happily crate it and ship it to your door. (I’m sorry but the chair cannot be shipped outside the U.S.) The reserve price is $500. Shipping and crating is included in your winning bid (with no additional charges whatsoever).
— Christopher Schwarz
Editor’s note: The “bulk reply” plugin on Chrome has stopped working, and I cannot find a replacement on any of my browsers. So if you don’t hear from me (Fitz) by the end of the day on the deadline day, I’m afraid you are not the winner (this applies also to the recent Irish chair). I’m sorry I haven’t time to send individual responses to the many entrants who did not win. If I did, it would read: “Thank you for your interest, and stay tuned – Chris is making more chairs, and there will be other opportunities.” Which is true in perpetuity!
If you, too, would like to get bunny ears from Chris while making a chair in our shop, log in to our ticketing site at noon (Eastern) today. Signups go live for:
Build an Irish Armchair with Christopher Schwarz (Aug. 12-16)
and
Build a Welsh-style Comb-back Chair with Christopher Schwarz (Sept. 30-Oct. 4)
– Fitz