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I’ll be in Omaha, Neb., on March 28-29, 2020, to build a Dutch tool chest for the Omaha Woodworkers Guild. I’ll be building the chest entirely by hand and discussing all the techniques in detail, from dovetails to dados to cut nails and tool set-up. Then, at the end of the presentation, the completed chest will be raffled off.

During the evenings, I’ll be offering two presentations to the members: one on the history and construction of vernacular stick chairs, and the second on the history of workbenches.

If you would like to attend the two-day seminar, you can get details from Patrick Brennan via email at pmjbrennan@cox.net.

I’m afraid I won’t be able to bring Lost Art Press books or Crucible tools to sell – my truck will be filled with all the materials and personal gear I need to complete the presentation. As always, I am happy to sign books (whether they’re mine or not) and babies (whether they’re mine or not).

— Christopher Schwarz

My January column at Core77 is available to read for free and covers the design process we went through to develop the Crucible curved card scraper.

It’s a simple tool, but it’s remarkable how much work goes into something before you make several thousand of them. This article covers everything from the historical research to the pricing. Some of you might enjoy seeing how the sausage is made. Some might not.

Thanks as always to Core77 for giving me wide latitude about the topics I cover. And thank you for reading it.

— Christopher Schwarz

P.S. You can read all my Core77 columns via this link.

We hate being out of stock on items. Years ago one of retailers told us it was a good thing to have some items on backorder to drive up customer demand.

Screw that.

We have a few items that are not in stock right now. Here is an update. Our vests and chore coats are now being stitched at Sew Valley. We had to order more moleskin from England (it just arrived) and stitching work on the coats is proceeding now. I don’t have a date when the vests will be ready, but the coats should be back in stock next week.

We also are out of “The Solution at Hand.” It was supposed to ship to us this week, but the printer lost the diestamp for the cover and now we have to make a new one. So the books should ship out from the warehouse the week of Jan. 16.

We also are waiting for the expanded edition of “The Anarchist’s Design Book,” which should ship later this month. (So there is still some time to order a pre-publication copy of that book and receive a free pdf download of the book. Once the book is in stock, the pdf will cost you extra.)

All of our Crucible Tools are in stock – whew. That was my biggest personal accomplishment of 2019.

And finally, we have a book in stock that I thought we were sold out of. We have 47 copies of the historical reprint of “The Joiner and Cabinet Maker” – a cute and nice $12 book. I miscounted how many we had left last month and removed the product from the store. Our warehouse pointed out my mistake (thanks, guys).

— Christopher Schwarz 

“I’ve worked wood long enough to know it flows right up out of the ground like the flow of a stream. If there is an adversity there, if someone’s tacked bob wire to it, if there is a big rock there close to it, it will swallow it, surround it and make it part of it. In ways it makes that tree stronger. I feel the same way about adversity, about negative stuff that comes into your life… It’s hard to do. Your first instinct is to get the hell away from it but if you can, embrace it, deal with it. It can become part of you and make you stronger. If you allow yourself, you will grow over it and you will be stronger when you are done with it. You won’t be weaker the next time it comes around. It won’t hurt near as bad.”

— Terry Ratliff, chairmaker in Eastern Kentucky, as quoted in Humans of Central Appalachia