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We have two upcoming classes in July at our storefront that should – by all rights – be filled and have a long waiting list. But they aren’t.

If you can attend these classes, I encourage you to do so for two reasons. One, in both cases these classes are being taught by the premier instructor on the topic. Two, we won’t offer a lot of classes next year, so these opportunities will dry up in December.

Here are the classes:

French Polishing With Derek Jones
July 11-12
Most people know Derek as the editor of Furniture & Cabinetmaking magazine. But Derek is way more than that. He’s a time-served professional woodworker who has an affinity for toolmaking and French polishing. His classes on French polishing sell out quickly in the U.K. and Europe because Derek has distilled the process so it contains 0 percent garbage. I’ve watched Derek teach it, and it’s brilliant. In fact, the reason I wanted him to teach the class here is so I could take it (as luck would have it, my Germany trip was extended, so I cannot).

Honestly, if you want to up your finishing game (or just establish your finishing game), this weekend will do it. Period. This class is for beginners. Intermediates. Experts.

Make a Carved Oak Box with Peter Follansbee
July 29-Aug. 2
Yup, we managed to lure Peter Follansbee west of the Allegheny Mountains for this class, and he is bringing primo red oak for the students to build and carve their boxes. Follansbee is one of my favorite woodworking writers, instructors and builders (I said it so right here). He’s also the author of our newest book, “Joiner’s Work.”

This class is the gateway drug to 17th-century-style construction methods and carving. You get to make this beautiful little box with traditional joints and then cover every surface with the geometrical carvings. Even if you’ve never carved a block of soap or a ham, you’ll do great. I’ve been amazed by what Peter’s students turn out their first time holding a gouge.

About Next Year
This year has been nuts. We offered so many classes that I found it difficult to keep up with the shop’s commission work and work on future books. While I loved having people teach here from all over the world, we’re going to dial things back – way back – for 2020 so we can regain our footing and catch up on commercial furniture work and toolmaking.

We’ll still offer a weekend class or so each month. Maybe a two or three week-long classes during the year. And we’ll bring back Chris Williams for another Welsh chair class. But for the most part, we’re going to hunker down and build stuff.

So if you want to take a class here, you might want to comb over the current list of classes for 2019. Next year is going to be quiet.

— Christopher Schwarz

For the past two years I’ve been posting at Fine Woodworking’s Pro’s Corner blog. Web producer Ben Strano’s invitation to write for the blog came shortly after the publication of Making Things Work, and while I don’t know whether the content of that book prompted the invitation, I can confirm that the blog posts are closely related to it.

There’s one big difference: While serious lessons I’ve learned about making a living as a woodworker form the subjects of most of the book’s chapters, I addressed them in the context of stories drawn from real experience. The narrative is meant to be as entertaining as it is instructive. You could read the entire book without noticing the pedagogical dimension, were you so inclined.

My posts at the Pro’s Corner blog are pretty much straight-up—about as close as I want to get to putting myself in the position of a counselor at a branch of SCORE, the Senior Corps of Retired Executives. (Please note that I am not retired, and probably never will be.) Over the years, I’ve consulted a few counselors at SCORE. It’s an invaluable source of business guidance, though I’ve found that most of the counselors, and so, their advice, come from companies that are radically different from a single-person craft micro-enterprise such as mine, where profit is understood more richly than in terms of a number on a bottom line and there’s no secretary or executive assistant to whom you can delegate the stomach-wrenching tasks that every business has to deal with once in a while. My hope is that my posts will give professionals and aspiring professionals the kind of perspective, and in some cases advice, that I wish I’d been able to find.

Of course, businesses, like shops and woodworkers, vary greatly. I’m writing about what works (and doesn’t) for me, given my experience, interests, values, and capabilities. Ideally readers will expand the posts into more of a conversation in the comments.

Here’s today’s post, on facing “failure.”

There are other types of content in Making Things Work, among them the blasting apart of certain widespread fantasies about woodworking and woodworkers. You’ll find those addressed occasionally at the Pro’s Corner, too. I’m honored and delighted that Lost Art Press is in the process of publishing its own edition of Making Things Work; it’s on track for publication around October.

Finally, I’m always grateful for suggestions about topics. The comments section is the place to put them.

Despite some slow fabric shipping and a booming business at Sew Valley, our sewing contractor, we’ve just taken delivery of the final prototype of the moleskin work vest. It came out great – the fabric is amazing, the fit is spot-on (a smidge boxier than the LAP chore coat) and the pockets are useful without being bothersome. The inner pocket has sewn divisions, which means that you can lean over without your 6″ ruler and pencils falling out.

Chris asked if the mole’s blood was still on the fabric, but I had to disappoint him. Moleskin is just plain heavy cotton, often woven in a very dense sateen. The British nearly always brush one side of their moleskin, resulting in a soft-handed but super sturdy and long-wearing fabric. It was a traditional workwear material for miners, carpenters, farmers and just about everyone else doing heavy work in the British Isles.

I truly don’t know why, but the French seem to rarely brush either side of their moleskin. Our first Chore Coat was in a Japanese woven French-style moleskin (le moleskine, en Français), thus the shiny surface on both sides. Our work vest is British style, and you can see the brushed and non-brushed surfaces in the above photo. The stuff is awesome – wind and abrasion resistant, warm and long lasting. We’re getting the real stuff, woven and brushed in England by Brisbane Moss. It’s expensive fabric, but so, so nice. And hey, you don’t have to pay for sleeves!

This sample has just been approved. Now starts the wheel turning – importing the bulk fabric, getting in line at Sew Valley, and cut, sew and QC. We’ll definitely have these available by early fall, which is good timing – summer woodworking, in my experience, calls for cutting your hickory shirt sleeves off like Dick Proenneke. Quantities will be very limited, and we’re only doing this lovely olive drab color. We’ll have more details, especially sizing, closer to the date of release.

— Tom Bonamici

It’s been too long since I’ve updated everyone (including my fellow editors) on the projects that are about to bear fruit. Plus other projects that are in fruit cocoons, which is totally not a real thing but should be.

These are in the order in which you’ll likely see them. As always, if I haven’t listed a project that you are lusting for, that’s because I don’t have any news on it. Here we go.

“Making and Mastering Wood Planes” by David Finck
Likely release date: August
This book is a classic. I wore out my first copy and even wrote a gushy blurb for it when it was on the imprint of a competing publisher. That’s how much I love it. David was self-publishing the book and asked if we would like to take it on. I said yes, as long as Lost Art Press could put it out in a high-quality domestically printed hardback. David agreed. Everyone wins.

“The Solution at Hand: Jigs and Fixtures to Make Benchwork Easier” by Robert Wearing
Likely release date: October
Here’s another book we’ve been working on but haven’t been talking about. We love Wearing’s “The Essential Woodworker,” and so we asked him if we could compile about 150 of his best jigs and fixtures that he’d published in various forms during his career. He agreed. This book is hand illustrated, like “The Essential Woodworker,” and is as tricky as a Vegas magic show.

“Making Things Work” by Nancy Hiller (the Lost Art Press edition)
Likely release date: October or so
Nancy considered letting this book go out of print (she’s a damn busy professional woodworker). We thought that would be bad for readers. So we offered to bring it into the Lost Art Press fold. Our new edition will have a new cover and will feature one extra short story at the end that elegantly twists the knife as you laugh….

“The Anarchist’s Design Book (Revised & Expanded)” by me
Likely release date: January 2020
I tried to finish this book at the end of 2018, but my father became very ill. So I put aside all my personal writing projects to help take care of him at the end of his life. With his estate now settled, I have the time to finish this revision. I’m building the mule chest for the revised edition now. There are two additional projects to build after that (which are already designed). And then we’ll have a new book.

“The Life & Work of John Brown” by Christopher Williams
Likely release date: March 2020
Chris should be done writing this book in the fall. Then I just have to design it. This book has been filled with many twists and turns – like the life and work of John Brown. I promise it will be worth the wait.

“Make a Chair from a Tree” by Jennie Alexander
Likely release date: As soon as I can manage
This book has been a lodestone for me. I have lots of excellent people helping me with the text, illustrations and technical side. But in the end, I have to ensure the book is true to what Jennie wanted and helps you build her chair. I work on this project whenever I can. It’s slow going, which is totally my fault.

That’s the list. There are lots of other projects that are eyeing the birth canal. When they get closer, we’ll post an update.

— Christopher Schwarz