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Brendan’s video demonstrating his “chairmaker’s sighting square” was a bit of a joke. But the square itself is something we use all the time in the shop when drilling tricky angles.

You don’t have to build one of these squares – an aluminum framing square works just as well – but the wooden ones are nice. Here’s how the square works.

First the driller places the bit on the crest rail and lines up the drill with the hole locations on the crest and the seat (totally by eye). The driller can easily see if he (or she) is tilted too far left or right. But he can’t see if he’s tilted too far forward or back. This is where the sighting square comes in handy.

Place the sighting square on the crest with one of its legs in line with the drill and the bit (shown above). The “boring buddy” then sits at the other end of the square – basically, 90° to the axis of drilling.

Then the boring buddy holds up the sighting square, lining up the point of the drill bit with the hole location in the seat and one leg of the square. She can easily see if the driller needs to lean forward or backward to achieve the correct angle.

Works every time (as long as the boring buddy isn’t blind).

— Christopher Schwarz

The release of Christian Becksvoort’s new book, “Shaker Inspiration,” has been delayed a bit due to a problem at the printing plant. The printing on the dust jacket wasn’t up to snuff, so the plant is reprinting the jacket for us.

We don’t have a new shipping date yet, but it should be only a short delay. As soon as we have new information, I’ll post it here.

New Bandana Design
Tom Bonamici has designed a new Lost Art Press bandana. The completed bandanas are en route to us and should be for sale in the store next week. Like our previous bandana, this one is manufactured and printed entirely in the U.S.

This new design is printed on undyed cotton and features an array of tools around our beehive logo.

The quality of the bandana and the print job is outstanding. After washing mine many times, the printing stayed crisp and the cotton became quite soft. Tom really nailed this product – both on the design and the manufacturing.

Chore Coats
We’ve received a lot of questions about the next batches of chore coats. Here’s the latest. We have a batch of chore coats that was made using soft Japanese cotton completed and en route to us. As soon as these arrive, we will count them and put them up for sale in the store (I hope before the end of the month). This will be the last batch in the Japanese cotton.

The next batch will be sewn in a U.S.-made 12 oz. brushed bull cotton denim. Those are being sewn here in Cincinnati, and I don’t have a date yet as to when they will be ready.

Which one should you buy? Both fabrics are excellent – I’ve been testing them here this fall. Both breathe and move well. The Japanese cotton is remarkably smooth and looks a little more formal than the bull denim, which has more texture and less sheen.

When I have both versions in hand, I’ll take some photos to illustrate the difference. Personally, I’d be happy with either.

— Christopher Schwarz

This week I sat down for a detailed interview with Brandon Cullum of the “Make or Break Show” podcast to discuss workbenches, plus how we dig up historical techniques here at Lost Art Press and the exact moment I knew I was going to do woodworking for the rest of my life.

It’s an hour-long interview and delves into areas I rarely go (Brandon is a very well-prepared interviewer, and he did his homework). So in addition to woodworking, we discuss my love of trailer fires and the random way I got into both writing and woodworking as a profession.

So if you aren’t sick of me yet, give it a listen here. Also, be sure to check out the other 76 episodes – there are some good interviews in there.

— Christopher Schwarz

I don’t talk much about the logistical side of Lost Art Press because it’s not woodworking. And I try to stick to woodworking as much as possible.

But occasionally, it’s necessary to drop the curtain and acknowledge a milestone.

About six years ago, John and I filled every order from our houses. I had our order processing computer propped on a folding table, and I’d put my feet on the litter box as I manually printed out every label for every order. John and his family did the same thing (without the litter box – John has dogs).

It was a good kind of drudgery. John and I now know enough about order systems and customer service that we’re picky about how our boxes are packed and our customers are treated.

This year, John devoted a ton of his time to find a new fulfillment service for Lost Art Press and Crucible Tool that makes everything better for you and us. The service is TF Fulfillment, and it’s northwest of Indianapolis in an area that is a hotbed of services such as this.

What’s in this for you? The warehouse is climate controlled and humidity controlled, so your books will arrive without having absorbed excess moisture. (We’re also starting to shrinkwrap all of our titles to help control moisture. We’re not wild about the extra plastic and extra expense, but it’s the best way to protect our goods.)

Also, TF Fulfillment is far more automated and modern than our previous efforts. So you are less likely to get a shipment with the wrong things in the box. One person picks the books. A second person checks their work. Also, we have the same two people working on our orders every day. So they know the difference between “To Make as Perfectly as Possible” and “With All the Precision Possible.”

Also, TF does a great job of packing boxes. If you’ve received a box from us in the last couple months you might have noticed. Good packaging means fewer damaged books.

I also think it’s important to say this on occasion: I couldn’t do this without John. We’re equal partners in Lost Art Press, and we both do difficult jobs that we wouldn’t wish on other people. I get a lot of credit because my name is at the bottom of most of these blog posts, but this business wouldn’t be successful without the both of us.

OK, back to woodworking.

— Christopher Schwarz