Lost Art Press

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A Different Kind of Horse

Posted on by fitz
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This experiment was just to satisfy my curiosity, the saw horses are not jack stands for vehicles!

I am a one-track minded person. Often when my wife and I are watching television she will start talking and I don’t hear her at all. When she finally does get my attention, “Did you hear anything I said?” is her comment. Most of the time I did not. It is not that I am ignoring my better half. The fact is I can talk or I can watch television. I just can’t seem to do both at the same time.

One-track mindedness is not always bad though. Often it allows me to focus on an idea, see it and make it work in my head before I actually try to make whatever it might be. Most of the time the idea works out.

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The latest issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine, June 2018, features one of these ideas that came to me while on a long boring stretch of I-40 in eastern North Carolina. The knockdown sawhorses I wrote about are made from yellow pine construction lumber, very strong, simple and have no wiggle when assembled. They can also be built with nails or mortise-and-tenon joinery.

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The legs attach to the beam with dados and a wedge to hold it all tight. Assembly or disassembly requires just a couple of mallet taps. IMG_1248 (2) (1280x853)

— Will Myers

Tool Chest: ‘Dog Bone’ Lifts

Posted on by Lost Art Press

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When I built my chest for “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest” I didn’t include any chest lifts. Why? I don’t know. I had planned on making some intricate rope beckets. But I didn’t. I guess I’m just an idiot.

Months later, Roy Underhill showed me how to make “dog bone” lifts for a chest. He makes them a little differently than I do, but the idea is the same. These are the lifts I use now when I build chests for customers. Here are the steps:

  1. Make a handle that looks like a dog bone.
  2. Turn down the middle of the dog bone to a cylinder
  3. Shape the remainder of the lift with ogees, ovolos, yodas etc.
  4. Finish and attach.

For each lift, start with a piece of wood that is 1-3/4” x 3” x 13-1/2”. The handle in the middle is 1” in diameter and 4” long. So saw out the excess material as shown in the photo below:

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Now chuck the piece in your lathe and turn down the handle to 1” in diameter. I give the handle a slight barrel shape and incise a couple lines (because I am a fancy lad).

Now saw away the excess and shape the ends. I use an ogee and an ovolo. Then I rasp an 1/8” x 1/8” bevel on the hard arrises. Finally, drill the counterbores and pilot holes for attaching the lifts with four stout steel screws.

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Finish the lifts. Attach them.

Note that I want these lifts to look handmade (they are). I am not going for the pattern-routed look. I like the sharp silhouette of the chest with the addition of these slightly earthy-looking handles on the ends. You grab them and they feel smooth and worn. It’s Hobbit-y to me.

— Christopher Schwarz

How Much Does That Tool Chest Weigh?

Posted on by Lost Art Press

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When I post photos of my tool chest, there’s a 50 percent chance someone will ask me how much it weighs. My usual and honest answer: I don’t know. It weighs a lot. Two people can easily move it, however.

Today we broke out the heavy-duty scale and weighed my tool chest, which is full of tools. And we weighed two empty tool chests that are on the way out the door to customers. Here are the results.

A full-size Anarchist tool chest in pine (with oak runners) and loaded with my tools weighs 208.6 lbs.

A full-size Anarchist tool chest in pine with pine tills and oak runners and empty weighs 101 lbs.

A full-size Anarchist tool chest in pine with walnut interior and oak runners, empty, weighs 106 lbs.

I hope this satisfies the curious.

— Christopher Schwarz

Candle Stand Class Openings

Posted on by fitz

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There are still a few openings for the Shaker candle stand class at the Wood and Shop School in Earlysville Va., May 10-12. This is a class that I am really looking forward to; the candle stand in question is one of my favorite pieces I have made. The candle stand we will be building is a dead-on copy of one of the three originals in the collection at Hancock Shaker Village. The class will be more than just how to make the table but will cover the research I have done on the three originals as well as a discovery from my most recent visit. This little table is an excellent example of how what looks to be minor details change the entire look of a piece. A good case of “it looks simple but is not.”

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Another good reason to join us is Joshua Farnsworth, headmaster of the Wood and Shop School has just completed construction of the workbenches, brand new Roubo and Moravian workbenches for everyone to try out.

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Joshua has also installed the latest version of a wagon vise that I make on the benches, they are slick and fast!

If you can’t make the candle stand class, there are many other class offering as well with with a bunch of great instructors, the full schedule is here.

— Will Myers

The Tools in my Chest, 2018

Posted on by Lost Art Press

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Readers frequently ask for a list of tools I have in my chest with brand names, tool sizes and short comments on the efficacy of each tool.

I hesitate to do this because a lot of my tools are dictated by the type of work I do. Most people don’t need three sliding bevels. I wish I had six because chairs. But despite my instincts, here is a snapshot of what’s in my chest right now.

Note that this list doesn’t include some specialty tools for chairmaking – a scorp, travisher and spokeshaves – which I keep elsewhere.

Tools in the Top Till of my Tool Chest

The Tools in the Second Till of my Tool Chest

The Tools in the Third Till of my Tool Chest

The Tools in the Bottom of my Tool Chest

— Christopher Schwarz