Lost Art Press

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Solve the Mexican Workbench Mystery

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Mark Firley at The Furniture Record (one of my favorite blogs), sent me these photos of a workbench he encountered in his travels. He was on;y able to snap these photos before the antiques dealer shooed him away.

My first (and fifth) reaction:  A Narwhal and some ship’s tackle had a baby. And it didn’t live….

So if you look at the top of the bench, you can see there is probably a vise nut bolted to the underside of the workbench’s top.

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The bolts might be (OK, almost certainly are) a later addition to the bench. Judging from the wear and tear on the thing (and the dealer’s guess at the age), that hardware is new.

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But then everything goes sideways when we consider the vise. The vise screw itself looks handmade – not manufactured – and could very well be from the same era as the bench itself. The big thing sticking in the air is definitely… sticking in the air.

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To my eye it resembles a leg vise chop after a vicious dog attack. And then there’s the second vise nut in front of that. It’s bolted in places (perhaps a repair?).

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I wonder if the vise screw is in backwards and its hub is under the bench. And we just have, for some odd reason, two vise nuts. That’s my best guess.

— Christopher Schwarz

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Mortises Before Turning – Genius

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Apologies for the following statement, but “The Woodworker: The Charles Hayward Years” is a gold mine of craft knowledge. Even though we were mired in the project for more than seven years (and I should despise it), the finished books are incredibly useful in my everyday work.

Yesterday proved that point. You might remember this blog entry where I reprinted a 1964 article on making a staked stool that was one of the thousands of articles we sorted through for our two-volume set.

In that article, S.H. Glenister recommended boring mortises for a staked stool before shaping the legs. This is exactly how I work with square mortise-and-tenon projects, but is the opposite of how I work when building post-and-rung assemblies with round tenons and mortises.

I can’t say why it never occurred to me to bore the round mortises first when the stock was square. Just a brain defect, I guess.

So when making the post-and-rung base for a new design for a chest of drawers, I followed Mr. Glenister’s advice. It worked brilliantly and everything turned out perfectly square and centered with little fuss.

The only hiccup was when turning the mortised bits. You need to lighten up your pressure on the tool as you pass the tool by the mortises. I didn’t have any of them catch, but if you use consistent pressure the areas around your mortises will end up a little skinnier.

Give it a try next time.

By the way, we are hard at work at designing the next two volumes of “The Woodworker.” Vol. III on joinery is now completely designed and needs only a final edit. Meghan, the designer, is now laying out Vol. IV, which is on the workshop and furniture. There is still a lot of work ahead, but we are plowing forward.

— Christopher Schwarz

About the New Lost Art Press Logo

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When John and I started this company in 2007, we each contributed about $1,500 to build our website and purchase the first press run of “The Art of Joinery.”

So when it came to designing a logo, we had exactly $0.00. I ginned up a placeholder logo using the Caslon Antique typeface and we launched our business with that. But as soon as we made some money, we planned to get a real professional logo.

During the last nine years we tried a couple times to get a logo designed, but the project was cursed (like our poster business). Both designers either flaked or were swallowed by a hole in the Earth. So we trudged on with our DIY logo.

This spring we vowed to make a third attempt. I hired Tom Lane, a designer in Liverpool, who I’d been following on Dribble for some time. He specializes in hand-drawn logos, and his aesthetic matched what I was looking for.

The curse had finally been lifted (thanks Marta Madden).

Tom drew a bunch of logos in pencil. He narrowed it down to three solid choices and we began refining things during the last two weeks. And today, it’s done.

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I’ve been in the publishing business long enough to know that some of you (all of you?) might prefer the old logo. That’s cool, but this is our logo. We’re happy we got to support an independent designer, promote some handwork and get the logo that I wish we’d had in 2007.

— Christopher Schwarz

Lost Art Press Storefront Open This Saturday

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The Lost Art Press storefront will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. this Saturday, June 11, for those of you who have woodworking questions or would like to browse our complete selection of new books or our limited selection of blemished books.

We’ll also have free stickers, free posters and (I hope) some of Katy’s soft wax for sale at the store.

I’ll be working on a contemporary chest of drawers in some highly figured oak that has some unusual joinery and will be featured in an upcoming issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine. With any luck I’ll be finishing the plinth, which is constructed like a post-and-rung chair.

Just a reminder that we can accept credit cards for all our books except the blemished ones, which are cash only. The store’s physical address is 837 Willard St., Covington, KY 41017.

— Christopher Schwarz