Category: Uncategorized

I spent the morning organizing and packing up more than 500 hand-drawn illustrations that Peter Galbert made for “Chairmaker’s Notebook.” Even though John and I have spent about 150 hours scanning and adjusting the images, they are still as remarkable and wonderful as the day we opened the box.

As all the pages went back into their proper portfolios, it became obvious that you could almost build a chair using the images alone – they are that detailed.

To give a feel for the imagery in “Chairmaker’s Notebook,” I made a short video of a few of my favorites from the book, set to music by The Black Twig Pickers.

— Christopher Schwarz

P.S. “Chairmaker’s Notebook” is available for pre-publication ordering in our store with free domestic shipping until March 20, 2015 – the day the book ships from the printer.

Also noteworthy: Lie-Nielsen has agreed to carry the book, as well as the other retailers mentioned earlier: Lee Valley Tools, Tools for Working Wood, Highland Woodworking, Henry Eckert Fine Tools in Australia and Classic Hand Tools in the UK. Links to our retailers can be found here.

And finally: A reader noted that our Vimeo videos (and my Vimeo profile) had become populated by some naughty, naughty content. After some digging, it became obvious that having “The Naked Woodworker” in our feed was attracting the smut.

If you encountered this, I apologize. If you missed seeing it, ditto.

Since 1996 I have had a public e-mail address for all things woodworking. I have – to the best of my knowledge – answered every e-mail people have sent me (except a few from Nigerian princes).

Today I shut down my public e-mail address: chris@lostartpress.com. Here’s why.

During the last few years, my e-mail volume has ballooned to the point where I spend two to four hours every day answering mail. This is interfering with my writing, editing, building and (apologies) sanity.

If you have a question related to my writing, I encourage you to search my two blogs, which have more than 4,000 articles on all-things woodworking, plus jokes about animal flatulence.

On this blog, use the search box at the top right of the page. On my Popular Woodworking Magazine blog, the search function is right above the most recent entry.

Plus, you can always query me by leaving a comment on my blog that relates to a recent entry.

I ask that you do not bombard John with questions related to woodworking or about getting in touch with me. He has his hands full with customer service for Lost Art Press and keeping fulfillment running smoothly.

I have enjoyed corresponding with readers during the last 19 years. But I have reached a point where I need more time to think, build, read, research, edit and write.

Thank you all for your understanding in this matter.

— Christopher Schwarz

I’ll be participating in an “Ask Me Anything” session on reddit.com on Tuesday night starting at 7 p.m. EST.

Registered users can submit questions about anything relating to woodworking, and I will answer them. Simple. Check out reddit’s woodworking subreddit here. I’ve been following this forum, which as almost 100,000 readers, for some time now. It is definitely the least nasty woodworking forum. “Least nasty” is the highest compliment one can pay to a forum.

So stop by and check it out. Register if you would like to ask me something.

— Christopher Schwarz

Prices of many Lost Art Press products will increase slightly on Jan. 1, 2015 – our first price increase since we started the company in 2007.

During the last seven years, we have absorbed the increasing costs of paper, printing and several postal rate increases. So to keep our business running smoothly, we need to cover these increased costs and help pay for improvements to the way we ship our books.

Most of the books will cost about $2 more on Jan. 1. There will be no increases to the Lie-Nielsen DVDs we carry. So if you were thinking about buying a Lost Art Press book in the coming months and want to save some money, you might want to visit the store before Jan. 1.

— Christopher Schwarz