If you are ordering books, DVDs or T-shirts as gifts, here’s a quick update on inventory and shipping times here at Lost Art Press.
We ship via USPS Media Mail in order to keep costs down. During most of the year, Media Mail is as fast as USPS First Class in our experience. However, during the Christmas season, we have found that Media Mail tends to be a tad slower.
So if you want to be certain your package arrives in time for Christmas, my recommendation would be to order by Friday, Dec. 9.
As to inventory, we are well-stocked on everything except “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest.” We are awaiting the third press run, which should be here by Dec. 21 – too late for Christmas. I have about 250 copies of it left in the shed. So if a signed copy is important to you, you might want to order now.
It’s almost impossible not to mention the name “John Brown” when you discuss anarchism and woodworking.
And yet, somehow I managed to do this.
John was the author of a column in the British magazine Good Woodworking in the 1990s that was titled “The John Brown Column” and later “The Anarchist Woodworker.”
When I was managing editor at Popular Woodworking in the late 1990s, I read John’s columns every month. The logo of the column – a guy holding a lit bomb – was arresting. John himself was intent on sticking it to the woodworking establishment, and he shunned machinery in favor of hand tools at every turn, which is how he built his bench, shop and the Welsh Stick chairs he sold.
When I first read John’s columns, I was still deeply in love with my table saw, planer, jointer and router. But his Welsh Stick chairs absolutely blew my mind. Since the moment I saw them, I became obsessed with building chairs that looked as masculine and animalistic as his.
In the late 1990s, John wasn’t teaching classes in the United States anymore, so I sought out David Fleming in Cobden, Ontario, to teach me about the Welsh Stick form during a week-long class. Then I took a second week-long class with Don Weber to refine my skills and learn new techniques in building the Welsh Stick form.
John’s book, “Welsh Stick Chairs,” is one of my prize possessions, and I hope someday to have his eye for form when it comes to building Welsh Stick chairs. “Chairman Brown,” as his fans called him, is part of every chairmaking operation I know.
But there was more to John Brown than just a chairmaker.
His column in Good Woodworking was a diary at times. He sought to rebuild a new life as a hand craftsman in a machine-based society. He built and outfitted his shop, and the entire process was covered in the pages of Good Woodworking. He advocated using fewer tools and both eschewed and ridiculed machinery (and turners, by the by).
The last time I read John’s columns was in 2004 and 2006 as I was assembling a data base of quotations for Woodworking Magazine, which I was editing. After 2006, I stowed my photocopies of his columns in my shop cabinet, where they sit until today.
Why? When I’m writing any book, I refuse to read books by other authors, famous or obscure. It’s a painful choice because I love to read (I’m not writing right now so I’ve got three novels on my Kindle). But I know how easy it is to be influenced by clever writers. So I try to sequester my brain as much as possible.
So here’s the painful part.
This week, Brown’s editor, Nick Gibbs, mentioned that he was surprised that I didn’t mention John Brown anywhere in “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest.” To be honest, I’m surprised as well. John was the first person I know of who married the word “anarchist” with “woodworking.” And that stroke of genius either planted seeds in my brain or fertilized them when I wrote my book.
But I can honestly say that I have no idea if John Brown’s version of anarchy matches mine. I kinda doubt it – anarchists are a fractious bunch – and I haven’t looked at his columns for five years now. But I can say this: I am amending the dedication to the next printing of “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest” to acknowledge my debt to the path that he blazed in the 1990s.
I don’t know if he would have liked my book – I rather doubt it – but he’s a part of it now.
Thanks to Nick – now the the editor of British Woodworking and Living Woods magazines – for pointing out my oversight. And I’d like to cast my vote for a reprinting of Chairman Brown’s columns in the coming years, whether I’m involved or not.
Katy is thilled by Drayton Hall outside Charleston
We are closing the Lost Art Press warehouse (my basement) for the Thanksgiving holiday. So any orders placed after 3 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 22, will not be mailed until Monday.
My family and I are headed to Charleston, S.C., for Thanksgiving, which I am certain will involve grits, beer and long walks along the Battery.
The other good news is that I’d like to welcome Highland Hardware as one of our retailers for “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest.” We are cautious about who we work with, but when we were approached by Highland Hardware, it was a no-brainer.
I used to visit the store every other year when I had to attend the International Woodworking Fair in Atlanta, Ga., and I also stopped by several times on my way through the city. Highland Hardware is where I first met Roy Underhill about 1996 or 1997. He won’t remember it.
Roy was giving a demonstration on turning at the store and I was just too star-struck and shy to even introduce myself.
In any case, Highland Hardware is one of the more influential independent stores that have always gone the extra mile to keep the craft alive, especially handwork. I bought many of my hand tools there, and the staff has always been friendly and patient.
I got to meet Chris Bagby, the owner, this year at Woodworking in America, and I now have plans to teach down there in early 2013.
Right now Highland Hardware (aka Highland Woodworking) is stocking “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest”; click here to visit their store.
In case you think I’m sitting around eating bon-bons in my boxers all day, here’s an update: It’s actually pretzels and a thong.
Apologies for that mental image.
We are working on several upcoming publishing projects here that you might be interested in. Here’s a quick look.
• Books: I’m still editing three books and getting them in shape for the printer: Jennie Alexander and Peter Follansbee’s “Make a Joint Stool from a Tree,” Matt Bickford’s “Mouldings in Practice” and a special reprint of “Theory of Mouldings.” As of now, we are shooting for a January release date for all three.
• Updated Titles: In crazy news, we are almost sold out of the second printing of “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest” and will be going back to the printer for a third run in a couple weeks. In the third printing we will add Suzanne Ellison’s excellent index to the book (you can download it for free here) and we are going to change the color of the linen and debossing on the exterior. Also, we are going back to the printer for a second press run of “The Joiner & Cabinet Maker.” We will be correcting some typos, but that’s the only change planned for the second run.
• Audiobook: We are producing an audiobook version of the original text of “The Joiner & Cabinet Maker.” We should be recording that after Thanksgiving if all goes well. I cannot tell you who the voice talent is, but I can say that you know this person well.
• ePub and Kindle Versions: Robert Wearing has given us permission to produce ePub and Kindle versions of “The Essential Woodworker.” His book is being converted now and it should be up for sale in our store in about three weeks.
• My own book: When everyone else in the house is asleep I’m working on writing my next book on furniture design. I am at the stage in the book where I need to present my findings to some people and have them tell me I’m full of poo – or that I’m on to something.
And lastly, I am hoping for one more beautiful fall day so I can fire up my Karmann-Ghia and drive out to the park overlooking the city with my laptop.
Woodworking writers love to get to the end of the story where they can simply state: Build the drawers in the usual manner and apply your favorite finish. And enjoy!
This is, by the way, a bit of laziness or secretiveness. Some writers don’t want to reveal how they really finish a piece. Finishing is still a state secret for some professionals.
As to drawers, this morning I finished up work on the drawer for a Charleston table reproduction from the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts. And let me tell you this drawer was a lot of fun to construct because it is not built in the usual manner.
What’s the “usual” manner?
1. Through-dovetails at the rear of the drawer.
2. Half-blind dovetails at the front.
3. The drawer bottom slides into the drawer box from the back and rests in a groove in the sides and drawer front.
For this early 18th-century drawer, here’s what we’ve got:
1. Through-dovetails at the rear.
2. Half-blinds at the front.
3. A drawer front that is wider than the drawer sides.
4. A bottom that is nailed onto the drawer’s sides and back.
5. The bottom edge of the drawer front is rounded over, on both the inside and outside corners.
I have a theory. Wanna hear it?
The rounded-over drawer front is the same profile used on the stretchers at the bottom of the piece. Perhaps it was a conscious design decision. Or perhaps the drawer front was originally planned to be a stretcher.
In any case, I had to be wary of wood movement with this drawer. If I’d simply glued the bottom on the drawer frame the bottom would likely split or ruin the drawer frame. So here’s what I did: (Man what’s with all these lists? It’s like I work for USA Today.)
1. Glued the drawer bottom to the backside of the drawer front.
2. Glued the bottom to the drawer sides – but only for the first 4” or 5”.
3. Nailed the bottom on with 4d cut headless brads.
(Edit: Robert Lang, who measured the piece, had Megan Fitzpatrick call me to tell me I forgot a rabbet in the backside of the drawer front. And yup, I did. There is a rabbet behind the drawer front that the drawer bottom rests in. Below is Bob’s drawing of how it should look.)
The glue will keep the drawer bottom tight at the front. The nails will flex and allow the bottom to expand and contract.
I hope.
Now I just have to apply my favorite finish (green or blue?) and turn a knob.
