Lost Art Press

Category: Virtuoso: The Tool Cabinet and Workbench of Henry O. Studley

The Spaghetti Bowl

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Studley-cover-2(3)As I recall from years long past there is in Miami a notorious interchange known as “The Spaghetti Bowl,” no doubt the result of some distant urban planner making a dot on a map and saying, “This is where all the highways meet!” I have no doubt that similar complexes exist in many metropolitan areas, but the one in Miami is especially memorable due to the highway routes being stacked five high as they weave together, merging and departing with and from each other.

This absurd traffic construct serves as a nearly perfect metaphor for the current fortnight.  It seems that the threads of LAP and other projects are stacked about five high.

Last night I sent off my final review of the page proofs for “Virtuoso: The Tool Cabinet and Workbench of Henry O. Studley,” which Chris sent me last week when I was in Florida on a speaking engagement talking about my favorite topic – historic wood finishing – and reveling in a reunion with my mom and all of my siblings. I spent what time I could on the review, but did not actually finish until midnight last night. I feel about 500 pounds lighter today.

I am not displeased with the product (that is Donspeak for “Holy cow, this is great!” If I wasn’t such a Calvinist I would be really proud). Narayan’s photos and Wesley’s design make the book a nearly decadent experience. The book goes to press very soon (Ed note: Next week), and I am very much anticipating the first of several boxes of books arriving on my doorstep. (I owe copies to about two score contributors to the effort.)

The preparations for the accompanying H.O. Studley exhibit are in red-hot mode, as my fabrication of the exhibit accouterments are well underway, the first slate of big checks have flowed out for the exhibit hall rental, platform and vitrine fabrication, insurance, graphics, lighting, secured shipping, etc.… Tickets are still available, so if you ever wanted to get up close and personal with Studley’s tool cabinet and workbench, this may be your one and only chance.

On Saturday past I presented “Making New Finishes Look Old” for the Society of American Period Furniture Makers’ Tidewater chapter, a test run for my demonstration at the SAPFM Mid-Year meeting in Knoxville, Tenn., in June. Increasingly I find my mind wandering and fingers noodling on the keyboard in crafting my magnum opus “Historic Finisher’s Handbook” (HFH), which will begin in earnest as soon as I complete the revisions for “Roubo on Furniture Making” this summer, and then take the following three years. If I go “dark” this autumn it is because I’m up in the barn having too much fun working through the dozens of recipes detailed in HFH.

And today I spent some time conserving a Roentgen desk; tonight I’m wrapping up the conservation of a c.1720 Italian tortoiseshell veneer mirror frame with another dozen conservation projects in wait.

Yeah, I think the “Spaghetti Bowl” description is just about right.

— Don Williams

www.donsbarn.com

New Tool Chest is a Joint Project

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Juggling a book and a furniture commission is like juggling two balls – pretty easy and not all that impressive. These last two weeks have been a full on circus: two books in overdrive (Peter Galbert’s “Chairmaker’s Notebook” and Don Williams’ “Virtuoso”) and two all-consuming projects, some three-legged chairs and a tool chest for Popular Woodworking Magazine.

The tool chest is a joint project between myself and Jameel Abraham at Benchcrafted. I built the box (the easy part) and he created a carved marquetry panel for the lid.

The chest itself is a new traveling design based on a bunch of old examples of chests I’ve studied and measured. After a lot of calculations, I found a chest size that will hold an impressive and nearly complete set of furniture-making tools in the minimum footprint. And it has nice lines and is a bit easier to build than an “Anarchist’s Tool Chest.”

I’m not giving up my floor chest. It is too much a part of the way I work. This smaller chest is going to be ideal for woodworkers who have limited floor space but want to hold a lot of tools that can all be accessed with one hand movement (just like the full-size chest). What’s the downside? There’s not a lot of room for moulding planes.

I’ll write up a full description of the chest’s inner workings and post a video on it when the sucker is done.

Jameel’s marquetry panel arrived about a week ago, but I haven’t had time to install it on the chest because I’ve been a slave to Adobe’s Creative Cloud software. But when I couldn’t stare at a screen anymore, I sneaked to the shop to install the hinges and attach the lid to the carcase.

The hardware is from blacksmith Peter Ross – Jameel and I decided to go whole-chicken on this project. I’m not going to show the lid here. That’s for the magazine’s editors to reveal. But you can see some glimpses of Jameel’s gorgeous work on the lid on his blog here.

The hinges are bolted through the lid and secured with square nuts.
The hinges are bolted through the lid and secured with square nuts. This is off-the-rack hardware, not from Peter Ross.
Here is the Peter Ross chest hinge on the interior of the lid and carcase.
Here is the Peter Ross chest hinge on the interior of the lid and carcase.

This morning I convinced the lid, carcase and hinges to work nicely together and released a huge sigh of relief. Now I just have to attach the dust seal to the lid. And add the crab lock. Paint the sucker. Attach the chest lifts. And write the article. No problem.

After three hours of 100-percent concentration on these hinges, I’m ready to work on something that has an “undo” button. Yeah, InDesign and Photoshop sound like a good idea.

— Christopher Schwarz

2nd Printing of ‘Campaign Furniture’ & Other News

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We’re going back on press for a second printing of “Campaign Furniture” with a few corrections and a slightly different cover. The only significant correction, which was to the Roorkee Chair chapter, is discussed here. I also added a thank you to Greg Miller, who I neglected to include in the first printing.

I’m telling you all this because we have some customers who collect first editions of our books (no, we don’t have any first-edition copies of “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest” hidden here).

The new cover replaces the image of the chest pull with the title of the book. We’re also switching inks used for the cover stamp. The new ink will be more matte and coppery – less gold.

Also, the third printing of “By Hand & Eye” should be back in stock next week. And the expanded “With the Grain” is right on its heels.

In news on new projects, Peter Galbert’s “Chairmaker’s Notebook” is almost completely designed and should be headed to the printer within a couple weeks. As I type this I’m scanning the last of about 500 hand-done drawings for this book. I promise, this book will be worth the wait. The book will be 8-1/2” x 11”, hardbound with a dust jacket and more than 350 pages (perhaps close to 400). No word on pricing, yet.

Designer Wesley Tanner has begun work on designing Don Williams “Virtuoso: The Tool Cabinet and Workbench of Henry O. Studley.” It will be ready for Handworks and the exhibit of the cabinet and workbench. Come to Handworks, see the cabinet and get your book signed.

“Roubo on Furniture” is awaiting some final work by the translating team before going to the designer. And our massive book on Charles Hayward will head to the designer as soon as Linda finishes designing Peter Galbert’s book (sorry about the workload, Linda and Wesley).

We have another dozen projects in various stages of completion, but these are the most immediate.

— Christopher Schwarz

Stuff in the Store (and in Store)

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BHAE_detail2_500_IMG_7428We have sold out of “By Hand & Eye” but are working on getting that title back to the printer immediately. If you need the book, check out some of our retailers; many still have the book in stock. We should have the title back in stock – the fourth printing! – by early February.

In other “By Hand & Eye” news, authors Jim Tolpin and George Walker are working on a fascinating “workbook” supplement to “By Hand & Eye.” Written and illustrated like your grammar-school workbooks, it will take you through the exercises to open up your designer’s eye. The authors have been sharing the early drafts with me, and it’s going to be fun. Look for that in 2015.

We are down to our last box of Christian Becksvoort’s “With the Grain.” A third, revised edition is at the printer and should be in stock in early February. For the third printing, Becksvoort added 10 species of trees to the chapter on identifying the different North American commercial species, including the most important Western trees.

If you have the current edition, you can download the pages of the 10 species for free here:

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The revised edition will be slightly more expensive because we had to add a signature to the book block.

And in sweatshirt news: We are sold out of 2XL and Large sizes. We are almost out of all the other sizes. We will restock in January with a new brand of USA-made sweatshirt – same color and same logo. These will be about $4 more – a significant increase.

John and I are juggling about a dozen new books right now. Here is what is on the front burner this minute. I don’t have any details on prices on these products, I’m afraid:

“Chairmaker’s Notebook” by Peter Galbert is being designed by Linda Watts. She has the first 10 chapters designed and the book will go to press in January for a February 2015 release.

“Virtuoso: The Tool Cabinet and Workbench of H.O. Studley” by Don Williams is written, edited and headed to design in early January. It will be released in March or April – right before Handworks.

“Roubo on Furniture” is translated, edited and awaiting design. Look for it this summer.

Lots more in the works, of course.

— Christopher Schwarz

But What was on H.O. Studley’s Shop Wall?

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Tens of thousands of woodworkers have a poster of the famed H.O. Studley tool chest on their shop walls. Studley, however, didn’t need the poster – he had the real thing. So what poster did he tack to his shop wall?

1ce265da2cfc9537f4b93870f41544f9A circa 1917 advertisement for U.S. Government bonds that was painted by Eugenie DeLand and features the Statue of Liberty.

Reader Lynn Bradford pointed out that you can buy this poster through a variety of sources, including here at allposters.com. So if you want to go full meta on the Studley experience, get the poster, some suspenders and a skinny tie.

— Christopher Schwarz