Join me and my dovetail saw February 20-21 at the Forge Nashville for a Lie-Nielsen Hand Tool Event. I’ll be working on a stepstool or a Shaker tray…or some other fun, small dovetailed project as time allows. Plus I’ll have a selection of our books available for purchase. (But if I’m away from my post, look for me at the amazing Alf Sharp’s bench!)
At the event, try out all the LN tools and get expert guidance as you learn from the LN staff, talk to guest demonstrators and hang out with a passel of fellow hand tool woodworkers. Plus, you can check out the Forge itself, a non-profit organization with wood and metal shops, a makerspace and gallery, private studios and more. You can find out more about the event here.
The Forge is at 217 Willow Street, Nashville, Tenn., and there is on-site parking. Hours are Friday, Feb. 20, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. and Saturday, Feb. 21, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
With our final class at the Willard Street workshop behind us, I’ve rearranged the bench room, the Mechanical Library and the machine room for four woodworkers, instead of a classroom.
First and biggest change: We scotched four workbenches. We sold three and will move the fourth to Megan’s workshop. That change gave us space for an 18” x 30” x 60” assembly table that I built last week. I’ve always loved low assembly benches, but I’ve never had room for one – until now.
I’ve arranged the four remaining benches so they stand alone. You can walk all around them. They are all parallel to one another, just like in the workshop shown in Plate 11 of “l’Art du menuisier.” And they’re arranged by seniority – on purpose. Apprentice Katherine is up front by the window, then Journeyer Kale, Editor Megan and me at the back.
The idea is that the more experienced people will always be able to see what the less-experienced people are up to. And be able to jump in (or shout a warning) if something goes amiss.
The back of the bench room now has the junior editors’ editorial workstations – I built their height-adjustable table using a 1960s-era drafting table and a massive tongue-and-groove white pine top. There’s lots of space to spread out to write, edit and design.
In the Mechanical Library, more changes are afoot. Megan is staying in her same cubicle but will need a new desk (the desk Megan has been working on for the last 10 years is Lucy’s). The rest of the library is being returned to its original configuration: loveseat plus a tool chest acting as a desk, with everything facing my stereo. This is how I like to write and listen to records.
In the machine room, my Delta 14” band saw is going to Megan’s shop. It is being replaced by the JET 14” industrial band saw that used to be in the bench room. With no classes in the bench room, we need only one band saw up there. And the General 490 is staying up front.
I have additional small changes planned, and I’m sure we’ll move things around again. But I think the new bench arrangement works already. Photography is easier without benches being butted up against each other. And it’s nice to be able to get to all sides of your work. Plus, all the benches have the same arrangement of natural light: Loads of light from the front of the bench with a little side light from the south-facing windows.
Mostly, however, it’s quieter and we all have a little more room to move.
— Christopher Schwarz
Editor’s note: Our ATCs facing off across the room reminds me of the dueling banjo scene from Deliverance.” I do not, in this scenario, know which of us is Lonnie …
Next Friday, Lucy and I fly to Australia for a week of relaxation and marsupials. And then I’ll stay on to teach a couple chairmaking classes for Wood Dust and participate in some woodworking events that look to be fun.
The two classes have been sold out for months, but the organizers have found a way to add a couple spots to the classes. If you’re stick-chair curious, you can read more here.
We’ll be building seven-stick comb-back chairs in both classes, and local chairmaking hero Bern Chandley will be on hand during the classes to make sure everyone gets plenty of attention and instruction during the classes.
If you aren’t up for the classes, there’s other stuff to do.
There is a dinner on October 7 in Coburg at the Post Office Hotel. There’s a big meal (and drinks) planned with speeches and whatnot from Michael Fortune, Matt Kenney and me. I’m told I should wear my finest “budgie smuggler” to the event (I’ll have to Google that soon).
Thirdly, there will be two “Yarns” (October 9 and 16) where I’ll be answering any and all questions from the audience and some friendly interrogators. If you want to know where the bodies are buried, these are the events to attend. I have no filter.
This will be my second trip to Australia, and likely will be my last. Not because I’m dying at an accelerated rate. But because it’s becoming difficult to travel and run Lost Art Press. I now have two apprentices. And a long list of books to write and edit. And I have a trench to manage at our warehouse in Covington, Ky. (I was only 55 when I acquired my first trench….)
I am greatly looking forward to the trip. I found the Australians to be delightful people with a keen sense of language and sly practical jokes (ask me about signing books in blood some day….)
A reminder that at 10 a.m. Eastern, registration opens for Covington Mechanical classes for the second half of 2025. See our ticketing site for more info (and to register at 10 a.m. Eastern).
Mark your calendars: Next Monday (Feb. 17, 2025) at 10 a.m. Eastern, registration opens for Covington Mechanicals Classes for the second half of 2025. All classes take place in the Lost Art Press shop in Covington, Kentucky, in the city’s entertainment district – which means there are plenty of options for accommodations and food/drink, as well as fun (beyond the fun of woodworking!).
Click through on the titles below to find out more about each class – and know that our classes tend to sell out quickly (we have room for only six students in most classes), but do join the waitlist, as we often have to fill a slot or two.
