Lost Art Press

Category: Woodworking in Estonia

Loose Ends: Upcoming Lost Art Press Projects

Posted on by Lost Art Press

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With “The Anarchist’s Design Book” and “The Woodworker: The Charles H. Hayward Years” at the printer, John and I are working on stuff to fill out the next five months when we aren’t eating bonbons and getting pedicures.

Here’s a short list of stuff you should see before June – the five-year anniversary of “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest.”

  1. We have figured out a way for international customers to buy a book plus a pdf at a discounted price. We’ll have details in the next few weeks.
  2. Starting in February, we are going to begin selling original handmade copperplate prints of the 12 projects in “The Anarchist’s Design Book.” Each month we will feature one of the project prints for ordering on the website. Then the artist, Briony Morrow-Cribbs, will make your copperplate print to order and they will be signed and numbered by Briony and myself. Each print will be $125; we’ll offer a different print every month. We’ll also be offering a complete set of the prints in a handmade box. Details to follow.
  3. Visitors to the new Lost Art Press storefront will be able to examine and purchase these copperplate prints during our March 12 open house. Prepare to be impressed.
  4. For the five-year anniversary of “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest,” we’ll be printing special stickers, red T-shirts and a 17” x 22” poster featuring an architectural drawing of the chest. All of these will be available first at our Covington storefront as we work out the supply issues, and then on the website.
  5. “Woodworking in Estonia” is at the top of my editing list right now. We hope to have that at the printer by June.

All of this is possible because I’m not teaching this year. I’ll also be releasing three DVDs through Popular Woodworking that I think you’ll find interesting. Oh, and I’ve started working on my next book. It will be unlike anything published in the last 70 years. Promise.

— Christopher Schwarz

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Hermit’s Journal: Day 2

Posted on by Lost Art Press

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Late Friday John and I arrived home after six days of backbreaking but inspiring work at the French Oak Roubo Project put on by Benchcrafted and Bo Childs of Barnesville, Ga.

It was my last scheduled trip until an indeterminate ever. If you want to see photos from this fantastic week, check out this Instagram feed.

What’s on the docket for me next? First I need to finish this workbench for a customer. (Oh, and to the commenter who suggested I’m getting rich off selling my work, I suspect you don’t do this for a living. You are more than welcome to pay my water bill this month, which would be a huge help.)

After the bench gets finished, I will dive into Lost Art Press’s three most-active books.

  1. Finish editing “Woodworker: the Charles Hayward Years.” Only 350 more pages to go! The book is all designed. I’m the problem.
  2. Complete the edit of “Woodworking in Estonia.” The book is entirely designed and just needs a final comb-over. I’m the problem.
  3. Finish laying out “The Anarchist’s Design Book.” I’ve laid out 10 of the 21 chapters. I just have to finish the beast. Again: The problem is me.

Thanks go out to Suzanne the Saucy Indexer for picking up my slack on this blog and doing a fine job. As I can eschew shaving and basic hygiene for the next year or so, I think I’ll be able to rapidly get these books done and out the door.

— Christopher Schwarz

Ants Viires (1918-2015)

Posted on by Lost Art Press

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Ants Viires, the pioneering Estonian ethnographer and author of “Woodworking in Estonia,” died on March 18, according to friends and family.

At the time of his death, Lost Art Press was actively preparing an all-new translation of the landmark “Woodworking in Estonia,” which Roy Underhill listed in 2011 as one of his three favorite woodworking books. The surviving family fully supports our translation effort, and we expect to release the book by the end of 2015.

“Woodworking in Estonia” is one of the most detailed studies ever written about an active hand-tool culture. It really is like stepping back into the 17th or 18th century. Viires dedicated his life to recording this vanishing Baltic culture and recording their tools, processes and products.=

Oddly, “Woodworking in Estonia” was first translated into English in the 1960s by the Israel Program for Scientific Translations and – even odder – was published by the U.S. Science Foundation as a typewritten text with low-quality images.

Viires disavowed this edition, saying it was unauthorized.

Nevertheless, this weird little book is how most of us encountered “Woodworking in Estonia” and became fans of it. About two years ago, we encountered an Estonian woodworking in Toronto who put us in touch with the Viires family and we all agreed to embark on a completely new translation.

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Since that first 1960s edition, Viires had updated the text in “Woodworking in Estonia.” And the Estonian publisher, Kirjastus Ilo, reissued the book with gorgeous and crisp drawings and photos.

We hired a translator who was familiar with Viires’s work to handle the new edition, and he turned in his final translation about the same day that Viires died. The book is now in the hands of Peter Follansbee, who will comb through the text to ensure it is technically correct. And then we will design it to look very much like Viires’s 2006 edition of the book, with all the sharp drawings and photos – and with the full support of the Viires family and the Estonian publisher.

In other words, this will be the first authorized English translation of this book, its sales will support the Viires family and English-speaking woodworkers will finally be able to fully experience this amazing woodworking book.

— Christopher Schwarz